Introduction

The idea of ​​classical psychoanalysis

Personality structure in classical psychoanalysis

Personality dynamics

Psychosexual stages of personality development

Introduction

It is known that the main regulator of human behavior is consciousness. Freud discovered that behind the veil of consciousness there is hidden a deep, layer of powerful aspirations, drives, and desires that are not consciously realized by the individual. As an attending physician, he was faced with the fact that these unconscious experiences and motives can seriously burden life and even become the cause of neuropsychiatric diseases.

But, moreover, Freud was the first to suggest that this deep layer, as well as the superstructures above it, are the elements that make up the personality. And after the work he had done, Freud presented a ready-made model of personality structure and characterized its dynamics.

And in this work, we will try to meaningfully but succinctly highlight the main theses of the structure and dynamics of personality as presented by classical psychoanalysis, the founder of which was Sigmund Freud.

The idea of ​​classical psychoanalysis

“Classical psychoanalysis is a direction of psychotherapy based on the teachings of S. Freud, focusing on the driving forces of mental life, motives, drives, meanings.” .

Before the creation of Freudian theory, psychology had only the phenomenon of consciousness as an object of study, that is, the fact that consciousness exists was undeniable, but it remained something ephemeral, not amenable to study.

And as a result of his work, Freud came to the conclusion that the human psyche has a complex system consisting of various levels and components, reflecting both conscious and unconscious processes. Freud suggested the existence of two forms of the unconscious. This is, firstly, the hidden, “latent” unconscious, i.e. something that has left consciousness, but may later be conscious; secondly, it is the repressed unconscious, i.e. those mental formations that cannot become conscious because they are counteracted by some powerful invisible force. As a result, Freud called the first type of unconscious preconscious, and the second - actually.

It is also worth saying that Freud emphasizes that he considered the unconscious to be the central component constituting the essence of the human psyche, and the conscious to be only a certain superstructure, based and growing from the sphere of the unconscious.

Also, Freud identified three aspects of human functioning, expressed in the concepts of “It”, or “Id”, “I” or “Ego”, and “Super-I”, or “super-ego”. And it is precisely these three concepts that make up the structure of personality.

Thus, in his teaching, Z. Freud developed a structural diagram of the psyche, in which he identified three levels: conscious, preconscious (or subconscious) and unconscious. And also, the interactions of three levels that are in certain relationships with each other (“It”, “I”, “Super-I”).

Personality structure in classical psychoanalysis

And so, “Id”, “Ego”, “Super-Ego” or, as it is written in Russian sources - “It”, “I” and “Super-I”.

Each of these personality structures has its own functions, properties, components, principles of action, dynamics and mechanisms, but they are so closely interconnected that it is almost impossible to separately isolate their influence on human behavior. “Behavior almost always appears as a product of the interaction of these three systems; It is extremely rare that one of them acts without the other two.”

“It” is the deepest layer of the psyche. It includes everything mental that is innate and present at birth, including instincts. It is a reservoir for a certain psychic energy and provides energy for two other systems (“Ego” and “Super-Ego”). Freud called the id "true psychic reality" because it reflects the inner world of subjective experiences and is unaware of objective reality.

Freud's "id" refers exclusively to the primitive, instinctual and innate aspects of the personality. The “id” functions entirely in the unconscious and is closely related to instinctive biological drives (eating, sleeping, defecation, copulation) that energize our behavior. According to Freud, the “Id” is something dark, biological, chaotic, not aware of laws, not subject to rules. It remains central to the individual throughout his life. Being primitive in its core, it is free from all limitations, be it caution or fear. Being the oldest original structure of the psyche, “It” expresses the primary principle of all human life - the immediate discharge of psychic energy produced by biologically determined impulses (especially sexual and aggressive). The latter, when they are restrained and do not find release, create tension in personal functioning and become a factor in the formation of neurosis or another disorder, for example, depression. The immediate release of tension is called the pleasure principle. The "it" obeys this principle by expressing itself - most freely in the dream - in an impulsive, irrational and narcissistic (exaggeratedly selfish) manner, regardless of the consequences for others or in spite of self-preservation. Since the It does not know fear or anxiety, it does not resort to precautions in expressing its goal - this fact can, as Freud believed, pose a danger to the individual and to society, and therefore requires the consultation and help of a psychologist. In other words, “It” can be compared to a blind king, whose brutal power and authority forces him to obey, but to exercise this power he is forced to rely on his subjects. .

