Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality:
The psychoanalytic theory of personality, developed by Sigmund Freud, is one of the most well-known and influential theories of personality. This theory suggests that unconscious conflicts and desires influence personality and behavior.
According to the t...
Psychodynamic Theories:
○ Unconscious motive and desires (View of Human nature)
○ Importance of childhood experiences
▪ First 5 years are important
Why it's interesting?
○ Twin cornerstones: sex and aggression
○ Freud's dedicated followers
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, ○ Freud's dedicated followers
○ Brilliant command of language
Freud's Patients
- Small sample of patients (case study approach)
- Upper-middle class
▪ Therefore there is no generalization
SIGMUND FREUD Biography
Sigismund (Sigmund) Freud
- March/May 6, 1856
- Firstborn child but has older half brothers
- Favorite of his indulgent mother
- Heavy mother/son dynamic
- No close friendship with younger siblings
- At 15 years old, his mom gave birth to Julius
Career
- Studied Medicine
- Traveling grant to Paris and met Jean-Martin Charcot
- Close association with Josef Breur and taught him about the process of catharsis
- Free association technique
- From his adolescence, he dream of achieving fame
- THE STORY (cocaine)
- 2nd attempt of making into fame: "male hysteria"
- Published studies on Hysteria
- Freud vs. Breuer conflict (add Fliess to the picture)
Crises
- 1890s: personal and professional isolation and death of the father
- The start of self-analysis
- Experienced midlife crisis
- Despite.. .published Interpretation of Dreams
- Breakup with Fliess (pattern?)
- Developed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
- Met Carl Jung
- The breakup with Carl Jung
- During the WW1, he experienced difficult times
Theory: Sexual direction
- Thinking of sex, but infrequently having sex
- After Anna (his daughter), he had no sexual intercourse for years
- Freud thought that condom, coitus interruptus, masturbation were unhealthy sexual practices
- Does not want children after Anna, go for sexual abstinence
- After the age of 50, he developed a love-hate relationship with men
Levels of Mental Life
Note: People are motivated primarily by drives of which they have little or no awareness.
- Freud believed that most mental processes are unconscious
- He proposed that people have three levels of awareness:
I. Conscious
- contains all the information that a person is paying attention to at any given time Ex: The words Dan is reading,
the objects in his field of vision, the sounds he can hear, and any thirst, hunger, or pain he is
II. Preconscious
- contains all the information outside of a person's attention but readily available if needed
Ex: Linda's telephone number and many of her past
experiences are in her preconscious
III. Unconscious
- contains thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories of which people have no awareness but that influence every
aspect of their day-to-day lives.
Ex: Stan's unconscious might contain angry feelings toward his mother or a traumatic incident he experiences at
age four
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