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Introduction to Freud
Spring 2004
NCLC 130 (Week 4: Identity)
Karen Misencik
Women’s Studies

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 Freud: “Father of Psychoanalysis”
 Sigmund Freud Born May 6, 1856 in
Freiburg (then Moravia, now Czech
Republic).
 One of 8 children, Jewish family
 Age 4, Freud’s father moved family to
Vienna, Austria

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 1873: (Age 17) U. of Vienna med. student
 1882: Vienna General Hospital – research
on the brain
 1885: Begins working with Jean-Martin
Charcot (French neurologist). Research
into “hysteria”
 1886: Sets up private practice as
consultant for nervous disorders

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 1886 marries Martha Bernays. By 1896
the couple has 6 children, including Anna
(youngest child) – Freud’s protégé and
confident.
 Freud’s research interest begins to shift to
psychological disorders. Begins working
with Joseph Breuer using hypnosis and
free-association.

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 Around turn of century (1900) Freud’s
writing takes off – Interpretation of Dreams
and Psychopathology of Everyday Life.
 Early 1900s begins working with Alfred
Adler and develops Vienna Psychoanalytic
Society.
 Freud still publishing: Case Histories
(Wolf Man, Rat Man, Dora, etc.)

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 1909: Swiss Psychologist, Carl Jung
(1875-1961) begins collaborating with
Freud.
 The two become very close colleagues but
split bitterly after several years. Causes
end of Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.
 1914-1918: World War I: Devastating but
Freud still lecturing, writing, etc.

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 1923: Freud has several malignant tumors
removed from mouth – beginning of illness
which will eventually kill him.
 Between 1926-1930 many more of his
famous texts are published: Future of an
Illusion, Civilization and Its Discontents,
etc.
 1933: Hitler comes to power. Later on,
Freud’s books publicly burned in Berlin.

Background/Context
Part I: Biography
 1938 Germans invade Austria. Freud
moves to London via Paris.
 Freud by now very ill from cancer.
 1939 Freud’s final book, Moses and
Monotheism is published.
 September 23, 1939: Freud dies in
London.

Freud’s Theories
Part II: Psychoanalytic Model of Identity
 Psychoanalysis: “The Talking Cure” therapy that
investigates the workings and interactions
between conscious and unconscious mind.
(Freud first used the term in 1896.)
 Think of: “revealing,” “unearthing” what we have
hidden, repressed in order to become healthy.
 We can’t make what we don’t want to face “go
away” but we can change (suppress) it. If
ignored can result in neuroses, psychoses, etc.

Freud’s Theories
Psychoanalysis depends on
understanding how the mind
works:
Consider an Iceberg Model (it’s
what’s underneath that counts!):
Disclaimer!: Models are helpful,
but also limiting….

Freud’s Theories
Top of the iceberg: Conscious
mind (smallest part – say,
10%). We can access this, we
are aware of this part of “us.”
We understand it logically.

Freud’s Theories
 Middle of iceberg: Preconscious (medium
size, about 10-15%). Ordinary memory.
You don’t keep a lot of information in your
conscious mind all the time – why?
 If you need to know something (where you
parked your car, your sister’s birthday,
your 7th
grade Stardust Dance, etc.) you
can bring it “up” to your Conscious mind.

Freud’s Theories
 Bottom of iceberg: Unconscious (huge –
dwarfs the other two, 75-80% of our mind).
“Underwater”
 The unconscious: Plays a very large role
in how we function as human beings. Most
of the work among the Id, Ego, and
Superego happens here.

Freud’s Theories
THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND:
 A “dumping ground” for all of our desires,
anxieties, urges, especially those which are
painful – why?
 Nothing in the unconscious goes away. Even if
we aren’t aware of it, what is in the unconscious
influences us every day in every way.
 Can’t directly or easily access the unconscious
with conscious mind. “Speaks” a different
language (ex. Dreams).

Freud’s Theories
“Mystic Writing Pad” essay
 Mystic Writing Pad (toy): analogous to mind.
 Some key passages:
(208) “Our mental apparatus….of them”
(211) “Thus the Pad…or systems”
(211) “We need not be disturbed…are present”
(212) choice of words “protective shield”
(212) “It is as though…coming from it”

Freud’s Theories
Part III: Id, Ego, Superego
Freud’s theory of Identity is based on a
CONFLICT
MODEL
Important! Radical notion!
(Keep in mind that with Freud, identity becomes confusing
– hard to use pronouns to describe ourselves. Who am
“I”? Is “I” really “We”?)

