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Contribution of Freudian Psychology CONTRIBUTION OF FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY B.A. IInd (Honors), Lecture Series-3 By Dr. Masaud Ansari Department of Psychology, A.P.S.M. College, Barauni L. N. M. University, Darbhanga 23 JULY 2020 Contribution of Freudian Psychology A glimpse of the details of the work can be had from The Standard Edition of the Works of Sigmund Freud, 24 volumes that has been edited by J. Strachey. However, Freud’s systematic position can be presented under the following sev en headings: 1. Topographical Structure: Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious 2. Structural Model: Id, Ego and Superego 3. Psychic energy and theory of instincts 4. Anxiety and defence mechanisms 5. Stages of Psychosexual Development 6. Freud’s Social Psychology 7. Mind-body position 1. Topographical Structure: Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious i. He divided the mind into two parts- conscious and unconscious. ii. The unconscious has two different levels- the unconscious proper and preconscious. iii. Consciousness is defined as consisting of those mental elements that are in awareness at any given moment. iv. Inhis famous “iceberg” analogy, the upper small portion of the ice represents consciousness. v. The pre-consciousness consists of all those mental elements which are not conscious but can become readily available to consciousness with little effort. vi. For this reason this is also sometimes called as available memory. vii. The unconscious is the most important part of the mind and in terms of “iceberg” analogy, it is equivalent to the part of the ice that is submerged into the water. viii. Unconscious is the largest part of the mind. ix. The unconscious consists of those mental elements that can’t become conscious or which can do so with much difficulty. x. The unconscious ideas mostly relate to childhood experiences and sexual desires as well as conflicts. 2. Structural Model: Id, Ego and Superego i. Freud divided mind into three provinces- id, ego and superego. ii. Id refers to the biological elements of personality. iii. It is such a mental agency that is inherited and fixed in the individual’s constitution. iv. Id impulses are unorganised and obey no rules and no laws. Free from all inhibitions. v. In fact, they are Id wants immediate gratifications of its wishes and desires by reducing tensions. vi. This is called pleasure principle. vii. Id has no contact with reality. viii. Therefore, it is not changed by the experiences of person or by the passage of time. ix. Id employs two mechanisms for reducing tension- reflex action and primary process. Conti… x. Asinfant grows, the ego comes into being, evolving out of the id. xi. It grows throughout the individual’slifetime. xii. The ego of ‘I’ is that region of the mind which remainsin contact with reality. xiii. It is governed by the reality principle which is a principle that enables the person torelease gradually the id energy keeping in view the social restrictions and person’s conscience. xiv. It allows satisfaction of instinctual gratification only when appropriate environmental conditions have arisen. xv. Thus the basic purpose of reality principle is to maintain integrity of the individual. xvi. Since ego remains in contact with the external reality, it becomes the decision-making or the executive of personality. xvii. Since the ego is partly conscious, partly subconscious and partly unconscious, it makes decision at each at three levels. xviii. The ego basically serves two functions. xix. First, it tries to reduce anxiety by preventing threatening impulses from coming into consciousness by means of defence mechanisms. xx. Second, it tires tomaintain communication between the id and the outside world. xxi. For serving this function smoothly the ego preserves accurate observation and makes use of them at the appropriate places. Conti… i. The superego or ‘above-I’is the moral commander of personality. ii. It grows out of the ego and like ego, it has no energy of its own. iii. It is guided by the idealistic principle. iv. It differs from the ego in the sense that it has no contact with world of reality and therefore, it is unrealistic in its demand for perfection. v. Freud divided superego into two subsystems- the conscience and the ego-ideal. vi. Although Freud did not care to distinguish between these two sub-systems, conscience results from experiences with punishment for behaviour whereas the ego-ideal develops as a result of reward given to the child for proper behaviour. 