...Running head: Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud Christopher M. Scott Abstract Why do we dream, what are we dreaming, and when we dream it? According to Dr. Sigmund Freud, it is what we are hiding that affects our dreams; yet how much do our dreams affect our waking lives. Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud an Austrian physician and neurologist with extreme and sometimes controversial ideas regarding the mind is today referred to as one of the greatest minds of the past century. Through much of his life Freud worked toward a career in law with aspirations of becoming an attorney. While attending the University of Vienna, Freud began focusing more on the studies of and theories of Charles Darwin. This attracted him and drew him toward the study of the sciences. His intention was to study the philosophically-scientific questions facing doctors and scientists in the late 19th century. One of the major influences on Freud and in his decision to change career paths was French psychiatrist Jean Charcot. When Freud met Charcot, Charcot being the Director and Head Instructor at Salpetriere Hospital in Europe, Freud showed intense interest in Charcot’s investigations on hysteria. The studies of Freud with Charcot led to Freud’s desire to learn and accelerate studies of psychopathology. Freud developed a new method of psychology and study of the psychosis, Psychoanalysis and the Theory of Dreams. The theory of dreams was to show symbolism and reference to our waking lives. Freud discussed this symbolism...
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...Section on freud:’examine the contribution made by at least one thinker to the study of religion’. Freud, a psychologist and the father of psychoanalysis saw himself as part of the 19th century scientific, traditional and adopted the materialistic approach to the study of the human mind. His views on religion can only be understood from the point of view of his physiological theories, and in particular the Oedipus complex and the primal crime/horde theory. According to Freud religious belief can be explained by the Oedipus complex this is the theory that the sex drive represent the body’s subconius desire for satisfaction, when the libido for food as a baby is transferred to the child there is jealousy and hatred for the father as the respect an fear that was previously there has gone as there is now a derive to possess the mother. So god is idolised as the father figure which we project on to the world (we fear and reverse him in the Oedipus complex. Therefore the function of religious belief is that it is a neurotic illness shown by symptoms of ritualization cleaning and following strict rules and a dangerous illusion that needs to be over thrown. The primal horde theory suggests that the alpha male is killed by the jealous younger rivals for access to the females of the horde however they are then overcome by guilt that they put a totem pole for the alpha male so that he can be worshiped. Therefore explains, Freud maintained that the worship for god is due to the guilt...
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...Freud The theories of Sigmund Freud were advanced and are very influential to modern society. This Austrian physician and neurologist is commonly considered as having one of the greatest creative minds of recent times. Throughout his entire childhood Freud had been planning a career in law. Not long before he entered the University of Vienna in 1873 Freud decided to become a medical student. Sigmund Freud developed many theories in an effort to answer the mystery of a person’s conscious and subconscious. The evidence for these theories came through years of analysis of patients and himself. In fact many of his ideas and beliefs came from his own psychoanalysis. Certain patients of Freud would display signs and symptoms of hysteria and instead of accepting a doctor’s diagnostic he would investigate their mind in order to find a resolution. After analyzing numerous patients he came to the belief that certain events are never forgotten. A memory that would possible cause this problem would not fade away but rather just burrow itself into the persons conscious. The only way these events could ever be reached would be when the conscious would release its barrier and this could be done under hypnosis. Once the event and it feelings were relived the symptoms were gone. Freud came to the conclusion that the symptoms were a way of the conscious discharging the “affect” of the memory. In time Freud came to realize that a more productive method of recalling the memories was through...
