Olivia and Kaylei July 19, 2015

(I) In 1873 Sigmund Freud went to the University of Vienna where he studied as a medical student (Benjamin, 2014). At the university he took a class on the ideas of Charles Darwin and these concepts would inspire Freud to pursue the path of a research scientist. He was influenced by many other popular figures at the time such as Franz Brentano, Ernst Brucke, Josef Breuer, and Jean-Martin Charcot. Charcot was especially significant to Freud in his understanding of the relationship between neuroses and sexual issues. Freud would also become entranced by a quote from Charcot, mentioning how hysteria in females “is always about the genitals.” One year after working with Charcot in a mental hospital in Paris, Freud opened his own neurological practice. Frank Sulloway once wrote that Freud’s achievements in psychoanalysis were three interdependent ones: “a method, a theory of neuroses, and a theory of the normal mind.”

          One of Freud’s many accomplishments was the three-part construct of the conscious mind. The three parts include the id, ego, and superego. The id, which is formed at birth, “contains everything that is inherited” from your parents. It is also the most basic portion on the mind and functions on an unconscious level. This portion of the tripartite structure of the mind also has a pleasure-seeking energy called libido, which is a sexual centered energy. Next is the ego. The ego forms shortly after birth and helps the id fulfill its needs. This part of the tripartite structure has a reality-seeking energy and functions at both the conscious and unconscious level. The ego facilitates the id with the external world and at times it will take a memory and either suppresses it or wait until its surroundings are more suitable. Lastly we have the superego that develops throughout your childhood and grows through the “child’s experiences, parental teachings, cultural milieu, and so forth.” While the ego attempts to accomplish the wants of the id, the superego tries to impede the id’s wants. The superego is seen as a shared section of the mind.

            Freud had many disciples that followed his views including his daughter Anna as well as Ernest Jones. However he also had many people who disagreed with his views and methods in psychology. Along with many other people, psychologists Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Karen Horney all believed that Freud overemphasized sexuality in his theory, but he is still seen today as the father of psychoanalysis (Benjamin, 2014).

(II) In 1923 Sigmund Freud published “The Ego and the Id”, a paper describing the human psyche and his theory of the id, ego, and super-ego (Jay, 2015).

(III) This is an image from Sigmund Freud’s house in London that has now been turned into a museum, which we visited on July 16, 2015.

(IV) Web link to the Freud Museum http://www.freud.org.uk

References

Benjamin, L. T. (2014). A brief history of modern psychology (2^nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Jay, Martin Evan (2015, May 8).  Sigmund Freud | Austrian Psychoanalyst. Retrieved July 19, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigmund-Freud/Works