3. Psychic energy and theory of instincts i. Freud assumed two types of energy- the physiological energy and the psychic energy. ii. The physiological energy is derived from the food we consumed and it is utilised for purposes like breathing, walking, running, writing, etc. iii. The psychic energy is derived from the “neurophysiologic states of excitation” and it is utilised in the psychological activities like thinking. iv. He further assumed that these two kinds of energy could be transformed into each other. v. The id was the mediating point between the psychic energy and the physiological energy. vi. According to Freud, each person has a limited amount of psychic energy and the total amount of the psychic energy is expanded in those mental activities that attempt to reduce bodily excitations created by the various needs. vii. The psychological or mental representations of these bodily excitations or need is called instinct. Conti… viii. Instincts have four major features- a source, an aim, an object and an impetus/motive. ix. Throughout life the source of an instinct is the bodily need it represents and its aim is to gratify the need. x. Both source and aim remain constant over time. xi. The object of an instinct includes things that can satisfy the instinct. xii. Freud distinguishes two categories of instincts- the life instinct or eros and death instinct or thanatos. xiii. The life instinct includes all those forces that maintain vital life process ad assure propagation of species. xiv. The sex instinct is the most important one in development of personality and the energy of the sex instinct is called libido. xv. The death instinct or thanatos or also known as destructive instinct includes all those forces that underline the manifestations of murder, suicide, aggression and cruelty. 4. Anxiety and defence mechanisms i. Anxiety is another important variable in psychoanalytic system. ii. He recognised three types of anxiety- realistic anxiety, neurotic anxiety and moral anxiety. iii. A realistic anxiety or also known as objective anxiety is one in which there occurs emotional response to real threat or danger present in the environment. iv. Neurotic anxiety is one in which there occurs emotional response or a threat to ego that the id impulses may breakthrough into consciousness. v. Sometimes, the superego gives threats to punish the ego which causes an emotional response called moral anxiety. vi. Whatever may be the type of anxiety, the person wants to protect the ego from the ensuring anxiety. Conti… vii. For doing this, ego adopts some strategies which are called defence mechanisms or ego defence mechanisms. viii. These mechanisms help the person in protecting the ego from open expression of id impulses and opposing superego directive. ix. There are varieties of defence mechanisms and all these mechanisms share two common characteristics. x. First, defence mechanisms operate at the unconscious level, that is, they occur without the awareness of the individual. xi. Second, they tend to distort the person’s sense of reality. Major defence mechanisms enlisted in Freudian psychoanalysis: i. Repression: It has been regarded as the most primary and important ego defense. Repression is a process that forces the unwanted feelings that are threatening to ego, into the state of unconscious. Freud used hypnosis, free association and dream in unearthing such repressed impulses. ii. Reaction Formation: It is a process in which ego defends itself through adopting a disguise form or having quite opposite form of the threatening impulses. Therefore, it operates at two levels. First, the forbidden impulses are repressed. Second, the opposite of the impulses is expressed on a conscious level. iii. Fixation: The psychical growth takes place through various stages of psychosexual development. When due to apprehension of some stress and anxiety at the next stage of psychosexual development, ego prefers to remain at the present stage which is more comfortable, it results in what is called fixation. Thus fixation leads a person to remain fix on some old ways of life. Conti… iv. Projection: It is a mechanism by which the person finds in others those unacceptable feelings and impulses that actually reside in him. In other words, this is a process whereby the ego may get rid of unwanted and threatening impulses to an external object or person. v. Regression: It is a mechanism in which during the times of stress and anxiety, the person reverts back to the earlier stage of psychosexual development or to some simpler mode of expression. Regression is v ery commonly seen in children and adults. vi. Rationalisation: This mechanism is based upon the old saying, “grapes are sour”. Here the person tries to distort reality and protect his ego thereby making irrational behaviour appear rational. vii. Displacement: In this mechanism, the person protects ego by redirecting the impulses from threatening persons or situations to less threatening one. 5. Stages of Psychosexual Development i. One of the basic assumptions of Freudian psychoanalysis is that at birth sex energy (libido) remains present and subsequently, it passes through a series of psychosexual stages. ii. The term psychosexual emphasises that the major factor underlying personality development is sexual instinct. iii. According to Freud, between birth and the age of 5 or 6, the child passes through three stages of psychosexual development- oral, anal and phallic.
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