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...Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, which is now Pribor, in Czech Republic, the son of Jacob Freud and his third wife Amalia. Sigmund was followed by seven younger brothers and sisters. His family constellation was unusual because Freud's two half-brothers, Emmanuel and Philip, were almost the same age as his mother. Freud was younger than his nephew John, Emmanuel's son. This odd situation may have triggered Freud's interest on family dynamics, leading to his ulterior formulations on the Oedipus Complex. Freud's father, a Jewish wool merchant of modest means, moved the family to Leipzig, Germany in 1859, and then settled in Vienna, where Freud remained until 1938. When Freud was eight years old, he was reading Shakespeare, and, during his adolescence, the hearing of a lecture about Goethe's essay on nature impressed him very much. Having considered studying law previously, he decided instead on a career in medical research, beginning his studies at Vienna University in 1873. As a student, Freud began research work on the central nervous system, guided by Ernst von Brock, and qualified as doctor of medicine in 1881. He worked at the Theodor Meynert's Psychiatric Clinic for a year, and later studied with Charcot, at the Salpetriure, in Paris. From 1884 to 1887 Freud published several articles on cocaine. He married Martha Bernays in 1886. The couple had six children (Mathilde, 1887; Jean-Martin, 1889; Olivier, 1891; Ernst, 1892; Sophie, 1893;...
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...experiences and of those early situations and conflicts we had faced. Freud’s approach to understanding human behaviour – psychoanalysis – has had a profound effect on psychology. His approach is one of many that share some common assumptions, while differing fundamentally in others. Contemporaries of Freud, such as Jung and Adler were inspired by Freudian theory, but emphasised different issues in human development and experience. Collectively these theories are described as “psychodynamic” because they emphasise the factors that motivate behaviour (i.e. the dynamics of behaviour). They challenged the biomedical view that mental disorders had physical origins. The psychodynamic approach views abnormal behaviour as caused by unconscious, underlying psychological forces. Key features of the psychodynamic approach Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a Viennese physician, trained in neurology and the founder of psychoanalytic theory. He created an entirely new perspective on the study of human behaviour, focusing on the unconscious instinct and urges rather than the conscious. The psychoanalytic view holds that there are inner forces outside of our awareness that are directing our behaviour. Freud postulated...
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...more than one aspect. He affirms that the psyche is structured into three parts, the id, the ego, and the superego. These are the mechanisms through which self develops. The Id is the unconscious self and the source of our libidinal drive. It is what gives us hunger and appetite. The id is not socially constructed. The id is an amoral agency that is expressed in Eros and Thanatos, the life and death drives. The Id also gives us that strong emotional feeling like fear, anger and desire. It is a bundle of drives that derive at birth. The id is uncensored, not capable of waiting for gratification, quite selfish, and even violent. It can be a great source of creativity, but it needs to be controlled. Which is exactly what the ego does. The ego, Freud says is the conscious self. More broadly, the thoughts and behaviors of the self that can potentially be conscious. The ego responds to social pressures and standards such as mores, or the customs of a society. The ego is socially constructed, and as it grows in strength it gets better at impulse control, it makes us responsible, inhibits bad behavior, and plans for the future with a realistic eye for possibilities. Everyone needs a strong ego; it is what makes decisions for you. The superego is our conscience. It is like having an internalized parental representative in your head. This stage is what makes you feel guilty about having certain desires. There is a cop inside your head that is regulating your behavior. It oversees and censors...
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...id wants what it wants and it wants it immediately. While this aspect of personality is quite important during the years directly after birth so as the baby can get his or her needs met, if it is not overcome it can become socially crippling as the person grows into an older child and the an adult. The ego deals with reality.” According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world.” (Cherry, 2011). The id and the ego are related but the ego tries to satisfy the needs of the id in more mature and acceptable ways. The superego is the final part of personality. “The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society--our sense of right and wrong. The superego provides guidelines for making judgments.”(Cherry, 2011). The superego is also connected to the id and the ego by suppressing the wants, needs, and behaviors the first two crave. All three components work together to make a functioning and healthy personality. Conscience and Unconscious According to Freud there is conscience and the unconscious. The conscience...
