Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

A Brief Bio…

• Born into a poor Jewish Austrian family• Initially studied to become a doctor• Believed mental illness did not originate

from a purely physical cause• Smoked over 20 cigars per day• Fled the Nazis in 1938

– Lost 3 sisters in the Holocaust

Early Influences on FreudJean Charcot (1825-1893)• Hypnotism

Josef Breuer (1842-1925)• Significance of repressed

events • Anna O.• “Talking Cure”

The Mind According to Freud

Libido (Psychic/Sexual Energy)

• Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

Three Parts of the MindId Ego Superego

The Id

Basic drives (life/sexual and death/aggressive)–No sense of fear, morality, or good/evil–Only sees the self—no awareness of

others–The pleasure principle

• Eros• Thanatos

–Repetition Compulsion

The Ego-The mediator between Id and the demands

of society• Formed by the experience of pain—

defends the Id• Does not exist to punish the Id—exists to

fulfill the Id’s desires in socially acceptable ways

• The Reality Principle-Censors painful feelings from reaching

consciousness

The SuperegoThe conscience

• Judges the Id and is responsible for guilt, pride, and satisfaction

• Represents morality and parental authority

Psycho-Sexual Stages of Development According to Freud

• Stages shape the adult personality– Frustration or fixation in a

particular stage leads to issues later in life

The Oral Stage: Birth-1 year old

Sexual pleasure centers around the mouth– i.e., breast feeding

The Anal Stage: 2-3 years old

• Sexual pleasure centers around defecation and the anus

• i.e., toilet training

The Phallic Stage: 4-5 years old [different for boys and girls]

Boys:• Oedipus Complex• Castration Complex• In “healthy” boys, the conflict with the

father is resolved

The Phallic Stage: 4-5 years old

Girls• The Electra Complex

– “Penis Envy”• Girls cannot have a castration complex,

and thus can never resolve their Electra Complex– This explains their “natural” passive, defensive

role– Having a baby satisfies penis envy

The Latent Stage: 6-12 years old

• Sexual feelings developed in the first three stages are repressed

The Genital Stage: Adolescence

• See: your peers….

Freud’s Methodology-Repressed sexual desires are the key to

the personality

More Methodology…-Free association-Transference-Dreams

The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)

• The Censor• Displacement• Condensation• Symbolization• Projection