Sigmund Freud

 Kendall Perssico

Section 4 

Sigmund Freud was most famously known as psychologist. However, he can also be thought of as a philosopher. Freud had many ideas about the mind, specifically the unconscious. He is the founder of psychoanalysis. This is the believe that everyone has unconscious thoughts, memories, and feelings. Sigmund believed that the unconscious leads people to act a certain way and can even access them in our dreams.

Freud’s theory on the personality made a huge impact in the world of psychology. Psychoanalysis used the idea of laying down and speaking about feelings would make the unconscious conscious. This created the visual that everyone thinks of when someone says psychology, a person laying on a couch venting their feelings. Freud would have patients lie on a couch while he sat behind them. The patients would speak about their emotions, dreams, and childhood while Freud would take notes about what they were saying.

Another way Freud theorized the unconscious had a mind of its own was called the “Freudian Slip”. This is the phenomenon that people revealed their true feelings by a slip of the tongue. This could be as simple as a language error or it could be revealing suppressed thoughts and feelings. These can be viewed many times in news segments or live tv, lots of them being sexual slips.

            The psychologist also had theories about dreams. When people try to define dreams, Freud's theory is probably the most popular. Freud's theory was that dreams were a ay of revealing a person's true desires and wishes. Freud also specifies that wish fulfillment dreams are not always positive, and that they could be “the fulfillment of a wish; a fulfilled fear; a reflection; or merely the reproduction a memory." Freud thought that having a dream about dying means that you secretly wish you were dead. Another symbolism found is children as animals or parents as kings and queens, representing their hierarchy in their life. Other symbolism was more sexual, like most of Freud's theories. 

            

            The personality theory is the most profound theory in Freud's career. The three areas of the personality are the ID, Superego, and Ego. The ID acts as the devil on their shoulder, making people act on their urges and needs. The Superego acts like the angel on their shoulder, making people think about the consequences of their actions. The Ego is the middle ground, working to create a balance between the ID and Superego. This theory explains how our mind is in a constant battle trying to know how we feel and the correct way of handling it. Sigmund Freud, although controversial, had groundbreaking discoveries in psychology and in the world of philosophy. 

Resources: 

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html

https://artsofthought.com/2020/06/04/freud-interpretation-of-dreams/

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-freudian-slip-2795851

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/201801/the-freudian-symbolism-in-your-dreams

Visual Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBlChT59Cxo

http://hbookreviews.blogspot.com/2015/05/psychoanalytic-therapy.html

https://existentialcomics.com/philosopher/Sigmund_Freud