Freud's Theories on Personality Development Essay

The unconscious mind houses the preconscious, a small section that houses material that is non-threatening, and easily brought to mind. But deeper in the unconscious mind are the instinctual drives, the wishes, desires, demands, and needs that are kept hidden from out conscious selves because of the conflicts and pain they would cause if they were brought to bear every day. Psychoanalytic personality theory tells us that the personality consists of three separate, but forever intermingling elements, id, ego, and superego. The id section of a personality is by far the largest, the only section that we are born with, and the section that contains the unconscious thoughts, it is raw, unorganized, and from the time of birth it tries to reduce tension caused by our primary drives. The ego, a section that develops soon after birth, balances the instinctual desires of the id and the realities of the outside world. Last of course is the superego, the final personality structure that is developed in childhood, and represent the rights and wrongs of society, contained within the superego is the conscience, the part of us that prevents us from behaving in a morally deplorable way and is responsible for guilt. Psychoanalytic personality theory is not without its virtues; Freud’s proposed five psychosexual stages – oral, anal, phallic-oedipal, latency and genital – are all supported in life.

Freud primarily subscribed to the idea that there are two energies that drive human behavior. These two energies are sex – the pleasure principle and aggression. The human mind is comprised of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Within the realms of the mind, the human personality is controlled by the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is driven by the pleasure principle. The superego is the instinctual moral good, which aims to please the ego ideal, or the magnified moral values. The ego interacts with both the id and the superego and aims to please both components (Connors).

Psychoanalysis is an approach to psychology that was made well known as a way to bring for the unconscious to the conscious. It is theorized that the memories that we store in our unconscious affects us, and can cause neurotic behaviors. The approaches also include Analytical, Individual. Three people that worked on these theories are Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler. Each of these men approached psychoanalysis in both similar and individual ways, and have their own theories that will be further discusses within this essay.

The Psychodynamic Approach was first approach by Sigmund Freud; he dealt with the understanding that personality came from our unconscious state of mind. And that unconscious state interacted to determine our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings (Bernstein, 425). Freud also created the psychoanalytical theory stating that personality led the way to handling psychological disorders. He divided personality into three main topics; which are the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the basis of each human being’s instincts we are all born with. It is the immediate wants I crave; it may show more selfish side. The ego is the part that subdues the id and calms it down. It allows me to think and realize certain actions may upset someone else around me. The superego is

Sigmund Freud was a well known psychologist whose theories have founded the understanding of the human psyche. Freud’s theory of personality is one of his most known theories. It details that there are three segments of consciousness. The id is desire, immorality and is what drives us to do wrong. The superego exists to counteract and overpower the id, as it is morality, commonly known as our conscious. The ego exists to balance out both extremes and devises a solution to sate each segment. Then there are the defense mechanisms, repression, denial, projection, displacement, regression and sublimation. These are employed by the ego to keep the balance between the id and the superego and to protect the psyche, especially in traumatic times. Last, the Oedipus complex which Freud believed, only exists in children from the ages of 3-5, when they become attracted to

The ego must make a balance between the id and the superego; trying to satisfy our needs whilst not offending the superego. The ego sometimes uses defence mechanisms to remove problems. Some examples are:

Freud attempted to explain how the unconscious functions by dividing it into three structures, the id, ego, and superego. The id holds our primitive instincts that demand immediate gratification, because it operates on the pleasure principle (McLeod, 2010). Similarly, the ego also seeks pleasure. However, instead of seeking immediate gratification, the ego acts realistically in order to avoid potentially negative consequences that may arise. On the other hand, our superego represents our conscious. It encompasses the morals and values we learn by society and our parents as we go through the stages of

The psychodynamic theory would explain an individual’s personality in terms of conscious and unconscious forces, such as unconscious desires and beliefs. In the early 20th century, Sigmund Freud proposed the psychodynamic theory consists of the id (accountable for instincts and pleasure-seeking), the superego (attempts to submit to the rules of parents and society), and the ego (which facilitates between the id and superego according to the stresses of reality) (Cherry, n.d.). Psychodynamic theories believe childhood experiences shape a person’s personality.

Freud believed that the human personality consisted of three interworking parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id, the largest part of the mind, is related to desires and impulses and is the main source of basic biological needs. The ego is related to reasoning and is the conscious, rational part of the personality; it monitors behavior in order to satisfy basic desires without suffering negative consequences (Boundless.com). The superego, or conscience, develops through interactions with others (mainly parents) who want the child to conform to the norms of society (Boundless.com). Freud believed that our adult lives were shaped by childhood experiences, meaning that if children did not receive the proper nurturing, that the child would be stuck in that stage or behaviors

However, According to Freud, the super-ego exists as a way to level out the ego, and, in a way, keep it in check. Therefore, the super-ego is responsible for an individual’s conscience, or, their ability to feel guilt. Freud continues his explanation of these concepts by asserting the idea that the super-ego calls our attention to our own failures and misconducts, and attempts to assist us in learning from them in order to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Furthermore, the conscience is the form in which the super-ego controls our actions and thoughts, and creates guilt within us. Therefore, the ego is the decision-making, acting part of an individual, while the super-ego acts as the ego’s voice of authority and control (Freud).

Freud theorized that each person has an id, ego, and superego. The id operates on what is referred to as the pleasure principle and seeks instant gratification for basic urges such as sex, hunger, and thirst. The ego operates on the reality principle and attempts to satisfy the id’s urges by rational, safe, and socially acceptable means. The superego requires that these solutions be moral and ethical. However, if this balance were to become skewed, for example, if the id were to become too powerful, its unacceptable urges would rise to the preconscious and cause a great deal of anxiety. In order to get rid of this anxiety, the ego will employ the use of defense mechanisms.

Freud’s theory of personality states that the human psyche can be separated into three different areas the Id, ego and superego (Freud, 1923). The id is the most primitive part of the psychic apparatus and is present from birth. It is completely unconscious and is primarily concerned with desire, instinct and drive. It is described as the pleasure principle and seeks to avoid pain. The id contains the libido

Sigmund Freud’s research indicated that our behavior is influenced by id, ego and superego, or what he termed “structure of personality” (nthdimension, 2010). The id is present at birth and is the most basic and primitive part of our personality. Id’s drive is instinctual and can be described as having the life instinct named Eros and the death instinct named Thanatos. Id is responsible for the basic, instinctual needs of survival like hunger and thirst. Ego is developed to compromise between the instinctual desire driven Id and the external expectations of parents and society. Superego is developed when a child is about 5 years old and is the internalization of the

Freud said that the Ego is the mediator between the Id and Superego and the outside world. For the Ego to do its job, it has to delay the desires of the Id until it is socially acceptable to give the Id the needs. So our conscious-driven Ego is a balance of the Id and Superego, evening out our primal needs

In the textbook, the authors discuss Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in which, according to Freud, individuals acted out their desires and behaviors in response to a mental system made up of the ego, superego, and id (Cervone & Pervin, 2013). The ego seeks reality. On one hand the ego wants to meet the desires of the id, but at the same time the ego also wants to satisfy the demands of the superego. The superego controls the moral and social acceptable aspects of an individual’s behavior. The id is the part of the system that functions under the pleasure principle. Simply put, the id wants to achieve pleasure and it wants to avoid pain. Individuals entered states were they would seek to relive tension and to achieve pleasure. These states are called instincts or drives.