Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
Freud’s model portrays personality as a dynamic system directed by three mental structures: the id, the ego and the
superego. According to Freud, most behaviour involves activity of all three systems.
Levels of Awareness
Freud also theorised about the structure of personality and proposed three distinct sections for this structure: the
unconscious, preconscious and conscious. These are known as our ‘levels of awareness’.
Unconscious: the region of the mind that is beyond awareness, especially those impulses and desires not directly
known to a person.
Preconscious: a region of the mind containing information that can be voluntarily brought to awareness.
Conscious: a region of the mind that includes all mental contents a person is aware of at any given moment.
The conscious level includes everything you are aware of at a given moment, including thoughts, perceptions,
feelings and memories. The preconscious contains material that can be easily brought to awareness. If you stop to
think about a time when you felt angry or rejected, you will be moving this memory from the preconscious to the
conscious level of awareness. The unconscious is the largest part of our mind, but is inaccessible to us. It contains the
thoughts, memories and feelings that are unacceptable to our conscious mind.
The id, ego and superego have a place in each of these regions as outlined by the diagram below.
Ego Defence Mechanisms
We stated earlier that the ego's job was to satisfy the id's impulses, not offend the moralistic character of the
superego, while still taking into consideration the reality of the situation. We also stated that this was not an easy
job. 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.
Before we can talk more about this, we need to understand what drives the id, ego, and superego. According to
Freud, we only have two drives; sex and aggression. In other words, everything we do is motivated by one of these
two drives.
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Sex, also called Eros or the Life force, represents our drive to live, prosper, and produce offspring. 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.
Now the ego has a difficult time satisfying both the id and the superego, but it doesn't have to do so without help.
The ego has some tools it can use in its job as the mediator, tools that help defend the ego. These are called
‘Defence Mechanisms’. When the ego has a difficult time making both the id and the superego happy, it will employ
one or more of these defences:
DEFENCE
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLE
denial
arguing 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
taking out impulses on a
less threatening target
slamming a door instead of hitting as person,
yelling at your spouse after an argument with
your boss
intellectualization
avoiding unacceptable
emotions by focusing on the
intellectual aspects
focusing on the details of a funeral as opposed
to the sadness and grief
projection
placing unacceptable
impulses in yourself onto
someone else
when losing an argument, you state "You're
just Stupid;" homophobia
rationalization
supplying a logical or
rational reason as opposed
to the real reason
stating that you were fired because you didn't
kiss up to the boss, when the real reason was
your poor performance
reaction formation
taking 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
returning to a previous
stage of development
sitting in a corner and crying after hearing bad
news; throwing a temper tantrum when you
don't get your way
repression
pulling into the unconscious
forgetting sexual abuse from your childhood
due to the trauma and anxiety
sublimation
acting 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
pushing into the
unconscious
trying to forget something that causes you
anxiety
Ego defences are not necessarily unhealthy as you can see by the examples above. In fact, the lack of these
defences, or the inability to use them effectively, can often lead to problems in life. However, we sometimes employ
the defences at the wrong time or overuse them, which can be equally destructive.
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Personality development – the psychosexual stages
Freud suggested that the core of personality formed before age six in a series of psychosexual stages. Children
progress through these stages, in order, with specific emphasis placed on different body parts/areas. Each area then
serves as the main source of pleasure, frustration and self-expression. Freud believed that many adult personality
traits can be traced to fixations in one or more of the stages. A fixation is an unresolved conflict or emotional ‘hangup’ caused by overindulgence or by frustration.
STAGE 1: THE ORAL STAGE (BIRTH TO 2 YEARS OLD)
During the first year of life, most of an infant’s pleasure comes from stimulation of the mouth. Freud proposed that if
a child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits may be created. Adult expressions of oral needs include chewing gum,
biting nails, smoking, kissing, overeating and alcoholism.
Fixation early in the oral stage produces an oral-dependent personality. Oral-dependent people are gullible and
passive and need lots of attention. Frustrations later in the oral stage may cause aggression, often in the form of
biting. Fixations here create cynical, oral-aggressive adults who exploit others. They also like to argue and are good
at sarcasm.
STAGE 2: T HE ANAL STAGE (2 TO 3 YEARS OLD )
In this stage the child’s attention and source of pleasure shifts to the process of elimination. When parents attempt
toilet training, the child can gain approval or express rebellion or aggression by ‘holding on’ or by ‘letting go’.
Therefore, harsh or lenient toilet training can cause an anal fixation that ma lock such responses into personality.
Freud described the anal-retentive (holding-on) personality as obstinate, stingy, orderly and compulsively clean. The
anal-expulsive (letting-go) personality is disorderly, destructive, cruel or messy.
STAGE 3: THE PHALLIC STAGE
(3 TO 6 YEARS OLD)
The genital organs are the focus of attention and the primary source of pleasure. At this time, increased sexual
interest causes the child to be physically attracted to the parent of the opposite sex. In males this attraction leads to
an Oedipus conflict, causing boys to feel a rivalry with their fathers for the affection of their mothers. Freud believed
that the male child feels threatened by the father. To ease his anxieties, the boy must identify with the father. Their
rivalry ends when the boy seeks to become more like his father. As he does, he begins to accept the father’s values
and forms a conscience. This is known as the Electra conflict in girls.
Adult traits of the phallic personality are vanity, exhibitionism, sensitive pride and narcissism.
A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulgence and avoidance) and weak or confused
sexual identity.
STAGE 4: LATENCY (6 TO 12 YEARS OLD )
According to Freud there is a period of latency from the age of 6 years to puberty. Latency is not actually a stage.
Rather, it is a quiet time during which psychosexual development is dormant. Freud believed that psychosexual
development is ‘on hold’ at this time.
STAGE 5: THE GENITAL STAGE
(12 TO ADULTHOOD )
At puberty, an upswing in sexual energies activates all the unresolved conflicts of earlier years. This upsurge,
according to Freud, is the reason why adolescence can be filled with emotion and turmoil. The genital stage begins at
puberty. It is marked, during adolescence, by a growing capacity for responsible social-sexual relationships. The
genital stage ends with a mature capacity for love and the realisation of full adult sexuality.
Evaluation of Freud’s Theory
Strengths
 It pioneered the idea that the first years of life help
shape adult personality
 It identified feeding, toilet training and early sexual
experiences as critical events in personality formation
 Freud was among the first to propose that
development proceeds through a series of stages
Weaknesses
 Freud’s portrayal of the primary years as unimportant
in personality development is hard to believe
 His idea of a stern father being important in
personality development has been challenged
 Freud overemphasised sexuality in personality
development
 Freud’s theory cannot be verified scientifically
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