Sigmund Freud
The Conscious and Unconscious Mind
The Conscious Mind
- Includes everything that we are aware of
- Sensations, perceptions, memories, feelings, fantasies
The Preconscious Mind
- Closely allied with the conscious mind
- The things about which we are not thinking at the moment, but we can easily draw into conscious awareness
The Unconscious Mind
- A reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories outside of our conscious awareness
- Mostly unacceptable or unpleasant (pain, anxiety, or conflict)
- Influences our behavior even though we are unaware of it
The Freudian Slip
The Id, Ego, and Superego
Id
- The only component present from birth
- Entirely unconscious
- Instinctive and primitive behaviors
- The primary component of personality
- Driven by the PLEASURE PRINCIPLE- immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs
- What happens if not satisfied?
- Why can't we always satisfy the Id?
The Ego
- The component of the personality that deals with reality
- Ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world
- Functions in the conscious, preconscious, AND unconscious mind
- Operates on the REALITY PRINCIPLE, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways
The Superego
- The last component of the personality to develop
- Holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from our parents and society
- Our sense of right and wrong
Defense Mechanisms
- Ways we protect ourselves from things we don't want to think about or deal with
Denial: Not acknowledging that there is a problem
Example: A man receives a diagnosis from his doctor that he is HIV positive, but he is adamant that a mistake has been made and the doctor is lousy.
Repression: Suppressing a memory until it disappears into the subconscious
Example: A woman doesn't recall being raped.
Projection: Putting your own beliefs or behavior onto someone else
Example: Talking about how stupid a video game system is with someone else, believing that they must feel the same way even though they have never said so.
Regression: Acting in a way that is not typical for your age
Example: A child who knows how to walk starts to crawl around because his baby brother is getting so much attention for crawling.
Displacement: Showing emotion toward someone or something completely unrelated to that which caused the emotion
Example: An alcoholic gets in a car accident when driving drunk, and then blames it on his wife who is at home.
Rationalization: Making up explanations for something that has happened
Example: A rapist thinks that since the girl he is raping looked at him seductively one time, it must be OK to rape her.
Life and Death Instincts
Life Instincts (Eros)
- Sometimes referred to as sexual instincts
- Basic survival, pleasure, reproduction
Death Instincts (Thanatos)
- "The goal of all life is death"
- People hold an unconscious desire to die, but that wish is largely tempered by the life instincts
- Self-destructive behavior, aggression, violence