Freudian Paper

j3361894

Janae Debeltz

Although complex in nature, psychoanalysis is a combination of foundational ideas that create the basis for the theory to be developed upon, these ideas include: psychic determinism, mental energy, structure of the mind, and psychic conflict. One of the most important concepts to remember throughout the understanding of psychoanalysis is that the mind and the brain are separate entities that work together. The brain is the physical organ and it’s actions are a factor, along with what the rest of the body’s actions, that leads to the creation of the mind (Funder, 2016, p. 355). To begin with, psychic determinism is the assumption and understanding that everything that occurs psychologically has a cause and that cause is able to be identified. This key idea leaves no room for random events because according to it nothing is ever random— since there is always a cause contributing to it. Since psychic determinism leaves no possibility for accidents it results in supporting that the causes behind our actions and thoughts —even if we believe it is accidental— are deep within the mind unknowingly, in our unconscious. Throughout my life I have witnessed many individuals speak ideas they believe and act the opposite, so psychic determinism may allow for an explanation; since many people do not understand why they act opposite from their beliefs, this psychoanalytic idea allows for the explanation of the unconscious mind taking part in this. Ultimately, I have agreed with this concept since I began taking psychology courses in high school after learning about the unconscious mind and the power it holds over various parts of our lives. After reading more about psychic determinism it describes my understanding and thought process behind the mind and it’s mental ability to in a way suppress causes behind beliefs and actions. Mental energy is the foundational idea of psychoanalysis that states energy is needed in order for the mind to essentially work and the specific energy required is limited within any given time period. This ultimately creates an issue when considering the energy the mind uses in order to do something could provide a deficit for another mental task, so conservation must applied. Throughout the reading it speaks about this principle’s implications throughout time not being consistent due to modern contrasting data from the original principle while occasionally being supported through real-world applications. Therefore, modern psychoanalysis refers to the mental energy not being limited but the capacity for mental processing being limited (Funder, 2016, p. 357). This makes sense in relation to being a university student because when learning new information I can only process so much before I am unable to focus or understand any more information until taking a break to process. Overall, I agree with certain areas of the modern understanding of mental energy, which includes the limiting factor of mental processing capacity and the capacity of one mental processing action lessening the possibility of an additional mental action. According to one of the many psychoanalytic ideas, the mind has a complex internal structure that have different areas within it that may function independently or dependently — this psychoanalytic idea is called the internal structure (Funder, 2016, p. 355). The idea regarding the brain and the mind collaborating leading to the labels of id, ego, and superego; these labels ultimately categorize various thoughts and actions within the mind based on: the emotional and irrational parts or id, the rational parts or ego, and the moral parts or superego. Since the various parts of the structure are independently working while correlating together they can cause complex conflicts within the individual or with the actions they decide to take. For example, everyone has an id, superego, and ego; however, it seems that serial killers tend to listen more to

j3361894

Janae Debeltz

the id insisting that they murder instead of listening to the ego which rationalizes the situation to killing someone will lead to time in prison and I will lose my freedom. I definitely agree with this fundamental idea of internal structure within psychoanalysis since the different categorizes associated with it ultimately assist with explaining the various sections of the mind and how they interweave to create an overall section which supports the unconscious thoughts of individuals. Lastly, psychic conflict and compromise refers to the dynamics between the various independent parts within the internal structure when discussing the mind. The major tenet of psychic conflict and compromise, compromise formation, is responsible for creating a practical middle ground between the demands put in place by each of the labels —ego, superego, and id. Through further research it has been determined that the ego is mainly responsible for the action of compromise formation which results in the individual’s actions and conscious thoughts (Funder, 2016, p. 356). Therefore, if the ego is not working properly, then either the superego or the id will overcompensate and then overtake the situation altogether. There are many real-world accounts of compromise formation not occurring correctly and as a result they usually become scandals in the media. I believe this fundamental idea of psychic conflict and compromise is essential in understanding the unconscious mind, motivation, and practicality of an individual; therefore, I agree with this key idea due to the real world applications and the implications it provides towards people and their drive towards success and anything they want. Freud believed in there being two primary motives for behavior —libido and Thanatos— which contribute towards life and death respectively, but overall death dominates. Libido refers to the drive towards life while Thanatos refers to the drive towards death. Libido was the first motive Freud discussed and it resulted in confusion since it occasionally references sex and as a result people believe that libido only refers to sex, but it references life in general because sex is involved with creation and other various lively actions throughout our lifespan. Later in Freud’s career he presented the opposing view to libido, Thanatos. Ultimately, Thanatos became an additional motive for behavior due to his thought of everything must have an opposite — being the opposite of life is death. This relates to the doctrine of opposites by which it mentions that everything has an opposite and those opposites cannot occur or be without each other (Funder, 2016, p. 360). These levels of extremism, from whichever side, may result in more similarities than differences when comparing them due to the idea that they are similar by being so different — this is indicative of both the motives of libido and Thanatos since they are opposites. Since Freud did not fully intertwine Thanatos into his work when he derived the motive of libido it is not popular or endorsed within the modern psychoanalytic society today; however, libido is considered one of the most well-known motives throughout history, even though it has been focused highly on sex (Funder, 2016, p. 360). Personally, I believe that the conceptualization of libido is more believable due to it being highly discussed and referenced throughout Freud’s work along with discussing it in previous classes, but Thanatos is not discussed thoroughly enough for me to agree with it; however, with more information I may support it due to my understanding of death and how individuals somewhat chase it. Defense mechanisms within psychoanalysis refer to mechanisms provided by the ego in order to combat and protect against anxiety caused by opposing viewpoints and conflicts between the id, ego, and superego within the internal structure. The defense mechanisms that Freud discussed in order to lessen the anxiety caused by conflicts of the mind include: projection,

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Janae Debeltz

repression, intellectualization, displacement, sublimation, reaction formation, and denial. In order to lessen the accumulated anxiety the mind uses these defense mechanisms to escape the reality of the situation the individual is faced with. I completely agree with Freud’s defense mechanism concept for a short-term solution, but for long-term solutions it is unwise because of the side effect regarding reality and the disassociation between the person and their reality. For example, rationalizing a situation when becoming anxious is a natural and easy solution in order to ignore the true motivation behind an action, but when someone over rationalizes many situations it may lead to ignoring all motivations and actions that will lead to anxiety driven situations; therefore, rationalizing situations that do not require it will create conscious issues. Ultimately, I try to utilize rationalization the most out of the defense mechanisms because I do have anxiety and rationalizing the situation helps me relax the most out of every mechanism I have previously tried. In regard to the general population, I believe that denial is the most common defense mechanism that is used around the world because no one wants to believe there are problems and complications throughout the world, but there are we just do not consciously want to explore these issues.


Janae Debeltz

j3361894 References

Funder, D. C. (2016).Personality Research Methods. In K. Barton (Ed.), The Personality Puzzle (7th ed., pp. 20-65). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.