Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory Essay
Sigmund Freud developed Psychodynamic theory which gave a detailed description of the levels of awareness (conscious, preconscious and unconscious) and explained how the thoughts and feelings of an individual can affect his or her actions.
Today, this theory is successfully used in modern psychology. Many psychotherapists use psychodynamic psychotherapy which helps the patients to understand their feelings. Psychodynamic psychology treats depression, a widespread illness in our modern society which includes problems with concentration and decision making, apathetic behavior, serious changes in feelings and physical well-being. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998, p.17)
According to Freud’s Psychodynamic theory, there are three distinctive parts of human personality: the id, the ego and the superego. The id is related to biological needs such as hunger, thirst, sex and so on. It provides energy for all systems of human body. Another part is superego. Freud defines it as “a voice of conscience”. The third part is ego which is represented by the individual’s conscience mind. It is connected with the individual’s thoughts, memories and judgments. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998, p.51)
It is known that Freud used his knowledge and experiences in thermodynamics in order to apply them to his Psychodynamic theory. Thus, the first law of thermodynamics which states that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed” was applied to the main concepts of Freud’s Psychodynamic theory. He studied human personality and human emotions “as a form of physical energy”. Sigmund Freud was sure that physical energy concerning human personality can be transformed from one state to another but it cannot be created or destroyed. According to his theory, most personalities are shaped on the basis of their childhood experiences. Freud states that any individual passes some psychosexual stages from his or her child birth to puberty. Moreover, “the pleasure seeking energy” of id focuses on different “pleasure sensitive zones” of the human body during different stages of life. (Ahles & Scott, 2004, p.62)
The psychosexual stages of life of any individual include the following ones:
The oral stage which lasts from the child birth to the age of eighteen months. It is focused on the mouth.
The anal stage which includes the period of child’s development from eighteen months to three years old. This stage is connected “with stimulation of the child’s bladder and the bowels which brings gratification”.
The phallic stage lasts from three years to six years old. Genitals are “the pleasure seeking zones” of this stage.
Latency stage. This period of child’s sexuality is considered to be a torpid one.
Genital stage is related to the period of child’s puberty when he or she has sexual feelings to others. (Ahles & Scott, 2004, p.71)
Freud is sure that there is a link between the individual’s ego and the world around. However, human personality is hidden in the individual’s unconsciousness. Moreover, he states that the individual’s ego is connected with the real anxiety while the id is connected with neurotic anxiety and the individual’s superego with his moral anxiety. Two last anxieties can be explained by the conflict which took place during one of the psychosexual stages, in the childhood. Sometimes, the above mentioned anxieties are repressed into the individual’s unconsciousness as a so called “defense mechanism”. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998, p.52)
Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology which explores internal mental processes of an individual. It differs from Freud’s psychology because it uses some scientific methods and does not use introspection as a reliable method of investigation of human personality.
The major goal of cognitive psychology is to investigate how the individuals “acquire, process and store knowledge and information”. Cognitive research can include such practical applications as the ways to make the memory better, or to improve decision making process, and others.(Neisser, 1987, p.23)
Cognitive psychology is closely connected with such disciplines as psychology, neuroscience, biology, anthropology, physics, linguistics. The major topics in cognitive psychology include language, memory, perception, attention, decision making process, problem solving, judgment.
It is known that there are three main approaches in cognitive psychology which include the following ones:
experimental cognitive psychology. It uses different experimental methods which help to understand human cognition.
computational cognitive psychology. It is based on some computational models including “symbolic and subsymbolic representations and dynamical systems”.
neural cognitive psychology. It is based on the use of brain imaging and neurobiological methods. It explores neural basis of the individuals cognition.(Neisser, 1987, p.32)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that both Freud’s Psychodynamic theory and cognitive psychology have already contributed to the development of investigation of human personality and behavior. Nowadays, psychologists use different methods based on Freud’s psychodynamic theory and on the researches in cognitive psychology.
