Psychoanalytic
Theory of Personality
Dr Giby Geevarghese ,
Sigmund Freud – The father of
Psychoanalytic Theory
Main Points
•Biographical
Sketch
•Components
of Personality
•Defense
mechanisms
•Psychosexual
stages
•Criticisms
and take home message
1. Biography
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
(1856-1939)
•Jewish
background, though avowed atheist
•Lived in Vienna until Nazi
occupation in 1938
•Had medical
background- wanted to do “neurophysiological research”
•Private practice
with specialty in neurology
•Private practice
in nervous and brain disorders
Freud (cont.)
•Early 1900s
published many works--
–Interpretation
of Dreams (1900)
–The
Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901)
–1905
concept of sexual drive being most powerful personality component
•1906
Psychoanalytic Society formed
• Many works
burned in Nazi occupation (starting 1933)
•Left Austria,
fled to England
1938
•Died of jaw
cancer 1939
2 . Levels of Awareness
•Conscious
•Preconscious
•Unconscious
Conscious
•Current
contents of your mind that you actively think of
•What
we call working memory
•Easily
accessed all the time
Preconscious
•Contents
of the mind you are not currently aware of
•Thoughts,
memories, knowledge, wishes, feelings
•Available
for easy access when needed
Unconscious
•Contents
kept out of conscious awareness
•Not
accessible at all
•Processes
that actively keep these thoughts from awareness
3 . Freudian Components of Personality
•The
Id
•The
Ego
•The
Superego
Id
•Resides
completely at the unconscious level
•Acts under the
pleasure principle
–immediate
gratification, not willing to compromise
–Generates
all of the personality’s energy
Superego
•The moralist and
idealistic part of the personality
•Resides in
preconscious
•Operates on
“ideal principle”
–Begins
forming at 4-5 yrs of age
–initially
formed form environment and others (society, family etc)
–Internalized
conventions and morals
•Essentially your
“conscience”
Ego
•Resides
in all levels of awareness
•Operates
under “reality principle”
•Attempts
negotiation between Id and Superego to satisfy both realistically
Conflicts of Personality Components
•Conflicts
between the Id, Superego and Ego arise in unconscious mind
•Can’t
be reached bc in unconscious
•Come
out in various ways
•Slips
of tongue (“Freudian slip”)
•Dreams
•Jokes
•Anxiety
Life and Death
Instinct Life Instincts (Eros)•
Instincts that deal with basic survival, pleasure, an d reproductionDeath
Intincts(Thanatos)• unconscious desire to die
4 .Defense Mechanisms….
•Denial
•Refusal
to accept external realities
because too threatening to enter
awareness
•Repression
•Internal
impulses and memories too threatening so bared from entering awareness
•Projection
•Attribute
unacceptable thoughts or impulses onto others (project
these inappropriate thoughts etc onto others)
Displacement
•Shifting
attention from one target that is no longer available to a more acceptable or
“safer” substitute
Sublimation
•Healthiest
defense mechanism
•
Compromise
•Takes
socially unacceptable impulses and turns them into something positive &
acceptable
Reaction Formation
•Converting
unacceptable and dangerous impulses into something positive to reduce anxiety
Rationalization
•Explaining
an unacceptable behavior in a way that overlooks present shortcomings or
failures
Regression
•Reverting
to behavior that is characteristic to an earlier stage of development when
confronted with stress or anxiety
5 .Psychosexual Development
•Oral
Stage (0-18 months)
–Pleasure
centering around the mouth (sucking, biting etc)
–Focus:
weaning- becoming less dependent
–Not
resolved? aggression or dependency later in life-- fixation with oral
activities (smoking, drinking, nail biting etc.
•Anal (18-35 months)
–Fixation
on bowel and bladder elimination
–Focus:
search for control
•Not
resolved? anal retentive (rigid and obsessive personality) or anal
expulsive (messy and disorganized personality)
•Phallic (3-6 years)
–Focus:
genital area and difference btwn males and females
–Electra
Complex or Oedipus Complex
Complexes in the Phallic Stage
•Oedipus
Complex (boys)
•Unconscious
sexual desires towards mother, father is competition
•Simultaneously
fears the dad- “castration anxiety”
•Electra
Complex (girls)
•Unconscious
sexual desires towards father and mother is completion
•Penis
envy
•Resolution?
•Kid
identifies with same sex parent
•Latency (6 yrs to puberty)
–Sexual
interest is repressed
–Kids
play with same sex others-- until puberty
•Genital (puberty and beyond)
•Sexual
urges awaken
•If
developed “properly” develop these urges towards opposite sex members with
fixation on the genitals
Freud: criticisms and critiques
•He
studied very few people so not representative sample
•Process
of psychoanalysis interviewing- exhibit preconceived notions and biases
•His
measures/methods were untreatable
•Definitions
don’t lend themselves to experimentation
•One’s
personality is fixed and unchanging
•Obsessed
with sex and aggression
