Sigmund Freud`s Theories (1856-1939)
Biography of Sigmund Freud
Freud was born to Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian
Empire (later Czech Republic), the first of eight children.
His father, Jakob Freud (1815–1896), a wool merchant, had two sons.He and Freud’s
mother, Amalia Nathansohn, who was 20 years younger.
They were struggling financially and living in a rented room, in a locksmith’s house at
Schlossergasse 117 when their son Sigmund was born
In 1865, the nine-year-old Freud entered the Leopoldstädter Kommunal-
Realgymnasium, a prominent high school.
He proved to be an outstanding pupil and graduated from the Matura in 1873 with
honors. He loved literature and was proficient in German, French, Italian, Spanish,
English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
Freud entered the University of Vienna at age 17. He had planned to study law, but
joined the medical faculty at the university, where his studies included philosophy under
Franz Brentano, physiology under Ernst Brücke, and zoology under Darwinist professor
Carl Claus.
Sigmund Freud ( born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939)
was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for
treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.
Freud’s redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the
Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory.
His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical
analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mech
Psychic determinism
This principle holds that in all mental functioning nothing happens by chance.
Everything a person feels, thinks, fantasizes, dreams, and does has a psychological
motive
, What Freud believed……
Everything you do is motivated by inner unconscious forces.
We are driven by the libido or sexual energy (sometimes referred to as psychic
energy).
Aggression and libido are tied together.
Freud suggested that our mental states were influenced by two competing
forces: cathexis and anticathexis.
Cathexis was described as an investment of mental energy in a person, idea, or object.
Anticathexis involves the ego blocking the socially unacceptable needs of the id.
Repressing urges and desires is one common form of anticathexis, but this involves a
significant investment of energy.
According to Freud's theory, there is only so much libidinal energy available. When a
lot of energy is devoted to suppressing urges via anticathexis, there is less energy for
other processes.
Other laws of energy are the pleasure principle and the reality principle
Personality is formed in the first six years of life.
Fixation is an unresolved conflict caused by frustration.
Defence mechanism.
Personality Theory According to Freud
Personality is defined as follows:
Our characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective proposed that childhood sexuality and
unconscious motivations influence personality.
Freud called his theory and associated techniques psychoanalysis.
Unconscious-large below the surface area which contains thoughts, wishes, feelings
and memories, of which we are unaware.
Free association-the patient is asked to relax and say whatever comes to mind, no
matter how embarrassing or trivial.
Personality Structure according to Freud
ID-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy basic
drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress.
The id operates on the pleasure principle: If not constrained but reality, it seeks
immediate gratification.
Ego-the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud,
mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality.
Biography of Sigmund Freud
Freud was born to Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian
Empire (later Czech Republic), the first of eight children.
His father, Jakob Freud (1815–1896), a wool merchant, had two sons.He and Freud’s
mother, Amalia Nathansohn, who was 20 years younger.
They were struggling financially and living in a rented room, in a locksmith’s house at
Schlossergasse 117 when their son Sigmund was born
In 1865, the nine-year-old Freud entered the Leopoldstädter Kommunal-
Realgymnasium, a prominent high school.
He proved to be an outstanding pupil and graduated from the Matura in 1873 with
honors. He loved literature and was proficient in German, French, Italian, Spanish,
English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
Freud entered the University of Vienna at age 17. He had planned to study law, but
joined the medical faculty at the university, where his studies included philosophy under
Franz Brentano, physiology under Ernst Brücke, and zoology under Darwinist professor
Carl Claus.
Sigmund Freud ( born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939)
was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for
treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.
Freud’s redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the
Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory.
His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical
analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mech
Psychic determinism
This principle holds that in all mental functioning nothing happens by chance.
Everything a person feels, thinks, fantasizes, dreams, and does has a psychological
motive
, What Freud believed……
Everything you do is motivated by inner unconscious forces.
We are driven by the libido or sexual energy (sometimes referred to as psychic
energy).
Aggression and libido are tied together.
Freud suggested that our mental states were influenced by two competing
forces: cathexis and anticathexis.
Cathexis was described as an investment of mental energy in a person, idea, or object.
Anticathexis involves the ego blocking the socially unacceptable needs of the id.
Repressing urges and desires is one common form of anticathexis, but this involves a
significant investment of energy.
According to Freud's theory, there is only so much libidinal energy available. When a
lot of energy is devoted to suppressing urges via anticathexis, there is less energy for
other processes.
Other laws of energy are the pleasure principle and the reality principle
Personality is formed in the first six years of life.
Fixation is an unresolved conflict caused by frustration.
Defence mechanism.
Personality Theory According to Freud
Personality is defined as follows:
Our characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective proposed that childhood sexuality and
unconscious motivations influence personality.
Freud called his theory and associated techniques psychoanalysis.
Unconscious-large below the surface area which contains thoughts, wishes, feelings
and memories, of which we are unaware.
Free association-the patient is asked to relax and say whatever comes to mind, no
matter how embarrassing or trivial.
Personality Structure according to Freud
ID-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy basic
drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress.
The id operates on the pleasure principle: If not constrained but reality, it seeks
immediate gratification.
Ego-the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud,
mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality.
