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Human Nature 

Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)

“We ought not to exalt

ourselves so high ascompletely to neglect

what was originally

animal in our nature”—

Five Lectures on Psycho-analysis, Lecture V

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Question 1:

How many elements are there in Freud’smodel of the structure of the mind?

A. 1—the unconsciousB. 2—the conscious and unconscious

C. 3—the id, ego, and superego

D. 4—the id, ego, superego, and unconscious

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What is “psychoanalysis”?

 – The word literally means the analysis (f. Gk. ana-,

up, and lysis, loosening: loosening up, dissolving)

of the psyche (soul, or mind).

 – It is the separating or breaking up into parts themind for the purposes of examination.

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Freudian Couch

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The Unconscious

 – Freud himself was led to postulate theexistence of the unconscious on accountof the evidence provided by hypnosis,first practiced by his friend andcolleague, Joseph Breuer.

 – So impressed was Freud initially with thetechnique, that he went to spend a year(1885-86) in Paris at the clinic of Jean-Martin Charcot to study hysterics, whowere said to be susceptible to le grand

hypnotisme. –  It was after this that Freud put neurology

and physiology aside and became apsychological investigator.

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893)

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The Weak Unconscious

• “Transitions, which at first

sight startle us by their

abruptness, but which,

when scrutinized closely,

often reveal intermediating

links of perfect naturalness

and propriety.” (WilliamJames, The Principles of

Psychology, 1890)

William James (1842-1910)

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Experiment circa 1910

Pride

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Experiment circa 1910

Niagara

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Experiment circa 1910

“Pride goeth before a fall”(Proverbs 16:18)

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Evidence of a Weak Unconscious

• Freudian slips (“parapraxes” - faulty acts,

bunglings, including slips of the tongue, mistakes

in writing, small accidents, lapses in memory,“accidents,” etc.)

• Word association tests (Einfall )

• “Tip of the tongue” phenomena

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Summerhill School

A progressive, co-educational,residential school,founded by a

Freudian A. S. Neillin 1921, England.

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A.S. Neill (1883-1973)

• Neill was a student of Freudianpsychoanalysis.

• Another defender of LibertarianEducation was Bertrand Russell,

whose own self-founded BeaconHill School (England) (one ofseveral schools bearing thisname) is often compared withSummerhill. Russell was acorrespondent of Neill andoffered his support.

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A SNail

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Id (das Es)

 – “it” Latin translation of “das Es”

 – Freud acknowledges the earliest use of the word

is to be found in Nietzsche, where it stands for

whatever in our nature is impersonal and subjectto laws of nature (Ego and the Id  (1923)).

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The “pleasure principle”

 – The fundamental principle of the id is the called

the “pleasure principle.” Its aim is to rid or release

the person of tension or at least lower it to an

acceptable level. Tension is experienced as pain,while relief form tension is experienced as

pleasure.

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The Ego (das Ich)

 – The ego is closest to our conscious selves in that it

deals with external stimuli through perception, touch,

memory, flight, adaptation. Its task is to gain controlover the instincts, either by deciding when they

should be satisfied (postponement) or suppressing

them altogether (repression).

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The “reality principle”

 – The ego is governed by the “reality principle.”

Reality means that which exists. The aim of the

reality principle is to postpone satisfaction of a

instinctual need or desire until the appropriateobject or circumstances have been discovered.

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The Super-ego (das Uberich)

 – The long period of childhood, during which the

growing being is dependent on the parents, leaves

behind a residue in the ego or a special agency by

which this parental influence is prolonged. Thisinclude the extended family, racial, national

traditions the immediate social and cultural

environment they represent.

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Question 2:Which part is closest to our conscious

selves?

A. The id

B. The ego

C. The superego

D. The id, ego, and superego combined

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Repression

 – When an ego is not strong enough to mediate

between the competing forces of the Id and the

superego, or if the forces of repression are too

strong or if the individual undergoes a traumaticexperience in early childhood, when its ego

defenses are not fully developed, then the

individual’s pysche begins to breaks down and

becomes what Freud call neurotic.

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Neurosis

 – Basically a neurotic symptom amounts to “the return of

the repressed.” It is the Id’s way of expressing a wish that

had been repressed earlier in the patient’s history.

 – The Id sends out a disguised surrogate idea of the wish

that it would like fulfilled, so disguised that the ego does

not recognize it for what it is, and thus no longer censors

it.

 – However, all the original pain that was associated with the

original idea due to the conflict between the Id and theSuperego remains attached to the disguised idea, which is

thus painfully felt as a symptom.

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“Talking Cure”

 –  In the case histories, Freud seeks to 'interpret' the

confessions of his patients. All this is part of the 'talking

cure.' It requires a pact - complete candor met with

discretion and help.

 – Note that this can only work with neurotics, whose ego

and personality as a whole is still intact, even if incredibly

weak.

 –  It cannot be of service to the psychotic, who has lost the

ability to distinguish between reality and fantasyaltogether (and thus have lost their egos). The man who

thinks he is Napoleon cannot be helped by Freud. His ego

has crumbled entirely.

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Sex

 – Freud adopted this “talking cure” as the basis of

psychoanalysis, and added one key aspect: linking

the hysterical symptom to a traumatic, sexual

origin. – E.g. Dora (The pseudonym of Sigmund Freud's

patient Ida Bauer, about whom he wrote a

“Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of

Hysteria,”1901.)

 –  

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“Civilization and Its Discontents”

• “in the space of a few years the little primitive creature mustturn into a civilized human being; he must pass through animmensely long stretch of human cultural development in analmost uncannily abbreviated form. This is made possible byhereditary disposition; but it can almost never be achieved

without the additional help of upbringing, of parentalinfluence, which, as a precursor of the super-ego, restricts theego’s activity by prohibitions and punishments, andencourages or compels the setting-up of repressions. Wemust therefore not forget to include the influence ofcivilization among the determinants of neurosis. It is easy, aswe can see, for a barbarian to be healthy; for a civilized manthe task is hard” (Outline, 42)

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Interpretation of Dreams(IP397-401)

• “Manifest content”: – The dream as remembered by the dreamer.

• “Latent content”:

 – The real meaning of the dream; known only to the unconscious(and later the dreamer and analyst).

• “Dream work”:

 – The process of turning latent content into manifest content.

• “Dream distortion”: – The changes undergone by the unconscious material in the id

as a result of the ego’s opposition.

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“Guardian of Sleep”

• “The dream is a guardian of sleep” (IP 401)

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Types of Dream

• Hunger Dream

 – Need for food is met with a dream of a delicious meal

• Convenience Dream

 – Hospital worker who is too tired to wake up, dreams he is apatient in bed at the hospital, with no need to get up

• Sexual Dream

 – A man lusts after his neighbor’s wife, and dreams he is

having sex with someone else of the same or similar name.

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Psychosexual Development