Saturday, March 3, 2012

Personality Theories-Sigmund Freud

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freud.html

Conscious vs Unconscious
Freud made the idea of the conscious vs unconscious mind popular. The conscious mind is what you are aware of at that particular moment, your present perceptions, thoughts, feelings, etc. Working closely with your conscious mind is your preconscious, which is your "available memory". Freud suggests that these two parts are the smallest parts of your mind, and much of your mind is made up of the unconscious. This includes all of the things that are not easily available to awareness, such as our drives or instincts, things we repress and memories and emotions associated with trauma. Freud believes the unconscious is the source of our motivations, like the simple desires for food or sex, neurotic compulsions or even things like the motives of an artist. We are often driven to deny or resist becoming conscious of these motives.

Id, Ego and the Superego
Freud also had theories about the "id, the ego, and the superego". The nervous system is a very important part of an organism. One of it's characteristics is a sensitivity to the organism's needs. At birth the nervous system is a little more than that of any other animal, an "it" or an id. The nervous system as id translates the organism's needs into motivational forces or wishes. During the first year of a child's life the "it" or "id" becomes an "I", some of the id becomes ego. The ego relates to the organism to reality by means of its consciousness and it searches for objects to satisfy the wishes that id creates to represent the organisms needs. The ego struggles to keep the id happy, as it meets with obstacles in the world. It meets with objects that assist it in attaining its goals. It keeps a records of these obstacles and aides. The record of things to avoid and strategies to take becomes the superego. This process is not completed until about age 7, and in some people it is never completed.


-Lyndsey


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