APPsych Mod 55

Unit X: Personality

Module 55
Freud’s Psychoanalytic
Perspective

Freud’s View of the
Unconscious Mind
55-1

Personality

An individual’s characteristic pattern of

thinking, feeling, and acting.

Each dwarf has a distinct personality.

55-1

Psychoanalytic Perspective

• In his medical practice,

Sigmund Freud encountered
patients suffering from
nervous disorders.

• Their complaints could not be

explained in terms of purely
physical causes.

• In his quest for answers, he

“discovered” the unconscious.

55-1

Exploring the Unconscious

• Freud said the unconscious mind is a reservoir of

mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and
memories.

• He used psychoanalysis to retrieve and release

painful, embarrassing
unconscious memories
through free association
and dream analysis.

55-1

Personality Structure
55-2

Freud’s Model of the Mind

•
The mind is like an iceberg.

•
It is mostly hidden, and below
the surface lies the
unconscious mind.

•
The preconscious stores
temporary memories.

Figure 55.1 p. 557

55-2

Freud’s View of Personality

Personality develops as a result of our efforts to
resolve conflicts between our biological impulses
and social restraints.

Figure 55.1 p. 557

55-2

Id, Ego and Superego

The id unconsciously strives to satisfy basic

sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the

pleasure principle, demanding immediate

gratification.

The ego functions as the “executive” and

mediates the demands of the id and superego.

The superego provides standards for judgment

(the conscience) and for future aspirations.

55-2

Personality Development
55-3

Personality Development

• Freud believed that personality formed during

the first few years of life, which is divided into
psychosexual stages.

• During these stages the id’s

pleasure-seeking energies focus on
pleasure sensitive body areas called
erogenous zones.

55-3

Psychosexual Stages

Freud divided the development of personality

into five psychosexual stages:

55-3

Oedipus Complex

• A boy’s sexual desire for

his mother and feelings of
jealousy and hatred for
the rival father.

• A girl’s desire for her

father is called the Electra
complex.

55-3

Identification

• According to Freud, children cope with

threatening feelings by repressing them and
by identifying with the rival parent.

• Through this process of

identification, their superego
gains strength that incorporates
their parents’ values.

55-3

Defense Mechanisms
55-4

Defense Mechanisms
55-4

Evaluating the

Psychoanalytic Perspective
55-5

Modern Research & Freud’s Ideas

• Freud offered after-the-fact explanations, which cannot

be tested scientifically

• Many of his ideas have been disputed by modern

research:

 Development is not fixed in childhood

 Gender identity can develop without a same-sex

parent present

 Dreams do not exist to disguise wishes

 Suppressed sexuality does not lead to psychological

disorders

 Stressful situations lead to enhanced memories, not

repressed ones

55-5