The Three Elements of Personality by Sigmund Freud

There are many issues with using case studies as it is very difficult to apply the results on a large group of individuals. This is due to the subject who was involved within the case study might not have the typical behaviours which are recognized within a group of individuals. Within this case study of Little Hans there are many doubts about it as Freud didn’t have a huge role in this case study.

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 believed human behavior was not consciously controlled, and credited three parts in the mind to any psychological activity. These are called the unconscious, the preconscious and the conscious. Personality too was given three parts, the id, the super ego and the ego. Freud believed these parts in our mind have their individual parts to play in the way we go about life. He also stated the only way to work through conflicts that arise from our subconscious and unconscious mind is through dream analysis and psychoanalysis. Other key concepts in psychodynamic theory are the psychosexual stages of development, anxiety, defence mechanisms, and free association.

Freud’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.

His theory suggests that unconscious forces act to determine personality and behavior. In which is a part of the a person’s personality where they 're unaware “conscious awareness”, such as infantile wishes, desires, demands, and needs that are hidden because of their disturbing nature. He states that “the unconscious is responsible for a good part of our everyday behavior” (Robert 13). Freud would argue that personality is formed during childhood and that everyone’s personality is among three necessary structures of the human mind: the id, ego, and superego. According to Freud, children go through five stages the oral stage (0 to 18 months), anal stage (18 months to 3 years), phallic stage (3 to 6 years), latency stage (6 to puberty), genital stage (puberty to

Sigmund Freud is highly renowned psychologists known for his most controversial theories in the history of psychology. He is also believed to be the father of modern psychiatry and psychology. His works are read widely and are criticized as well. He has left behind numerous theories regarding human mind and behavior out of which some are commonly accepted and some are widely debated. The question after that arises now is “Why did Freud’s theories get many criticisms?”

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

The physician Sigmund Freud created the concept psychoanalytic theory and also accepted reactive development and discontinuous growth. Freud created the id, ego and superego personality components that determined how society ruled our lives. This way of thinking gave birth to psychosexual development where there are five

Freud described humans as having three essential components that built personality. The three components were the id, the ego, and the superego. He described the id, as being what governed an infant’s drive to overcome their primitive biological desires. According to his theory infants had no other goal than to release the tension that built up when their

Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.

Psychoanalysis was the first formal theory of personality influenced by Sigmund Freud. Freud divided personality into three levels: the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. He later revised this notion and

Psychoanalysis was the name given by Sigmund Freud to a system of interpretation and therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders. (McLeod, 2007) In particular, we present five key concepts on psychoanalytic therapy: structure of personality, psychosexual stages, defense mechanism, anxiety, and the unconscious mind.

Psychologist, psychoanalyst, doctor of medicine, and author, Sigmund Freud’s contributions to the world of science and psychology were far from limited. The self and widely regarded scientist was born in Friedberg in 1856 where he lived before moving to Vienna, Germany, where he would later produce founding revelations at the birth of psychology as a science. From his beginnings, Freud focused on psychopathology and the conscious mind (Jones, 1949). The renowned “Father of Psychoanalysis” created a pathway and a foundation for psychology, influencing the world of psychology from its birth to modern day practice. Freud’s delve into the unconscious, dreams, psychosexual development, and the id, ego, and super-ego, are just a limited number of his studies that greatly influenced numerous psychologists and theories of modern psychology. One of his earliest practices and most accredited work dealt with psychoanalysis specifically. Though this practice is seldom used in modern psychology in the treatment of psychological disorders, it assuredly carried great influence in the development of modern practices of psychological theories. Freud’s creation of psychoanalysis exceeded his professional career, influencing modern psychologists and theories, one specifically being ego psychology, that was founded in the mid 20th century of modern

“A trailblazer of modern-day psychology,” Sigmund Freud presented new ways of thinking about human nature, pioneered new techniques of understanding human behavior, and created the most comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy ever developed (Himmat, 1997).

At the age of 40 in 1896, Sigmund Freud introduced the world to a new term- psychoanalysis (Gay 1). Psychoanalysis is a method of treating patients with different nervous problems by involving them in dialogues which provide the physician with insight into the individual’s psyche. These dialogues provided the basis for Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which “attempts to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges” (Weiten 363). Part of this theory involves the structure of the mind. This is a concept that touches