SIGMUND FREUD

“The father of Psychoanalysis”

Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective

1856-1939

“I was the only worker in a new field.”Love him or hate him, Sigmund Freud has profoundly influenced

Western culture. To recognize his influence, we need to understand

Freud’s ideas concerning the unconscious, psychosexual stages, and

mechanisms for defending against anxiety.

What is psychoanalysis?

• Psychoanalysis is the study of human

psychological functioning and

behaviour.

• It is also investigation of the mind.

Freud lived in a calm society in Vienna, with a loving mother (hmm), a not-so-successful father and did a lot of his research from a few case studies. He dropped a cultural bomb.

• He claimed that,– We are driven by forces from the unconsciousinstead of rational.– We are primitive animals instead of godlike/altruistic beings– We are driven by sexual forces instead ofintellectual beings.

Personality Theory According to Freud

• Personality is defined as follows:

The unique pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting by which each person reacts to the external world.

Freud called his theory and associated techniques psychoanalysis.

Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality.

Unconsious- “below the surface” aspect of our mind, which contains thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories, of which we are unaware.

Free association- the patient is asked to relax and say whatever comes to mind, no matter how embarrassing or trivial.

According to Freud, there are 3 levels: Unconscious, Preconscious, Conscious

What happens in there?Top of the iceberg: Conscious mind (smallest part ).• We can access this, we are aware of this part of “us.”• We understand it logically. Middle of iceberg: Preconscious (medium size).• Ordinary memory. You don’t keep a lot of information in your conscious mind all the time – why?• If you need to know something (where you parked your car, your sister’s birthday, your 9th grade dance, etc.) you can bring it

“up”) to your Conscious mind. Bottom of iceberg: Unconscious (larger than the othertwo). “Underwater”• The unconscious: Plays a very large role in how we

function as human beings. • Most of the work among

the Id, Ego, and Superego happens here

Personality Structure according to Freud

ID-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress. Irrational, emotional, strong and instinctual. (I want…NOW)

The id operates on the pleasure principle: If not constrained by reality, it seeks immediate gratification. Ignores moral and sexual boundaries of society)

Sometimes reveals itself in actions, words, and mental images – the meaning of which barred from conscious knowledge through repression. Relief comes through dreams, jokes, Freudian slips and accidental gestures.

SUPEREGO

Superego-represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. Causes us to make moral judgments based on societal pressures – suppresses desires and instincts forbidden by society and thrusts them back into the unconciousness (sense of guilt and fear) It is the internal sensor bringing social pressures to oppose the ID. Manifests itself through punishment. Suppresses.

EGO

Ego-the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality.

The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

(denial of immediate pleasure to avoid negative consequences)

Freud’s Psychosexual StagesChild must successfully pass through each stage to become a healthy adult

• STAGE

Oral (0-18 months)

Anal (18-36 months)

Phallic (3-6 years)

Latency (6 to puberty)

Genital (puberty on)

• FOCUS

Pleasure centers on the mouth-sucking, chewing, biting (think of nursing)

Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control (anal retention….)

Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

Dormant sexual feeling

Maturation of sexual interest

Important Psychosexual Stage Theory Vocabulary

• Oedipus complex-a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

• Identification-the process by which, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos

• Fixation-a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, where conflicts were unresolved.

DEFENSE MECHANISMTactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways,

but always by distorting reality.

1. Repression

2. Regression

3. Reaction formation

4. Projection

5. Rationalization

6. Displacement

• banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts and feelings from consciousness

• retreating to an earlier, more infantile stage of development

• the ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposites

• Attributing one’s own unacceptable threatening impulses to others

• offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions

• shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

• Constant repression results in an internal battle between id and ego - eg. Neurosis (physical and psychological abnormalities – “Hysteria”, fear of heights, etc.

• (this is the stuff of literature!)

Freud’s View of Dreams• According to Freud dreams have 2 components:

Dreams are softened and socially acceptable desires of our ID that seem into the conscious mind -- window

– Manifest Content-the storyline of our dreams-sometimes incorporates traces of previous days’ experiences and preoccupations.

– Latent Content-censored symbolic version-consists of unconscious drives and wishes that may be threatening if expressed directly.

– A) Displacement – a hate for Mr. Appleby may manifest itself as a rotting apple in a dream

– B) Condensation – psyche consolidates itself into a simple sentence

Psychoanalytical Theoryposits:

• A work of literature is an external expression of the author’s unconscious mind

• Freud’s assumption that all artists, including authors, are neurotic

• Text must be analyzed like a dream – a disguised wish

• Must pull back layers

Methodology

• A focus on the author – psychobiography- amass data through biographies, letters, lectures

• Indepth understanding of author would lead to understanding of works

• CHARACTER analysis - examine the characters’ motivations and actions

• SEXUAL analysis – what dynamic is present? Anything residual from the stages? What about the ID?

Application

1. Do you have any insights into the psychological elements underlying the characters, themes and plots of the text?

2. What internal conflicts exist within the character? (id, ego, superego)

3. What causes the characters to act in particular ways? Or, not react…

4. Any insights into the author?5. Do the characters’ motivations and actions

become a creation of the reader and author?