Sigmund Freud: Psychodynamic Perspective

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When people think of psychology they most likely think of a shrink or a psychiatrist. You visualize someone laying on a couch and telling a man or a woman with a note pad, their innermost thoughts and secrets, in order to find out what is wrong with them, or if there is anything that can be done to fix whatever problem they may be having. One of the most well known psychologist of all time is Sigmund Freud. Freud is famous for his non scientific approach called psychoanalysis or the psychodynamic approach. He believed that humans have an unconscious state of mind, where a part of the brain contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are not really even known by the person them self. He based this knowledge off of what his patients had told him during their therapy.

One of Freud’s most important ideas was that the humans have more that one personality. Freud “saw the psyche structured into three parts . . . the id, ego and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives” (McLeod, “Psychodynamic Approach”). The id consists of all inherited - biological - components of personality. This includes the sex - life - instinct and the aggression - death - instinct. Id is the unconscious and impulsive part of the mind it responds to your instincts. At the beginning of life you only have id, and you don’t develop superego and ego until you grow old enough to understand right from wrong. The article Id, Ego and Superego states, “The id demands immediate satisfaction and when this happens we experience pleasure, when it is denied we experience ‘unpleasure’ or pain” (McLeod). This is known as the pleasure principle, the idea that every want should be satisfied no matter what the consequences may be.

The superego uses all the mora...

... middle of paper ...

...irected to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self pleasure during the phallic stage” (McLeod).

Works Cited

Huffman, Karen. Psychology in Action. 10th Ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2012. 2. eBook. .

McLeod, Saul. "Id, Ego and Superego." SimplyPsychology. (2008): n. page. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. .

McLeod, Saul. "Psychodynamic Approach." Simply Psychology. (2007): n. page. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. .

McLeod, Saul. "Psychosexual Stages." SimplyPsychology. (2008): n. page. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. .

"Sigmund Freud." personality-development.org. (2010): n. page. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. .

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