PSYCHOANALYSIS. THE GAZE

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PSYCHOANALYSIS.  THE GAZE

Sigmund Freud (,  – , ; was an   and the founder of the  of . Freud is best known for his theories of the , especially involving the mechanism of ; his redefinition of  as mobile and directed towards a wide variety of objects; and his therapeutic technique, especially his understanding of  in the therapeutic relationship and the presumed value of  as sources of insight into unconscious desires.

Freud's structural theory

"Tip of the Iceberg" — Structural and Topographical Models of Mind

The id, as previously stated, is the source of our drives and Freud considered it to be the reservoir of libido. 'The libido' or simply 'libido', is the form of energy cathected upon objects or an affect received from objects, predominantly sexual, which underlies all mental processes. Our drives (Freud had very theoretically specific "-drives" such as the death-drive, but drives can often be equated to 'instincts') surge forth from the id and apply libidinal energy to objects, which may result in aggressive or erotic attachments/actions upon chosen objects The drives of the id are considered to be inborn, operating within the primary psychical processes (those of the unconscious) and are absolutely determined according to the pleasure principle. It is said that the id behaves as though it were unconscious, the reason thought to be is that our ego and our super-ego's ideals and pressures are often in conflict with the id's, causing repression, as the gratification of the id's drives would often be devastating in terms of social- and self-image. (the id is)"a chaos, a cauldron of seething excitations"-Freud

Ego

In 's theory, the ego mediates among the id, the super-ego and the external world. Its task is to find a balance between primitive drives, morals, and reality while satisfying the id and superego. Its main concern is with the individual's safety and allows some of the id's desires to be expressed, but only when consequences of these actions are marginal. Ego  are often used by the ego when id behavior conflicts with reality and either society's morals, norms, and taboos or the individual's expectations as a result of the internalization of these morals, norms, and taboos.

Although in his early writings Freud equated the ego with the sense of self, he later began to portray it more as a set of psychic functions such as reality-testing, defence, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.

Super-ego

Freud's theory says that the super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and cultural regulations. The super-ego tends to stand in opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and is aggressive towards the ego. The super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and the prohibition of taboos. Its formation takes place during the dissolution of the  and is formed by an identification with and internalization of the father figure after the little boy cannot successfully hold the mother as a love-object out of fear of castration. "The super-ego retains the character of the father, while the more powerful the Oedipus complex was and the more rapidly it succumbed to repression (under the influence of authority, religious teaching, schooling and reading), the stricter will be the domination of the super-ego over the ego later on — in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt" (, 1923). In Sigmund Freud's work Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) he also discusses the concept of a "". The concept of super-ego and the Oedipus complex is subject to criticism for its sexism. Women, who are considered to be already castrated, do not identify with the father, and therefore form a weak super-ego, apparently leaving them susceptible to immorality and sexual identity complications.

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Narcissism

The term narcissism is derived from clinical description… 

"On Narcissism: An Introduction" begins with a move that is characteristic of Freud's developing approach to theorizing about the psyche. Freud refers to a psychological state that other theorists have described as abnormal--in this case, exclusive auto-eroticism--and suggests that it might be a more pervasive condition that previously thought, then expands this suggestion even further to indicate that it might actually be a condition common to the psychological makeup of allhuman beings.

"Loving oneself," Freud argues, is the "libidinal complement to the egoism of the instinct of self-preservation" (74). We all ...

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