The Structure of Personality.

How did Freud view 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 behavior involves activity of all three
systems
The Id

• The Id
• The id is made up of innate biological instincts and urges.
• It is self-serving, irrational, impulsive, and totally unconscious. The id operates on the pleasure
principle.
• That is, it seeks to freely express pleasure-seeking urges of all kinds. If we were solely under
control of the id, the world would be chaotic beyondbelief.
• The id acts as a well of energy for the entire psyche (sigh-KEY),or personality.
• This energy, called libido (lih-BEE-doe), flows from the life instincts (or Eros). According to
Freud, libido underlies our efforts to survive, as well as our sexual desires and pleasure seeking.
• Freud also described a death instinct. Thanatos,as he called it, produces aggressive and
destructive urges.
• Freudoffered humanity’s long history of wars and violence as evidence of such urges. Most id
energies, then, are aimed at discharging tensions related to sex and aggression.
ID
• According to Freud, the id is made up of innate, biological instincts
and urges.
• It is immature, impulsive,and irrational.
• The id is also totally unconscious and serves as the reservoir of
mental energy.
• When its primitive drives build up, the id seeks immediate
gratification to relieve the tension a concept known as the pleasure
principle.
The Ego

• The Ego
• The ego is sometimes described as the “executive,” because it directs energies supplied by
the id.
• The id is like a blind king or queen whose power is awesome but who must rely on others
to carry out orders.
• The id can only form mental images of things it desires. The ego wins power to direct
behavior by relating the desires of the id to external reality.
• Are there other differences between the ego and the id? Yes. Recall that the id operates on
the pleasure principle.
• The ego, in contrast, is guided by the reality principle. The ego is the system of thinking,
planning, problem solving, and deciding.
• It is in conscious control of the personality and often delays action until it is practical or
appropriate.
• What is the role of the superego? The superego acts as a judge or censor for
the thoughts and actions of the ego. One part of the superego, called the
conscience, reflects actions for which a per-son has been punished. When
standards of the conscience are not met, you are punished internally by guilt
feelings.
• A second part of the superego is the ego ideal. The ego ideal reflects all
behavior one’s parents approved of or rewarded. The ego ideal is a source of
goals and aspirations. When its standardsare met, we feel pride.The
superego acts as an “internalized parent” to bring behaviorunder control. In
Freudian terms, a person with a weak superego will be a delinquent,
criminal, or antisocial personality. In contrast, an overly strict or harsh
superego may cause inhibition, rigidity, or unbearable guilt.
EGO
• As a child grows older, the second part of the psyche—the ego—develops.
• The ego is responsible for planning, problem solving, reasoning, and
controlling the potentially destructive energy of the id.
• In Freud’s system, the ego corresponds to the self—our conscious identity of
ourselves as persons.
• One of the ego’s tasks is to channel and release the id’s energy in ways that
are compatible with the external world.
• Thus, the ego is responsible for delaying gratification when necessary.
Contrary to the id’s pleasure principle, the ego operates on the reality
principle because it can understand and deal with objects and events in
the“real world.”
• The final part of the psyche to develop is the super-ego, a set of
ethical rules for behavior.
• The superego develops from internalized parental and societal
standards. It constantly strives for perfection and is therefore as
unrealistic as the id.
• Some Freudian followers have suggested that the superego operates
on the morality principle because violating its rules results in feelings
of guilt.
How does psychoanalytic theory explain personality
development?
• How does psychoanalytic theory explain personality development?
• Freud theorized that the core of personality is formed before age 6 in a
series of psychosexual stages.
• Freud believed that erotic urges in childhood have lasting effects on
development.

• As you might expect, this is a controversial idea.

• However, Freud used the terms“sex” and “erotic” very broadly to refer to
many physical sources of pleasure.
Psychosexual stages
• Freud identified four psychosexual stages, the oral, anal, phallic,and genital. (He also
described a period of “latency” between the phallic and genital stages. Latency is
explained in a moment.)
• At each stage, a different part of the body becomes a child’s primary erogenous zone
(an area capable of producing pleasure).
• 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.
• What is a fixation?

