All right. So let's dive into the
first theory of personality, called the
psychoanalytic theory. Now, you've probably
heard of someone super famous in the psychology
world named Sigmund Freud. So let's write his
name down here, because it's very
important for this theory. OK. So Sigmund Freud. Well, it so happens--
fun fact here-- that Freud was not
even a psychologist. He was a physician, more
specifically a neurologist. And in 1885, he went to
Paris to study hypnosis with a fellow neurologist. But this experience is
actually what turned him towards medical psychopathology. And psychiatry as we
know it was actually unknown at the time
Freud began his work. So there you have it. There's your history
lesson for the day. OK. So let's go back and talk about
the psychoanalytic theory. The psychoanalytic theory says
that our childhood experiences and unconscious desires
influence behavior. So this is a key word for
this theory, "unconscious." So our personalities have
memories, beliefs, urges, drives, and instincts that
we are not always aware of and that make up
this unconscious. And the major driving
force behind Freud's instinctual theory is
the concept of libido. And you may have heard of
this in a different context, but we'll go over it in
terms of this theory. So libido is natural
energy source that fuels the
mechanisms of the mind. And when this libidinal
energy is stuck or fixated at various stages of
psychosexual development-- there's another keyword. So when this fixation occurs at
this psychosexual development and stages, conflicts can occur
that have lifelong effects. So fixation at a
particular stage is what predicts
adult personality according to this theory. For example, someone
fixated at the oral stage, which is actually
the first stage in psychosexual development,
might have oral personality characteristics like
being overly talkative or having a smoking
habit when they grow up. OK. So Freud breaks down
those mental structures that I was talking
about into three parts. And we can look at this
by looking at an iceberg. So let's break this down
into two parts first. The top of the iceberg,
which is shown up here, above the surface of the
water, is the conscious part of our mind. So this is everything
we are aware of. And if that's the
conscious, what do you think this bottom is? If you said unconscious,
you are right. So it's the unconscious mind. And what do you notice? The unconscious is a lot
larger than the conscious. You know that saying, it's
only the tip of the iceberg that we see? Well, it's true. Most of our mind is
hidden below the surface. OK. Let's go into the first
structure of our mind. And that is the id. So the id is located down
here in this compartment. And it's the unconscious
part of our mind that makes up most of the mind. It's hidden below the surface. And it develops
right after birth, and demands immediate
gratification. Now, the second part of
this structure is the ego. So the ego is right here
in this compartment. And it's part of our conscious
and our unconscious mind. OK. We'll see why that's the
case in a little bit. But the ego is involved in
our perceptions, thoughts, and judgments. And it seeks long-term
gratification as opposed to the id's immediate
gratification. In the third compartment,
right over here, I'm going to try to fit
it in, is the superego. Now, the superego develops
around the age of four. And it's our moral
compass or our conscience. Don't get that confused
with conscious. Conscience, it's a
little tongue-twister. OK. So let's go back to
these psychosexual stages I was talking about. So our libidinal
impulses, right here, are what want to be gratified. And when they are either
over-gratified or not gratified at all or partially
gratified, fixation occurs at a psychosexual
stage, and we face either conflict or anxiety. Now, what I mean by
"conflict" is not this whole battle or
drama that plays out. But it's a conflict between
these three mental structures of our mind, the ego,
the superego, and the id. Because all of them are
competing for demands, so they're in a conflict. Think of it like this. I'm going to draw out ourselves
right here, like that. And there's the rest of us. You get the picture Well, this person has really
big arms, but you get the idea. OK. So think of it like this. We have the id sitting on
one shoulder over here. And this is us, looking-- we're
in little bit of a conflict. OK. So the id is sitting
on one shoulder here. And it's really, really
upset, because it's demanding gratification and it
isn't immediately getting it. Remember, I said it wants
immediate gratification. But then, over here,
you have the superego. And the superego is
sitting on its high horse. And it's preaching to the
id about what's moral. And then what about the ego? What happens to the ego? What role does that have? Well, it's going to
be in the middle. Because the id
wants gratification, and only gratification. And it's going back and
forth with the superego. So the ego, right over here,
is trying to gratify the id, but it also has to
take into account what the superego is saying. The superego is moral
oversight, which represents the
values of society. Now, remember I said
earlier that the ego is part of the conscious and
the unconscious minds. So it basically
acts as a mediator between the unconscious
desires of the id and the moral demands
of the superego. So have you ever heard
of a Freudian slip? That's actually an example
of a mental conflict. So for example, a
financially stressed patient tells his doctor, oh, doctor,
please don't give me any bills. Well, what he really
meant to say was, please don't give me any pills. So this whole
process that I went through of the ego, the
superego, and the id becoming fixated in psychosexual
development due to conflicts is all part of the
psychoanalytic theory. And this process is part
of personality development for all individuals. But it's especially
problematic when there's a problem
with gratification in a particular
psychosexual stage.