What is Freud's Theory of Personality? Learn about his contributions to psychoanalytic theory regarding personality, consciousness, development, and instincts.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
Table of Contents
- What Is Psychoanalytic Theory?
- Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
- Freud's Theory of Development
- Freud's Instincts Theory
- Neo-Freudian Theories of Personality
- Criticism of Psychoanalytic Theory
- Lesson Summary
- FAQs
- Activities
Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory Word Scramble Activity
For this activity, study the scrambled letters and try to unscramble or rearrange the letters to form a word or phrase that fits the given clues. To do this, you must right-click and print this page. With a pencil and an eraser, neatly write your answers in the blank space provided.
SCRAMBLED WORDS
- OOISNUCCESPR NMID
- CPLTAYAYHSNOCI OTYREH
- OEISECNCNC
- TEEAMDIMI
- ULSVIRAV
- SCIONUSCONU
- TDEHA INITSSCNT
- UELXPYASCSHO TVLENODEEMP
- ATRIYLE ILIRNECPP
- OESUGERP
Scrambled Words
- A _______________ refers to a consciousness wherein information isn't actively thought of but can be called to mind easily given the right trigger.
- _______________ argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego.
- The moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's behavior, is known as __________.
- Pleasure principle is the driving force of the id that seeks _______________ gratification of all needs, wants. and urges.
- Life instincts are referred to as sexual instincts and assist the purpose of __________.
- The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality that operates in our __________ mind.
- __________ is an innate and unconscious tendency expressed through behaviors such as aggression.
- As described by Freud, _______________ takes place during five stages that begin in infancy: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
- The _______________ is the ego's control of the pleasure-seeking activity of the id to meet the demands of the external world.
- __________ is the part of the mind that acts as a conscience and reflects social standards that have been learned.
Answers
- PRECONSCIOUS MIND
- PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
- CONSCIENCE
- IMMEDIATE
- SURVIVAL
- UNCONSCIOUS
- DEATH INSTINCTS
- PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
- REALITY PRINCIPLE
- SUPEREGO
What does the Psychoanalytic Theory focus on?
The theory encompasses the idea that all people have unconscious thoughts, memories, emotions, and desires and that therapy should be used to access the mind's repressed feelings and experiences. Only then will the patient experience a cathartic healing of the mind.
What is Freud most famous for?
Sigmund Freud is most famous for coining the term "psychoanalysis" and his many theories concerning the development of the human personality, its levels of consciousness, and the origins of its behaviors.
What is the Psychoanalytic Theory according to Sigmund Freud?
Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory states that human personalities evolve through a series of phases: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. According to Freud, these phases are developed by the unconscious mind's inner struggles; he theorized that there are three levels of consciousness: consciousness, preconsciousness, and unconsciousness.
Table of Contents
- What Is Psychoanalytic Theory?
- Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
- Freud's Theory of Development
- Freud's Instincts Theory
- Neo-Freudian Theories of Personality
- Criticism of Psychoanalytic Theory
- Lesson Summary
Psychoanalytic Theory is part of a collection of psychological theories and therapeutic techniques originating in the works of Sigmund Freud, who developed Psychoanalytic Theory, coining the term ''psychoanalysis'' in 1896. The theory encompasses the idea that all people have unconscious thoughts, memories, emotions, and desires, and that therapy should be used to access the mind's repressed feelings and experiences. Only then will the patient experience cathartic healing of the mind.
In addition to Sigmund Freud, there have been many significant contributors in the field of Psychoanalytic Theory:
- Hermann Rorschach- developed the Rorschach Test in 1921
- Anna Freud- Sigmund Freud's daughter, who was an author and a Psychoanalyst primarily in the field of child psychology
- Carl Jung- former President of the International Psychoanalytic Association, a supporter of some of Freud's theories, and creator of his own Psychoanalytic Theory with some similarities to Freud's but stating that psychic energy and not sexual energy was the motive for certain behaviors
- Erik Erikson- best known for the development of the Identity Crisis and his lifespan of human development
- Erich Fromm- a social psychologist and psychoanalyst who was critical of Freud's work and believed that freedom was an inherent part of human nature
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Sigmund Freud was the creator of psychoanalysis, a treatment for mental illness, and the developer of human behavior theories. Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory states that human personalities evolve through a series of phases: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. According to Freud, these phases are developed by the unconscious mind's inner struggles; he theorized that there are three levels of consciousness: consciousness, preconsciousness, and unconsciousness. He believed these three levels also influenced the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. Most of his research was based on his observations in the field of hysteria, now called post-traumatic stress syndrome.
