Psy/310
Psychoanalytical Model Paper
August 14, 2014
Amber Keene
Harry Lowe
Psychodynamic theory approaches human personality by focusing on psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feeling, and emotion. This approach is particularly interesting in the relationship between conscious and unconscious motivation and how this dynamic might be influenced by experiences in early life. The theory of psychodynamics is often used to refer specifically to the psychoanalytic theory proposed by Sigmund Freud and his followers. While Freud's theories of the structure and dynamics of human personality strongly predict human action, they are not without limitation. Over the years, much of the new research into personality psychology has brought many of Freud's original propositions into question. These objections raise issues with many of Freud's theories and methods including his singular focus on the structure of the human mind, his myopic view of human sexuality, his treatment using free association and transference, his reluctance to study children, and his utter lack of empirical evidence.
Freud's theory rested on the existence of a particular structure of the human mind. The mind was thought to consist of the id, ego, and superego, the interactions of which determined human personality and behavior. Freud believed that psychic energy functioned much like any other (as in thermodynamics) and thus, personality could be predicted and manipulated using transformations and exchanges of energy among the various structures of the mind. The id is present at birth, completely unconscious, and seeks after pleasure, or human drives, desires, and impulses. The superego is operating in both the conscious and unconscious mind. The superego is the internalization of societal rules and expectations. The ego also operates both consciously and unconsciously. The ego seeks balance between the id and the superego, mediating between the impulses of the id and the rigid rules imposed by...