Psychology Theories
Uploaded by tauseef on May 05, 2005
Sigmund Freud
Biography
Sigmund Freud was born on 6th May 1856 in Moravia’s town Freiberg. He lived the most of his life in Vienna. Freud was always a brilliant student in his classes. He went to a medical school and became involved in man researches lead by a professor of psychology named Ernst Brucke. Freud was a very good researcher and made new discoveries about his topics. From there he went on with many great psychiatrists like Charcot in Paris and Bernheim in Nancy. He found out a lot about hypnosis and hysterics. After studying abroad in Berlin, he cam back to Vienna and married Martha Bernays. Freud gained fame by writing many books and giving lectures about topics of psychology. During World War II, Freud came to England as Vienna was not a safe place for Jews. Soon after, he died from a mouth cancer disease. But by now Freud had discovered a lot about psychology and today people read his theories and believe in it.
Contribution to the Theories of Personality
In his life Freud introduced many theories of personality. Some of the main theories include:
1. The idea of conscious versus the unconscious.
2. The id, the ego, and the superego.
3. Life and Death instincts
4. Anxiety
5. The defense mechanisms
6. The stages
7. The Oedipal crisis
8. Character
The first theory is the idea of conscious versus the unconscious. Freud defines the conscious mind as what one is aware of at any given moment, one’s present ideas and views, fantasies, thoughts, memories, and feelings. However Freud suggests that the conscious part of our brain is smaller than the unconscious. The unconscious part is the largest and it includes the things that one is not aware of, for example our instincts, memories, emotions, and things that we can’t bear to look at. Freud also says that the unconscious is what gives us motivation for desires of food or sex.
The id, ego, and the superego is one of the famous theories introduced by Freud. The first of these is the id. The id works just to keep us pleased and happy. The id demands to take care of our immediate needs, for example if there is someone else’s food kept somewhere then the id forces the hungry person to take the food and don’t care about the consequences. The ego works with the reality principle. The ego takes care of a need by finding rational solutions that might not have harsh consequences, for example if...