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Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality states that there are three separate aspects of human personality that work together to form its substance: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. These Freudian personality types form the basis of human thoughts and emotions, beginning in the mind and emerging through psychoanalytic therapy and drawing on the patient's expression of past experiences that may have been repressed. Freud's process of delving into the minds of his patients included such techniques as inkblots, dream analysis, free association, and parapraxes, also known as Freudian Slips.
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The Mind
Freud believed that a person's ego operates in three states of the mind: conscious, presconscious, and unconscious. The conscious consists of the meager amount of mental activity of which humans are aware. The preconscious is made up of things we could be aware of if we made the effort. The unconscious is comprised of things we are not aware of and do not have the capability to become so.
Freud's model of the mind as an iceberg places the conscious at the iceberg's tip; it includes the thoughts and events that are our current focus. The preconscious consists of everything we can recover from our memories; it is the level below the conscious. Below that lies the unconscious, where everything we can never be aware of is stored: memories, instincts, and a variety of fears. At the base of the iceberg, the Id resides, an extension of the unconscious mind that is home to the two types of instincts: Eros (life instinct) and Thanatos (death instinct). These two instincts battle one another in the psyche's battle to survive and to self-destruct, coming into play in Freud's Drive Theory.
The Id
The Id is the part of the human mind that contains all of the human mind's psychic energy, forming the personality's main component and residing in the human mind since birth. The Id is completely unconscious, based on the drive to survive, and encompasses all of a person's behaviors, both primitive and instinctive. An infant and its refusal to quiet until its needs are met, particularly hunger or thirst, is a solid example of the Id, its derivation from the pleasure principle, and its impact on daily life.
The Ego
According to Freud, the Ego is derived from the Id and bears the responsibility of providing the mind's ability to cope with reality. The Ego's operation is based on the reality principle, which attempts to quench the Id's desires in realistic ways by weighing both the pros and cons of impulses before deciding to either satisfy or discard them. The Ego also contains defense mechanisms, which are ways that it safeguards the mind from anxiety. The Ego might present itself while a person is sick and in the hospital. The patient might want to go home, believing there is nothing wrong, so the Ego would decide that the patient should remain in the hospital to get well instead of leaving and prolonging the illness.
The Superego
Emerging at five years of age, the Superego a person's sense of right and wrong as learned from parents and society. It contains two parts: the conscience and the ego ideal. The conscience contains thoughts of unacceptable behavior, possible punishments, and guilty feelings. The ego ideal is made up of the behavioral standards that the ego aims to exhibit. The ego acts as a suppressant for those behaviors, attempting to civilize human thoughts and actions. If a person is in a hurry and is tempted to drive through a red light, the Superego would work to influence that person to stop by reminding them of the potential for an accident by disobeying the traffic light's command to stop.
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What is Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Development? Freud believed that there are five stages of psychosexual development:
- Oral (from birth to one year of age)- the period when the Id asserts itself through oral behaviors driven by the libido and leading to future habits: sucking the thumb, biting the fingernails, and smoking.
- Anal (ages 1-3)- behavior is centered on the anus through defecation and asserted by the Ego; toilet training techniques may lead to obstinacy, obsessive neatness, swearing, stubbornness, and issues with authority.
- Phallic (ages 3-6)- due to the Oedipus Complex, the libido revolves around the genitals and may lead to jealousy, fears of rejection, and erotic attractions.
- Latency (ages 6-puberty)- the Ego and the Superego are active during this passive period, ushering in thoughts and behaviors that channel sexual energy into friends, hobbies, and studies.
- Genital (puberty-adulthood)- the Superego reigns during this time of sharing sexual pleasure with others, developing sexual perversions, and discovering the right sexual partner.
