Freud's Key theories on personality and human development

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 Freud’s key theories on personality and human development.

It is generally agreed that western psychology and psychotherapy has been largely influenced by the theories of Moravian (now Czechoslovakia) born, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud’s theories are considered ground breaking yet controversial and supporters of Freud have described him as “psychology’s one man genius” (Ryle 1963 p. 324).  Freud’s approach to understanding human behaviour and personality is referred to as Psychoanalysis. Freud noted that in order to practice Psychoanalysis one must assume that there are “unconscious mental processes…recognise the theory of resistance and repression and appreciate the importance of sexuality;” These beliefs all “…constitute the principle subject-matter of psychoanalysis” (Freud 1923 p145). In the following essay these theories will be explored. 

 The unconscious mental process that Freud referred to where not a new concept, Philosophers had discussed this theory years before, but what Freud attempted to do was discover a way to unravel these unconscious mental processes and find a way to try to interpret what is hidden. Freud’s original theory was based on the concept that the mind had 3 variable levels. The conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious and it was referred to as the model of Consciousness (Jacobs 2003). If we imagine the mind as a filing cabinet! Conscious thoughts are in full awareness, these feelings or thoughts are placed at the front. They can be easily read and tend to be logical, obeying the laws of reason. Pre-conscious thoughts are rather like recalled memories such as phone numbers or names. These memories have been placed in an easy access file, you have to search for a while, but you’ll eventually find them! Unconscious thoughts are thoughts and feelings that have been forgotten, pushed to the depths of the filing cabinet, some are ancient and dusty; others so painful they are folded up tight and placed in a top secret file! The key to opening this file is what Freud attempts to discover through a “talking cure” (Freud 1895 as cited in Kahn 2002). The job of the psychoanalyst is to help the patient unlock this file when they feel safe to do so and with the analysts support, begin to interpret its contents.

Freud was aware that if his theories where to be taken seriously he had to present Psychoanalysis as a science. A way of doing this was to create a model which incorporated his views and represent an almost tangible concept of the human mind. This model became known as the model of personality and it was made up of 3 different parts or agents of the personality called the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego (Freud 1933 as cited in Kahn 2002).  

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The ‘Id’ or otherwise referred to as ‘It’ or ‘I’ was based on the instinctual desire to seek gratification at all costs and immediately, this desire was called the pleasure principle (Eysenck 2000).  The chaotic energy of the Id lacks in values or morals and lurks in the unconscious mind. The energy of the Id was called the life energy or the libido and Freud believed it to be largely sexual in nature (Jacobs 2003 p44). The second agent in the model is the Ego which develops around the first years of life; it is thought to be rational and acts ...

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