Module 5: Psychodynamic Theory

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson the student should be able to:
1. Describe the assumption of the psychodynamic perspective on personality development.
2. Define and describe the psychosexual stages of personality development.
3. Define and describe the nature and function of the id, ego, and superego
4. Define and recognize the following defense mechanisms:

INTRODUCTION:

“In human beings pure masculinity or femininity is not to be found either in a psychological or
biological sense.”
-Sigmund Freud

Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, who

created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human personality. He is
regarded as one of the most influential and controversial minds of the 20th century.
Freud’s view psychodynamic theory is actually a collection of psychological theories
which emphasize the importance of drives and other forces in human functioning,
especially unconscious drives. The approach holds that childhood experience is the
basis for adult personality and relationships.

LESSON PROPER:

Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind

According to Freud, our personality develops from the interactions among what
he proposed as the three fundamental structures of the human mind: the id, ego, and
superego. Conflicts among these three structures, and our efforts to find balance among
what each of them “desires,” determines how we behave and approach the world. What
balance we strike in any given situation determines how we will resolve the conflict
two overarching behavioral tendencies: our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking
drives vs. our socialized internal control over those drives.

• Id (Instincts)
- is the impulsive and unconscious part of our personality that responds directly and
immediately to basic urges, needs, and desires.
- Operate by the pleasure principle
Pleasure Principle – is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied
immediately, regardless of the consequences. “if it feels good, do it”

Ex: Personality of a newborn child

*When the id achieves its demands, we experience pleasure when it is denied we experience
 - The id engages in primary process thinking, which is primitive, illogical, irrational,
and fantasy oriented. This form of process thinking has no comprehension of
objective reality, and is selfish and wishful in nature.

The id comprises two kinds of biological instincts:

a. Sex (life) instinct called Eros - helps the individual to survive; it directs life-sustaining
activities such as respiration, eating, and sex. The energy created by the life instinct is
known as libido — a kind of generalized sexual energy that is used for everything from
survival instincts to appreciation of art.
b. Aggressive (death) instinct called Thanatos - is viewed as a set of destructive forces in
all human beings. When this energy is directed outward onto others, it is expressed as
aggression and violence

- The id remains immature in its function throughout a person’s life and does not
change with time or experience and is not affected by reality, logic, or the
everyday world, as it operates within the unconscious part of the mind.

• Ego (Reality)
- The executive of the personality.
- It’s what the person is aware of when they think about themselves and what they
usually try to project toward others
- Mediator between the id and the real world
- Ego has no concept of right or wrong; something is good simply if it achieves its end of
satisfying without causing harm to itself or the id.
- works by reason, unlike the id which is chaotic and unreasonable.

Ex: analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. The ego is “like a man on
horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse.” If the ego fails
to use the reality principle and anxiety is experienced, unconscious defense mechanisms
are employed to help ward off unpleasant feeling or make good things feel better for
the individual.

- The ego engages in secondary process thinking, which is rational, realistic, and
orientated toward problem-solving. If a plan of action does not work, then it is thought
through again until a solution is found.

• Superego (Morality)
- It contains the values and morals of society, which are learned from one’s
parents and others.
- Operates on the morality principle and motivates us to behave in a socially
responsible and acceptable manner.
- The superego’s function is to control the id’s impulses, especially those which
society forbids, such as sex and aggression. It also persuades the ego to turn to
moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and strive for perfection.
 Ex: being honest, treating others with respect, helping those in need, and
adhering to laws and social norms.

The superego consists of two systems:

a. Conscience - The conscience is our “inner voice” that tells us when we
have done something wrong. The conscience can punish the ego by
causing feelings of guilt. For example, if the ego gives in to the id’s
demands, the superego may make the person feel bad through guilt.
b. Ideal self (or ego-ideal) - an imaginary picture of how you ought to be,
how to treat other people, and how to behave as a member of society
which arises out of the person’s first great love attachment (usually a
parent). Behavior which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by
the superego through guilt. The super-ego can also reward us through
the ideal self when we behave ‘properly’ by making us feel proud.

Level of Consciousness

In his 1900 book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud introduced his topographic model of the mind,
which contended that the mind could be divided into three regions: conscious, preconscious, and
unconscious

To explain the concept of conscious versus unconscious experience, Freud compared the mind to an
iceberg. He said that only about one-tenth of our mind is conscious, and the rest of our mind is
unconscious. Our unconscious refers to that mental activity of which we are unaware and are unable to
access. According to Freud, unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our unconscious through a
process called
repression.

Freud believed that every child goes through a sequence of developmental stages and that the child's
experiences during these stages determine adult personality characteristics. Each stage has an
erogenous zone associated with it which is the greatest source of stimulation and pleasure. This may be
the mouth, anus and the genital. Fixation may be a result from failure to satisfy the needs of a particular
psychosexual stage.

Defense Mechanism

Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies that are unconsciously used

to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

1. Repression is subconsciously blocking ideas or impulses that are undesirable.

Ex: a young child is bitten by a dog. They later develop a severe phobia of dogs
but have no memory of when or how this fear originated. They have repressed
the painful memory of the fearful experience with the dog, so they are unaware
of exactly where their fear came from.

2. Regression is the reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of

unacceptable thoughts or impulses, acting in a childish or immature manner
Ex: a person stuck in traffic may experience road rage, the kind of tantrum they’d
never have in their everyday life but helps them cope with the stress of driving.

3. Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or
feeling did not exist.
Ex: Someone denies that they have an alcohol or substance use disorder because
they can still function and go to work each day.
 4. Projection is the misattribution of a person’s undesired thoughts, feelings, or
impulses onto another person who does not have those thoughts, feelings or impulses.
Ex: A person who’s having an affair may accuse their partner of infidelity.

5. Reaction Formation is the converting of unwanted or dangerous thoughts, feelings or

impulses into their opposites, often expressed in an exaggerated or showy way
Ex: a young boy who bullies a young girl because, on a subconscious level, he's
attracted to her
6. Displacement is the redirecting of thoughts feelings and impulses directed at one
person or object, but taken out upon another person or object.
7. Rationalization is putting something into a different light or offering a different
explanation for one’s perceptions or behaviors in the face of a changing reality.
8. Sublimation is simply the channeling of unacceptable impulses, thoughts and
emotions into more acceptable ones.
9. Compensation is a process of psychologically counterbalancing perceived
weaknesses by emphasizing strength in other arenas. By emphasizing and focusing on
one’s strengths, a person is recognizing they cannot be strong at all things and in all
areas in their lives.
10. Regression. Is a mechanism in which a person returns to an earlier stage of
development when he or she experiences stress.

REFERENCES

Book/ Offline Source

Corpuz, B. (2010), Child and Adolescent Development. Quezon City. Lorimar
Publishing, Inc.

Online Source:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/psychodynamic-
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wsu-sandbox/chapter/freud-and-the-psychodynamic-
perspective/#Figure_11_02_Iceberg date retrieved July 2020
https://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/date retrieved July2020
https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/freud-psychosexual-development/date retrieved
July 2020
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-bhcc-intropsych/chapter/freud-and-the-
psychodynamic-perspective/date retrieved July 2020
https://nobaproject.com/modules/the-psychodynamic-perspective