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Freud's Aggression Instinct Theory Freud's view was that all human behavior originated from Eros, the life instinct that assists with reproduction; he later added Thanatos, the death instinct, to his theory. He believed that human aggressive behavior was necessary to human survival and reproduction. He also thought that aggression was biologically inherited and expressed both internally and externally.
Freud's Drive Theory, also called the Theory of Instinctual Drive, was developed by Sigmund Freud to help people understand aggressive behavior. According to Freud, the human body is constantly in search of a homeostatic state and, when that state of being is upset, the body then develops appetites for sexual and aggressive urges and searches for the satisfaction of those urges to return to the homeostatic state. The stages of these drives come into play in those of Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Development.
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Several pioneers in the field of psychoanalysis subscribed to Freud's theories and modified them to create their original ideas of psychoanalytic development and the human personality. These followers were known as Neo-Freudians, of which the following four are the most notable:
- Alfred Adler- best known for his introduction of the inferiority complex, focusing on how humans attempt to make up for their feelings of inadequacy.
- Erik Erikson- differed from Freud in that he believed humans developed throughout the lifespan instead of during childhood: (0-1) Trust vs. Mistrust, (1-3) Autonomy vs. Shame, (3-6) Initiative vs. Guilt, (7-11) Industry vs. Inferiority, (12-18) Identity vs. Confusion, (19-29) Intimacy vs. Isolation, (30-64) Generativity vs. Stagnation, and (65+) Integrity vs. Despair.
- Carl Jung- unlike Freud, he did not believe that sexual desire was the primary motivator of human behavior and focused on the collective conscience instead of its individual components. He developed such concepts as introversion, extroversion, and the persona.
- Karen Horney- differed from Freud in that she believed people should move forward to develop their personalities as opposed to Freud's direction of exploring the past.
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There have been criticisms of both Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory and Psychoanalytic Theory in general. As one of the primary objectives of psychological science is to predict human behavior, Freud falls short in that he only explains but does not predict human behavior. Because the human mind is hard to test and measure objectively, Freud's theory is considered to be unfalsifiable, meaning that it can be neither proven nor refuted. It is believed that Freud did not broaden his base of studies, mostly studying middle-aged women and only one child; it is also theorized that Freud only gleaned information from his studies that supported his theories. While evidence has been found that supports some of Freud's ideas concerning oral and anal personalities and depression and paranoia, there has been very little evidence to support his Oedipus Complex theory and none at all to support his views on the differences in the sexual development of males and females.
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Sigmund Freud is considered the father of psychoanalysis and has contributed many theories concerning human behavior and personality development. Although his work has given rise to both supporters and critics alike, his significant additions to the field of psychology have inspired others in the same field to both study his work and put it into practice for the assistance of people in need of psychological help. His creation of psychoanalysis remains a legacy in the exploration of the human mind.
Vocabulary Terms
- psychoanalysis- the exploration of human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and their treatment throughout the journey
- Sigmund Freud- prominent theorist in the field of psychoanalysis
- identity crisis- questioning one's significance in the world
- lifespan of human development- development of human behavior during a period of life from birth to death
- Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory- there are three separate aspects of human personality that work together to form its substance: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego
- post-traumatic stress syndrome- mental or emotional stress as a result of trauma
- Id- the part of the human mind that contains all of the human mind's psychic energy, forming the personality's main component
- Ego- bears the responsibility of providing the mind's ability to cope with reality
- Superego- a person's sense of right and wrong
- inkblots- a pattern of inkblots on paper developed by Hermann Rorschach to be used in psychological interpretation
- dream analysis- using psychoanalysis to interpret dreams
- free association- unrestricted use of unrelated words used to interpret psychological issues
- Freudian Slip- an accidental revelation of subconscious feelings
- conscious- the meager amount of mental activity of which humans are aware
- preconscious- made up of things we could possibly be aware of if we made the effort
- unconscious- comprised of things we are not aware of and do not have the capability to become so
- Eros- the life instinct
- Thanatos- the death instinct
- Pleasure Principle- instinctive search for pleasure to satisfy demands
- Reality Principle- attempts to quench the Id's desires in realistic ways by weighing both the pros and cons of impulses before deciding to either satisfy or discard them
- defense mechanisms- ways that the Ego safeguards the mind from anxiety
- conscience- contains thoughts of unacceptable behavior, possible punishments, and guilty feelings
- ego ideal- made up of the behavioral standards that the ego aims to exhibit
- Neo-Freudians- subscribed to Freud's theories and modified them to create their original ideas of psychoanalytic development and the human personality
- Inferiority Complex- a feeling of inadequacy
- introversion- concern for personal thoughts and feelings as opposed to external happenings
- extroversion- primarily concerned with happenings outside the body
- persona- the personality that a person shows to others, which differs from the real personality
- unfalsifiable- can be neither proven nor refuted
- Oedipus Complex- a young male's subconscious sexual desires toward his mother
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Video Transcript
Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous names in psychology. Even though most of his ideas have been abandoned by modern psychology, his psychoanalytic theory formed the basis for many current psychodynamic theories. Freud was the first to discuss the unconscious mind and its role in human behavior.
