Sigmund Freud
May 1856 – 23 September 1939
Early Life
• Freud was born in Freiberg,
Moravia in 1856
• When he was four years old
his family moved to Vienna
where he was to live and
work until the last years of
his life
• His parents ensured his
schooling and education
• Studied at the University og
Vienna
Field of research
•
•
•
•
Psychology was his main field of research
Psychology is the study of the mind
What motivates individuals
What makes people “tick”
Contributions
• He founded the discipline of psychoanalysis
• Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory conceived
in the late 19th and early 20th
• Basic Psychoanalysis includes….
Experiences which are largely determined by irrational
drives, those drives are largely unconscious
&
Events in early childhood
Unconscious Mind
• Strongly believed in repression- "the psychical
mechanism of (unconscious) defence“
• Wrote The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), and
Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious (1905)
o Dealt with unconscious mental activity
Video
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfP9AIJA72E
Cocaine Use
• Early user and
proponent of cocaine
as a stimulant
• He believed that
cocaine was a cure for
many mental and
physical problems
How did he further
psychology?
• Refined the concepts of the unconscious mind
• Created a reference for the understanding of
human psychological development and the
treatment of abnormal mental conditions
• Dream interpretation
Video
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWMEnkyL_qA
Dream Theories
• Maintained the notion that the dream
fundamentally acts as the guardian of sleep
• Believed that the body manufactured dreams to
protect the sleeper from internal and external stimuli
Composition of a Dream
• Freud claimed there were 2 parts to a dream:
• The Manifest:
• content that a person would remember as soon as they wake - what
they could consciously describe to someone when recalling the
dream.
• Freud believed the manifest content possessed no meaning.
• The Latent Content:
• holds the true meaning of the dream - the thoughts and unconscious
desires.
• disguised in the manifest content
• Dreams which the manifest and latent content can
be indistinguishable Freud referred to as “Infantile
dreams”
Dream Work
• The process by which the latent content is
transformed into the manifest content.
• Works in 4 ways:
o
o
o
o
Condensation
Displacement
Symbolism
Secondary Revision
Freud insisted that dreams are a form of
fulfilling suppressed wishes.
If a wish goes unsatisfied during the dreamer’s
normal day, the mind reacts to this ‘internal
stimuli’ by transforming it into a visual fantasy
– allowing the dreamer to satisfy his or her
desire.
The result of which is a peaceful night’s sleep.