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...more specifically psychoanalysis, which is concerned with those factors that determine human emotions and behavior that individuals are often unaware of, there is no one more influential than the Austrian neurologist and the founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. In creating psychoanalytic theory, Freud himself developed various therapeutic methods to establish his central thought process. His analysis of dreams, outlined in his famous work, The Interpretation of Dreams, provided a framework that was used for clinical analysis and diagnosis. He redefined sexuality in his work, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and formulated the concept of the Oedipus complex. Although Freud’s work dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he is still relevant and his theories equivocally influential. In this essay, I will outline Freud’s key ideas with regards to dreams and sexuality as seen in his famous works, The Interpretation of Dreams, and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality as well as provide a critical background on both themes along with a assessment of his central concepts based on personal experiences and observations. Freud’s overall framework on dreams is very elaborate. According to Freud, dreams are all forms of “wish fulfillment” at the psychological level, which is that dreams are attempts by the unconscious mind to resolve a problem or conflict that could be rooted in earlier stages of an individual’s life or...
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...Sigmund Freud PSY/405 Sigmund Freud Personality Overview While Sigmund Freud’s theories were and still are extremely controversial and highly criticized, he was one of the most influential psychologists of his time. Freud’s theory of personality, developmental stages, and defense mechanisms are a few of his contributions to psychology. To further understand Freud is to also understand why his theories are criticized. His contributions and theories have brought up much debate, but have also paved the way for new theories. Theory of Personality Structure “Freud’s greatest contribution to personality theory is his exploration of the unconscious and his insistence that people are motivated primarily by drives of which they have little or no awareness” (University of Phoenix, 2009, p. 23). Before the 1920’s, Freud’s model of personality and mental life consisted of the conscious and unconscious mind; which described our thought processes and opened exploration of the unaware mind. Freud believed that people’s behaviors were motivated by things they were unaware of. Freud’s personal experiences, his readings, and exploration of his dreams influenced his understanding of human personality. Through exploration of his dreams, Freud came up with the belief that humans are motivated by things which they are unaware of. For instance, childhood memories that have been suppressed and later cause behaviors that are unexplainable. The suppressed memories are motivations for behaviors...
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...Theory Freud didn't exactly invent the idea of the conscious versus unconscious mind, but he certainly was responsible for making it popular. The conscious mind is what you are aware of at any particular moment, your present perceptions, memories, thoughts, fantasies, feelings, what have you. Working closely with the conscious mind is what Freud called the preconscious, what we might today call "available memory:" anything that can easily be made conscious, the memories you are not at the moment thinking about but can readily bring to mind. Now no-one has a problem with these two layers of mind. But Freud suggested that these are the smallest parts! The largest part by far is the unconscious. It includes all the things that are not easily available to awareness, including many things that have their origins there, such as our drives or instincts, and things that are put there because we can't bear to look at them, such as the memories and emotions associated with trauma. According to Freud, the unconscious is the source of our motivations, whether they be simple desires for food or sex, neurotic compulsions, or the motives of an artist or scientist. And yet, we are often driven to deny or resist becoming conscious of these motives, and they are often available to us only in disguised form. We will come back to this. The id, the ego, and the superego Freudian psychological reality begins with the world, full of objects. Among them is a very special object, the organism...
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...Dr. Freud 1. What were some of the influences mentioned in the film that you feel were influential in the development of Freud’s theories and concepts during his lifetime? In the beginning of the film, it opens up with the narrator speaking about the death of Freud’s father. Having a death, especially someone close to you, like a parent, is life changing for anyone at any stage in life. I believe this was one of the main influences. Another influence that helped Freud’s development was meeting the only woman he would ever love, Martha. He sacrificed everything for her and dropped his scientific research and became a doctor. In the film it mentions his trip to Paris. During his time there he became more specialized with the nervous system. Later he discovers that having patients just sit or lay down and talk aloud helped him with learning more about his patients and how to better assist them. 2. What parts of this film surprised you the most about the life of Dr. Freud? I was most surprised at him dropping his scientific researching ways to become a doctor for a woman. I was also surprised at his experimenting with cocaine and not listening to his colleagues about it being addicting. He was able to use cocaine on and off and completely stop it all together without ever becoming totally addicted. 3. Of the numerous contributions that Freud made to the field of psychology, which ones do you believe were the most important contributions and why? I think that although all...