Three Levels of Consciousness
Freud believed that there were three levels of consciousness. First is the unconscious mind, which exists outside of your awareness at all times. Next is the preconscious mind, which includes all information that you are not currently aware of but that can be recalled. Finally, the conscious mind is your current state of awareness.
Id, Superego, and Ego
Remember the cartoons you used to watch as a child? The main character is confronted with a choice. On his left shoulder is a little devil pushing him toward a bad choice. On his right shoulder, a little angel is encouraging him to make a good choice. He is stuck in the middle and forced to make a decision that will affect him.
This scenario is much like Freud's theory of personality. There are three parts to the personality according to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory. These are the id, superego, and ego. The id is the first to develop, the ego is second, and the superego is the last to develop.
The id is the biological component of the personality and includes your instincts. The id operates in our unconscious mind. It is like the little devil sitting on the cartoon character's shoulder that is always selfish and needy. It operates according to the pleasure principle. The pleasure principle is the idea that all of your needs should be met immediately.
Then there is the superego. The superego exists in all three levels of consciousness. The superego is like the little angel. It is always concerned with what is socially acceptable. The superego pushes you to obtain the ego ideal, or your view of what is right. It also represents your conscience, or your view of what is considered to be wrong.
Finally, we have the ego. The ego operates in your preconscious and conscious mind. The ego is the part of the personality that makes your decisions; this is like the cartoon character in the example. The ego is in the middle, makes the decision, and faces the consequences.
The ego operates according to the reality principle. The reality principle is the idea that the desires of the id must be satisfied in a method that is both socially appropriate and realistic. The ego must mediate the demands of the id, the superego, and reality.
Instinct and Motivation According to Freud
You now know how our consciousness interacts to determine behavior according to Freud, but what motivates our behavior? The answer to this is that we are motivated by our instincts.
Freud described two types of instincts. Life instincts are one motivational drive described by Freud. Freud also uses the term libido, or sexual energy, for life instincts. Life instincts serve the purpose of survival and encourage growth, development, and creativity. Freud considers all pleasurable acts life instincts. Death instincts are another type of motivational drive described by Freud. Death instincts account for our aggressive tendencies. Freud believed that managing this aggression is a major challenge of human nature.
Freud's Psychosexual Development
Freud took his theories on personality and used them to form a developmental theory. He called this theory psychosexual development. Freud postulates five stages of chronological development that begin in infancy. These stages are oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Key developmental tasks are characteristic of each stage. Freud believed the first three stages are the most important. These three stages occur before the age of six and form the foundation for personality development.
Lesson Summary
Freud's theories, especially his idea of the unconscious mind, have had a lasting impact on the field of psychology. He described three levels of consciousness: the unconscious, the preconscious, and conscious. He also described three parts of the personality. The first part of the personality to develop is the id, the ego develops next, and the superego develops last.
These personality components work together to determine behavior. Behavior is motivated by instinct. There are two types of instinct described by Freud: life instincts and death instincts. Freud also formed a developmental theory he called psychosexual development. This theory includes five stages of chronological development.
Learning Outcomes
This video is here to help you learn to:
- Identify who Sigmund Freud was and what his psychoanalytic theory was
- Define the three levels of consciousness
- Describe the Id, Superego and Ego
- Identify the two types of instincts, according to Freud
- Discuss Freud's theory of psychosexual development
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Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
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