Psychoanalytic Theory and Learning Perspectives - Essay Example

It should be mentioned that his theories also underwent the same process of development and change, much like the theories of the mind that preceded his arrival on the field of psychology. His famous theory of the Id, Ego and Super-Ego was a result of a continuing process, beginning with the first topographical model, in which the mind was divided in 3 psychic areas, each allocated to an unconscious, subconscious and pre-conscious level of function. One of the central elements of the system was the censor located between the unconscious and the pre-conscious, whose basic purpose was to repress certain unconscious mental activity (Perelberg).

It should be mentioned that, according to this theory, such activity still represented a part of the unconscious, and it only became part of the conscious mind if it was focused on through the process of attention. Freud in a 1915 paper, "The Unconscious", presented clinical manifestation, where such dynamically unconscious thoughts were apparent; however, it was more than clear that the theory needed to be modified, as same systems operating in the area of the unconscious and conscious inadequately explained the structure and functions of the human mind (Perelberg).

Some psychologi Some psychologists explain that the second topographical model was, in most part, based on the previous model; what was revolutionary was the clear definition of the individual areas of the mind, as well as their level and method of functioning. The theory of the Id, Ego and Super-Ego "had a highly clarifying effect and so made further clinical advances possible. But it did not in itself involve any fundamental changes in Freud's views on mental structure and functioning. Indeed, the three newly presented entities, the id, the ego and the superego, all had lengthy past histories" (Perelberg).

In his new model, Freud defined the Id as the repressed unconscious, as well as the setting of our desires. This aspect of the mind had no structure and it was solely based on the pleasure principle, which demanded the uncompromising fulfillment of its desires. It represents the basic and most primitive part of the human mind, directed towards satisfying essential desires, ranging from nutritional to sexual needs, and, according to Freud, it is most evident in young children. The Ego, which was the focus of Freud's research was formed at a later age, when the pleasure principle came in contact with reality, and the realistic condition that not every desire can be fulfilled.

This realistic principle modified the pleasure principle forming the regulatory principle of the ego, which acts as the primary censor of the unconscious. It was defined by Freud in 1923 as the primary organizer, using the principles of adaptation, integration and control in order to create a functioning individual in the conscious reality. Freud further developed the theory by focusing on the ego from an aspect of an object of certain facets of our psychological live, like our libido. In schizophrenic patients, the objects of libido are substituted with the ego, which forces the patients to become megalomanic (Perelberg).

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