• A fixation is an unresolved conflict or emotional hangup caused by overindulgence or

by frustration.
FIXATIONS.
• Freud held that if a child’s needs are not met or are overindulged at
one particular psychosexual stage, the child may become fixated, and
a part of his or her personality will remain stuck at that stage.
Furthermore, under stress, individuals may return (or regress) to a
stage at which earlier needs were frustrated or overly gratified.

• According to Freud, failure to resolve the conflicts at a particular

stage can result in fixations, conflicts or concerns that persist beyond
the developmental period in which they first occur.
• If the conflict is not readily resolved, the child may develop a fixation.
This means that a portion of the libido (psychic energy) remains
invested at that particular stage, leaving less energy to meet the
challenges of future stages.
• Overindulgence at any stage may leave a person psychologically
unwilling to move onto the next stage, whereas too little gratification
may leave the person trying to make up for unmet needs.
• Freud believed that certain personality characteristics develop as a
result of difficulty at one or another of the stages.
Freud’s psychosexual stage theory
• Freud’s psychosexual stage theory.
• Freud did not spend much time observing children to help him
develop his psychosexual stage theory of personality development.
• Freud’s psychosexual stage theory was developed chiefly from his
own childhood memories and from his years of interactions with his
patients and their case studies, which included their childhood
memories.
Two key concepts in his psychosexual theory are erogenous zone and
fixation.

• An erogenous zone is the area of the body where the id’s pleasure-seeking
psychic energy is focused during a particular stage of psychosexual
development.
• The erogenous zone feels good when stimulated in various ways.
• Thus, the erogenous zones are the body areas where instinctual satisfaction
can be obtained. Each of Freud’s psychosexual stages is named after the
erogenous zone involved, and a change in erogenous zones designates the
beginning of a new stage.
• For example, the first stage is called the oral stage, and the erogenous zone
is the mouth area, so pleasure is derived from oral activities such as
sucking. Freud proposed five stages—oral,anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
• Freud’s concept of fixation is important in understanding how he believed our
childhood experiences impact our adult personality.
• A fixation occurs when a portion of the id’s pleasure-seeking energy remains in a stage
because of excessive or insufficient gratification of our instinctual needs during that
stage of development.
• A person who is overindulged will want to stay and not move on, while a person who is
frustrated has difficulty moving on because his needs are not met.
• The stronger the fixation, the more of the id’s pleasure-seeking energy remains in that
stage. Such fixations continue throughout the person’s life and impact his behavior and
personality traits.
• For example, a person who is fixated in the oral stage because of excessive gratification
may become overly concerned with oral activities such as smoking, eating, and drinking.
ORAL STAGE (GRIGG)
• In the oral stage (from birth to 18 months), the erogenous zones are
the mouth, lips, and tongue, and the child derives pleasure from
oral activities such as sucking, biting, and chewing.
• As already pointed out, a fixation would lead to having a
preoccupation with oral behaviors, such as smoking, gum chewing,
overeating, or even talking too much.
• Freud himself had such a preoccupation with smoking. He smoked 20
or so cigars a day and had numerous operations for cancer in his
mouth, which eventually led to his death
• Oral stage – 0–1year--Focus of gratification is the mouth and oral exploration of the
world.Child demonstrates a tendency to insert things into the mouth and a desire to
suck on objects (typified by sucking at the breast of the mother)
• Weaning is a key event during this stage
• Child learns the importance of delayed gratification (does not always instantly get to
suck on objects), independence of the self (not always able to control environment)
and behavioural control (some behaviours lead to gratification,such as crying)
• Too much or too little gratification at this stage of development can lead to an oral
fixation
• Orally aggressive individuals may chew gum and other objects
• Orally passive individuals may engage in smoking, overeating, etc.
• Both individuals will be passive, immature and gullible