Psychology – Theories of Personality
Study Guide
Western Mindanao State University
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
Biography:
• Austrian physician and founder of Psychoanalysis
• Scientist, physician and writer
• Medical practice in treatment of mental disorders
• Regarded as creative minds of 20th century
• Responsible for developing theories central to:
◦ Psychoanalysis
◦ The psychology of human and
◦ Interpretation of dreams
• Begun to study hypnosis in his own practice publishing his earliest psychological article 1892.
View of Man
• Deterministic – Man has no control of his destiny. He is ruled by his unconscious-the ID his
instinctual drive and needs
• Stressed on unconscious motivation, conflict and symbolism
• AIM: Self-gratification
• Humankind is biological; irrational; unsocial and destructive of themselves and others
• Psych energy – libido=sexual energy/ libido = Eros/life force.. Drives for pleasure
• Postulates death instincts, which account for the aggressive drive. At times, people manifest
through their behavior an unconscious which to die or to hurt themselves or others.
Theories and Key Concepts
• ID: Operates according to the pleasure principle
◦ Primitive and unconscious part of the personality
• Ego: Operates according to the reality principle
◦ Mediates between id and superego
• Superego: Moral ideas and conscience
Three level of awareness:
• Conscious mind: includes everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental
processing that we can think and talks about rationally. The conscious mind is where we are
paying attention at the moment. It includes only our current thinking processes and objects of
attention, and hence constitutes a very large part of our current awareness.
• Unconscious mind: is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our
conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant,
such as feelings of pain, anxiety or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to
influence our behavior and experience. For Freud, the unconscious is the storehouse of
instinctual desires, needs and psychic actions. While past thoughts and memories may be
deleted from immediate consciousness, they direct the thoughts and feelings of the individual
from the realm of the unconscious. Freud divided mind into the conscious mind or Ego and two
Study Guide
Western Mindanao State University
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
Biography:
• Austrian physician and founder of Psychoanalysis
• Scientist, physician and writer
• Medical practice in treatment of mental disorders
• Regarded as creative minds of 20th century
• Responsible for developing theories central to:
◦ Psychoanalysis
◦ The psychology of human and
◦ Interpretation of dreams
• Begun to study hypnosis in his own practice publishing his earliest psychological article 1892.
View of Man
• Deterministic – Man has no control of his destiny. He is ruled by his unconscious-the ID his
instinctual drive and needs
• Stressed on unconscious motivation, conflict and symbolism
• AIM: Self-gratification
• Humankind is biological; irrational; unsocial and destructive of themselves and others
• Psych energy – libido=sexual energy/ libido = Eros/life force.. Drives for pleasure
• Postulates death instincts, which account for the aggressive drive. At times, people manifest
through their behavior an unconscious which to die or to hurt themselves or others.
Theories and Key Concepts
• ID: Operates according to the pleasure principle
◦ Primitive and unconscious part of the personality
• Ego: Operates according to the reality principle
◦ Mediates between id and superego
• Superego: Moral ideas and conscience
Three level of awareness:
• Conscious mind: includes everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental
processing that we can think and talks about rationally. The conscious mind is where we are
paying attention at the moment. It includes only our current thinking processes and objects of
attention, and hence constitutes a very large part of our current awareness.
• Unconscious mind: is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our
conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant,
such as feelings of pain, anxiety or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to
influence our behavior and experience. For Freud, the unconscious is the storehouse of
instinctual desires, needs and psychic actions. While past thoughts and memories may be
deleted from immediate consciousness, they direct the thoughts and feelings of the individual
from the realm of the unconscious. Freud divided mind into the conscious mind or Ego and two