Freud’s Theories
Part III: Id, Ego, Superego
 Conflict Model: The self is NOT UNIFIED; it is
not a coherent, singular entity. Not entirely
rational, not entirely in control of yourself.
 There are competing elements within ourselves.
 No way to resolve competing elements – only
way to stay healthy is to not let any one of them
“get the upper hand” or sickness (i.e. neurosis or
psychosis) can occur.

Freud’s Theories
Part III: ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
Freud’s conflict model is based on the idea
of the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.
These are the components of the self.
First:
 THE ID: The oldest part of our mind –
most primal, most fundamental, most
primitive.
 The Id precedes culture! And is universal.

Freud’s Theories
“Id” does NOT stand for
“Identity.”
Rather, it means “It” – WOW!
It is irrational, emotional,
demanding…and STRONG

Freud’s Theories
 The ID: The source for libido (psychic energy,
not just sexual in meaning like today’s
connotation)
 Psychic energy fuels our thoughts, memories,
sexual desires, perceptions, etc.
 Psychic energy – fixed amount (like theory of
“matter” – can neither be created nor destroyed)

Freud’s Theories
The Id is ruled by The Pleasure
Principle: (I WANT, I WANT, I WANT, I
WANT!!!!!)
 Pleasure Principle: Cares only about
immediate self-gratification; does not care
about deferring, doesn’t care about others.

Freud’s Theories
 A new baby is all Id. Not born fully human
(controversial) – must successfully navigate the
treacherous path to adulthood.
 A new baby only wants to eat, sleep, urinate,
defecate, be comfortable, and gain sexual
pleasure and wants it all now.
 (Yes, Freud believes we are all born sexual,
“polymorphous perverse” – all areas of body to
an infant are pleasurable BUT: “sexual” is
understood as “sensual”).

Freud’s Theories
 The Ego: “I”
 Functions with the rational part of the
mind. The Ego develops in the child
by about age 3.
 Child learns that it is often unwise and
there are consequences if s/he
cannot learn to delay her/his
gratification.

Freud’s Theories
 The Ego is ruled by The Reality Principle,
the Ego is pragmatic. “You can’t always
get what you want.”
 The Ego mediates between the Id and the
world. The Ego develops strategies to
help the Id make it until the urge can be
satisfied.
 It takes a tremendous amount of psychic
energy to help suppress the Id’s urges.

Freud’s Theories
 The Ego is in service to the Id, yet it uses some
of the Id’s psychic energy to control the Id by
reasonably satisfying the Id.
 Over time, the Ego becomes pretty good at this
and develops a large repertoire of KSAs to keep
the Id gratified.
 This causes the Ego to become aware of itself
as an entity – now the individual experiences
him/herself as a “self”, not just a big ball of
urges.

Freud’s Theories
 The Superego: “Over-I”
 Last part of the mind to develop (by
about age 5).
 The moral part of the mind (because
the Ego is not necessarily moral).
 Represents societal and parental
values. “Steps In” when Mom or the
Cops aren’t around.

Freud’s Theories
 Two components to Superego: Ego Ideal
and Conscience. (Don’t confuse with
“conscious”)
 Ego Ideal: The rules or standards for what
constitutes good or appropriate behavior.
 Conscience: The rules or standards for
what constitutes bad, immoral,
embarrassing behavior.

Freud’s Theories
 If, as an adult, your Id is too dominant?
(very self-absorbed, don’t care about
others, only out for yourself)
 If, as an adult, your Ego is too dominant?
(distant, rational, efficient, unemotional,
cold)
 If, as an adult, your Superego is too
dominant? (guilt-ridden or sanctimonious).

SOURCES
Freud, Sigmund. A Note upon the “Mystic Writing-Pad,” General
Psychological Theory. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1991.
_______. The Ego and the Id. (Trans. Joan Riviere.) New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., 1960.
Lecture Notes, Professor Debra Bergoffen, Department of Philosophy and
Religious Studies, George Mason University, 1994.

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