Sigmund Freud: Overview

Topographic Model of the Human Mind Conscious. Ruled by the Ego and its chief of police the Superego. The actual contents of awareness; i.e., what one is conscious of at a given moment. It is here that most of our activities are preformed as ordered by our ideas and hopes for ourselves. Preconscious. The entire set of contents of the mind accessible to consciousness but not in awareness at the moment. Although descriptively unconscious, the contents of the preconscious are not blocked from access by repression or other psychological defenses. Unconscious. Mental processes not acccessible to consciousness by direct means, i.e., by turning attention to them. Their existence must thus be inferred through examination of gaps in consciousness, symptoms, dreams, etc. The unconscious is a realm of chaos. Here primordial instincts - desires, fears, rage - struggle for expression and gratification.

The Freudian model of the human mind. (Click on image for a larger view,)

The conscious and the unconscious are locked in an eternal battle. Usually, the unconscious is vanquished by the conscious, which is why we don't run around killing each other all the time. However, the unconscious doesn't give up -- it demands attention -- which is why it comes out at night when we sleep while the conscious mind is resting.

However, the unconscious mind has such a disgusting and despicable nature, that without the ID providing symbols, our dreams would wake us (and the superego) up. The Id has a tough job. It must present the information from the unconscious to the conscious, but must do so in a way that evades the censer of the dreamer.

The Id ("the it")

The Id is the primary source of psychic energy and the seat of the instincts. The purpose of the Id is to discharge quantities of excitation (energy or tension) that are released in the organism by internal or external stimulation.

Freud called the method the Id uses to discharge tension the pleasure principle. The aim of the pleasure principle is to rid the person of tension. Tension is experienced as pain or discomfort, while relief from tension is experienced as pleasure or satisfaction.

The Id is a reflex apparatus that discharges immediately by motor pathways any sensory excitations reaching it. For example, when a bright light falls upon the retina the eyelid closes.

Instincts

Instincts are inborn conditions which impart direction to psychological processes.

1. Source. Bodily needs or impulses which release energy that is stored in the body. The physical condition of hunger activates the hunger instinct by providing it with energy. This instinct provides goal direction to the psychological processes of perception, memory, and thought.
   
   
2. Aim. The aim of the instinct is the removal of a bodily need. Once the need is met, no more bodily energy is released. Once hunger has been satisfied, for example, the hunger instinct disappears and the individual returns to a state of normalcy.
   
   
3. Object. The object or means by which the aim is produced. The object of the hunger instinct is food.
   
   
4. Impetus. The strength of force of the instinct.

Displacement and Sublimation

If the object of the instinct is unavailable, the energy is rechanneled from one object to another. This is displacement. The personality of an individual is formed in large part by a series of energy displacements or object substitutions.

The causes of displacement are the same as those that produce all personality development: maturation, frustration, conflict, inadequacy, and anxiety.

Example 1: Oral gratification

The mouth and lips are sensitive zones which are intimately associated with eating. The stimulation of the lips by the nipple causes the baby to suck, which satisfies the baby's hunger. However, the gentle stimulation of the lips is also pleasurable in its own right and the lack of such stimulation after a period of time is irritating. There is, in other words, a need to suck that which if not fully satisfied by the ingestion of food will express itself in other ways. The baby will suck its own fingers or other objects within reach. (Recall our last discussion on the "primary process.") If punished for sucking its thumb, the child will look elsewhere for gratification to objects such as a sucker or pacifier that it can suck without being punished. As the child grows older, childish forms of gratification are abandoned under social pressure and adult ways are adopted: smoking, kissing, wetting the lips, applying lipstick, drinking, whistling, spitting, etc.

There are two determinants for the direction displacement will take.

1. Parents and society influence the direction of displacement by sanctioning certain object-choices and prohibiting others. An adult who sucked on the nipple of a baby's bottle would be the object of scorn, but he or she can drink beer from a bottle with impunity.
2. The degree of resemblance between the original and the substitute object. If a person is barred from discharging tension by one route, he will seek another outlet which as much like the forbidden path as it is possible to be.

Example 2: Resemblance.

A boy's first love object is ordinarily his mother. She is originally perceived as the ideal woman. Because it is impossible for him to obtain exclusive possession of his mother, he is motivated to look for a substitute who is both perfect and available. The choice may fall on his first-grade teacher, an aunt, or a next-door neighbor, until he finds out that they also have their drawbacks or are unavailable. Next he falls in love with an older girl, perhaps an older sister, a babysitter, or the girlfriend of an older brother. These choices turn out to be blind alleys. He may start daydreaming about the perfect woman or try to find her in books or in movies. If artistically inclined, he may write poetry or paint pictures which embody his conception of the ideal woman. In the end he usually settles for a real person, a person who resembles his mother or the idealized version of his mother. In this search for a mother substitute, displacement is piled upon displacement so that a whole network of object-cathexes is constructed. His interests, hobbies, personal habits and traits, values, and etc. will all be colored by the displacement of energy from the frustrated desire to possess his mother.

Sublimation is the deflection of object energy into a higher cultural or moral goal. Freud believed, for example, that DaVinci's interest in painting Madonnas was a sublimated expression of his longing for his mother, from whom he was separated at birth.

Repression and Projection

Repression forces a dangerous memory, idea, or perception out of consciousness and sets up a barrier against any form of motor discharge. Repression typically results from a traumatic experience. All associated memories of the event, no matter how harmless, are blocked so that the individual does not run the risk of remembering the traumatic experience. Repression may prevent a person from seeing something in plain view, or distort that which he or she does see. Sometimes repression will interfere with the normal functioning of a part of the body.

Projection: When a person is made to feel anxious by the id, ego, or superego, he or she may try to relieve that anxiety by attributing its cause to something else. Instead of saying, "I hate him," one can say, "He hates me." This type of ego defense against neurotic and moral anxiety is called projection.