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...Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining “insight”. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious. Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. It is only having a cathartic (i.e. healing) experience can the person be helped and "cured". Psychoanalysis Assumptions · Psychoanalytic psychologists see psychological problems as rooted in the unconscious mind. · Manifest symptoms are caused by latent (hidden) disturbances. · Typical causes include unresolved issues during development or repressed trauma. · Treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the client can deal with it. How can we understand the unconscious mind? freud's couch Remember, psychoanalysis is a therapy as well as a Freudian theory. In psychoanalysis (therapy) Freud would have a patient lie on a couch to relax, and he would sit behind them taking notes while they told him about their dreams and childhood memories. Psychoanalysis would be a lengthy process, involving many sessions with the psychoanalyst. Due to the nature of defense mechanisms and the inaccessibility of the deterministic forces operating in the unconscious, psychoanalysis in its classic form is a lengthy process often involving 2 to 5 sessions...
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...Sigmund Freud’s theories included the conscious and unconscious mind, the id, ego, and superego, life and death instincts, psychosexual development, and defense mechanisms. According to Freud, the mind is divided into two parts: the conscious and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind includes everything we are aware of. We are able to think and talk about these things rationally. Our memory is a part of this, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time. This ordinary memory is called the preconscious. The unconscious mind is full of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside our conscious awareness. Most of these things are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to influence our behavior and experience, even though we are unaware of these underlying influences (Krapp, 2005). The id is driven by the pleasure principle. This principle strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not met immediately, we may become anxious or tense. The ego develops from the id and helps express the feelings of the id in a manner acceptable in the real world. The ego operates based on the reality principle. The superego helps give us a sense of right and wrong. It provides guidelines for making judgments The 5 stages of psychosexual development are the oral (infancy to about 18 months), anal (about 18 months to 2 years), phallic...
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...Anna Freud Tarnisha S. Hagens PSY/310 April 14, 2013 UOPX/Axia College Anna Freud Anna Freud was the youngest of six siblings. Her father was Sigmund Freud. Anna was born the month of December 3, 1895, and died on October 9, 1982. Anna was born in Vienna, Austria, but she died in London, England. Anna was very close with her father, Sigmund Freud but not as close with her mother, and had strained relationships with her siblings, which was the five of them. Anna also attended school, which was an isolated school, but she decided to drop out because she felt as though she was not learning so her father and his associates taught her. Although her education came from them he and his associates taught her the majority of her learning experience. After advancing in high school, Freud taught as one of the elementary schoolteacher, which she began interpreting a little of her father’s work into German while enhancing her curiosity in psychoanalysis and child psychology. On the other hand, Anna was very motivated she was inspired by her father’s work because she was destined into transpiring to be just like him. Anna established as child psychoanalysis, she was also known for her defense mechanisms and her contributions to ego psychology. However, Anna never achieved a higher degree, her creation in child psychology and psychoanalysis added her eminence in psychology. In 1923, the place where she was born Vienna, Austria, she started her children’s psychoanalytic practice, and...
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...Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud's most important works are his studies regarding the driving force of the libido, the adult psyche's reaction to childhood experiences as well as theories of dreams and the unconscious mind. By instituting the first logical explanation of internal mental forces affecting human behavior, the theories of Sigmund Freud represented the beginning of modern psychology. Sigmund Freud took the human mind and divided it into three parts, where he compared them to an iceberg. They are conscious, p which was the part that was above surface, this shows awareness, preconscious, .and unconscious. The top of the iceberg would represent conscious which represents awareness, preconscious just below the surface would represent information that should be current but not currently used, and unconscious which is at the bottom of the iceberg which would represent storage. Sigmund Freud divided personality into three systems which interact to govern human behavior. Sigmund Freud’s traits and environment might have helped him develop many of his theories based on his own life. The actuality of being in love with his mother and envious of his father was considered by him a universal event in his early childhood, even if not so early as in children who have been made hysterical. His wishes, mingled with guilt and desire because he wanted to avoid the family demeanor the narrow-mindedness and poverty of living conditions he had known in his youth and getting farther than...
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