Mrs. Perl
AP Psychology: Unit 10
The Freudian model of Personality
Personality is the organization of enduring behavior patterns that often serve to distinguish us from one
another.
Freud maintained that inner forces shape our personality and motivate or drive our behavior. Our
actions and behavior are a response to the interplay between these various inner forces.
I. How is personality developed?
1. Freud suggested that behavioral patterns are determined by 3 basic drives that motivate our behavior:
a. Self-preservation is the drive to meet basic needs such as hunger and thirst.
b. Eros or Life force represents our drive to live, prosper, and produce offspring and causes man to
seek pleasure.
c. Aggression, also called Thanatos or our Death force, represents our need to stay alive and stave
off threats to our existence, our power, and our prosperity but can be a negative force that drives
people to aggressive and destructive behavior.
Create a scenario whereby a person is motivated by each of the drives:
2. Psychic determinism-According to Freud each person goes through a series of psychosexual stages.
Early conflicts when passing through these psychosexual stages help determine later behaviors. At each
stage of development, too much gratification of the eros force or too much frustration of the thanatos
force may lead to a fixation and an inability to progress to the next stage of development.
3. Psychosexual Stages that affect personality development
Stage
Age
Erogenous Zone
Oral
0-1
Mouth, lips, tongue
Developmental Task and potential
source of conflict
Weaning or fixation
Anal
2-3
Anus
Toilet training or fixation
Phallic
4-5
Genitals
Oedipus complex or identification with
opposite gender
Latency
6-12
X
Development of defense mechanisms to
combat potential anxiety
Genital
13-18
Genitals
Mature sexual intimacy
II. How is personality organized and structured?
A. Id:
According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality
because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based
on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no
consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and
therefore the child cries. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is
uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her
needs are met.
The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. If you
think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for
time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants
something, nothing else is important.
What happens when you are no longer a child but you still have an "id"?
B. Ego:
Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part
of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the
reality principle. The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that
sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It’s the ego's job to meet the
needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation.
What is the role of the ego when a ten year old wants a candy bar in the store and her mother
says no?
C. Superego:
By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops. The
Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us
by our caregivers. Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right
and wrong.
In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of
the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. Not
an easy job by any means, but if the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over
the person's life. If the superego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid
morals, would be judgmental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world.
What role does the superego play in religious development?
D. Unconscious:
Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions,
beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most
of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. While buried there, however, they continue to
impact us dramatically.
E. Conscious:
The role of the unconscious is only one part of the model. Freud also believed that everything
we are aware of is stored in our conscious. Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we
are. In other words, at any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up
our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible.
F. Preconscious:
The final part is the preconscious or subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if
prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Since it’s right below the surface it is still
somewhat “buried” and therefore needs to be uncovered or searched for in order to access it.
Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best
childhood friend is stored in the preconscious.
Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious
at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast majority is buried
beneath the water's surface. The water, by the way, would represent everything that we are not
aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been integrated into our personalities, referred
to as the nonconscious.
G. The interaction of these various components
1. Unconscious- There is information unavailable to conscious awareness but which drives
the id and the superego to “act”
2. Actions have manifest content (what you say, do, or perceive) about which you are aware
as well as a latent content that you are not aware of and which may be the result of your
unconscious.
3. The impulses within you that you may find unacceptable still strive for expression.
4. Think of the id as the 'devil on your shoulder' and the superego as the 'angel of your
shoulder.' We don't want either one to get too strong so we talk to both of them, hear
their perspective and then make a decision. This decision is the ego talking, the one
looking for that healthy balance.
H. Ego defense Mechanisms that affect personality
a. Personality differences arise from the way in which people deal with the potential conflict or
fundamental drives
i. Sometimes the ego can’t find a compromise between the id and the superego
and has to repress the desires of the id. Extreme desires are pushed out of
conscious awareness into the privacy of the unconscious. Repression
prevents an individual from experiencing extreme anxiety or guilt.
ii. Ego defense mechanisms help in the conflict between the id and superego.
Person uses them and maintains a favorable self-image. (see below)
iii. Anxiety is an intense emotional response triggered when a repressed conflict
is about to come into consciousness.
iv. If ego defense mechanisms are overused, they create more problems than they
can solve. Mental illness may emerge out of excessive use of defense
mechanisms to avoid anxiety.
Ego-Defense Mechanisms
DEFENSE
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLE 1
Denial
A person will argue
against an anxiety
provoking stimuli by
stating it doesn't exist
Denying that your physician's
diagnosis of cancer is correct and
seeking a second opinion
Displacement
A person will take out
impulses on a less
threatening target
Slamming a door instead of hitting as
person or yelling at your spouse after
an argument with your boss
Intellectualization
A person avoids
“unacceptable
emotions” by focusing
on the intellectual
aspects of a situation
Focusing on the details of a funeral as
opposed to the sadness and grief
Projection
A person places his
own “unacceptable
impulses” onto
someone else
A person who fears they are stupid
will state "You're just Stupid" when
talking to someone else.
Example 2
Rationalization
A person supplies a
logical or rational
reason for something as
opposed to the real
reason which they
consider unacceptable.
Stating that you were fired because
you didn't kiss up the the boss when
the real reason was your poor
performance
Reaction
Formation
A person embraces the
opposite belief because
the true belief causes
anxiety
Having a bias against a particular race
or culture and then embracing that
race or culture to the extreme
Regression
A person returns to a
previous stage of
development
Sitting in a corner and crying after
hearing bad news or throwing a
temper tantrum when you don't get
your way
Repression
A person doesn’t
remember a traumatic
event
Forgetting sexual abuse from your
childhood due to the trauma and
anxiety
Sublimation
A person acts out
unacceptable impulses
in a socially acceptable
way
Sublimating your aggressive impulses
toward a career as a boxer; becoming
a surgeon because of your desire to
cut; lifting weights to release 'pent up'
energy
Suppression
A person consciously
pushes a thought into
the unconscious
Trying to forget something that causes
you anxiety
III. Evaluation of Freudian theory:
a. Terms in theory are not operationally defined and thus it is difficult to evaluate it scientifically or to
prove/disprove the theories.
b. Applied retrospectively and does not predict what will happen in the future.
c. Developmental study that didn’t observe children.
d. Minimizes childhood abuse-thinks it is a fantasy because of desire for sexual contact with a parent.
e. Male-based: Uses a male as the norm without trying to determine whether things might be different
for females.