In order to obtain this pleasure, there are two processes that the “Id” “uses.” This is a reflex action and a primary process. Reflex actions are innate automatic reactions such as sneezing and blinking; they usually relieve tension immediately. The body is equipped with a number of such reflexes in order to cope with relatively simple forms of arousal.

The primary process involves a more complex reaction. It tries to release energy by creating an image of the object, which will cause the energy to move. For example, the primary process will give a hungry person a mental image of food. A hallucinatory experience in which a desired object is represented as a memory image is called wish fulfillment. A typical example of a primary process in a healthy person is a dream, which, as Freud believed, always represents the fulfillment or attempt to fulfill a wish. The hallucinations and visions of psychotics are also examples of the primary process. But the primary process itself is not able to relieve tension: a hungry person cannot eat an image of food. This kind of confusion can lead to psychological stress or even death if some external sources of need satisfaction do not appear. Therefore, Freud argued, it is an impossible task for an infant to learn to postpone gratification of primary needs. The capacity for delayed gratification first emerges when young children learn that there is an outside world beyond their own needs and desires. With the advent of this knowledge, a second personality structure, the “I,” arises.

“I” appears due to the fact that the needs of the body require appropriate interactions with the world of objective reality. The "I" strives to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the external world.

In other words, the Self is subject to the reality principle and operates through a secondary process. The purpose of the reality principle is to prevent tension from discharging until an object suitable for satisfaction is found. The reality principle temporarily suspends the action of the pleasure principle, although, ultimately, when the desired object is discovered and the tension is reduced, it is the pleasure principle that is “served.”

The secondary process is realistic thinking. Through the secondary process, the self formulates a plan to satisfy needs and then tests it. A hungry person thinks about where he can find food, and then starts looking for it there. This is called a reality check.

However, “I” is a derivative of “It”, and is, in fact, a servant of the desires of the “Id”, but a “literate” servant who knows how to find objectively acceptable ways to satisfy these desires. The “I” does not have an existence separate from the “It”, and in an absolute sense is always dependent on it, since it feeds precisely on the energy of the “Id”.

The third and last developing personality system is the “Super-Ego”. It is the internal system of values ​​and ideals of society as they are interpreted for the child by the parents and forcibly instilled through rewards and punishments applied to the child.

The "super-ego" is the morality of the individual, it is an ideal rather than a reality, and serves more for improvement than for pleasure. Its main task is to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of something based on the moral standards instilled by a particular society.

The “super-ego”, as the moral judge accompanying a person, develops in response to rewards and punishments coming from parents. To receive rewards and avoid punishment, the child learns to structure his behavior in accordance with the requirements of his parents.

What is considered wrong and for which the child is punished is deposited in the conscience - one of the subsystems of the “Super-I”. What they approve of and what they reward the child for is included in another subsystem - “I-ideal ». Conscience punishes a person, making him feel guilty; the “ideal self” rewards him, filling him with pride. With the formation of the “Super-I,” self-control takes the place of parental control.

Thus, it turns out that the structure of a person’s personality contains several systems that are interconnected in a special way. Deep in the unconscious, the “Id” exists as a kind of reservoir of energy that is needed to fulfill the biological needs of a person, however, the “Id” does not care how to satisfy these needs. In this regard, the “I” appears as a kind of objectively acceptable “vector” of the “It” energy, that is, using the principle of objectivity, and, moreover, permeating all three layers of the psyche (unconscious, preconscious and conscious). And as the controller of all “actions” of “It” and “I” (especially “It”), you act as the “Super-I” (Figure 1).

Picture 1.

Personality dynamics

Personality dynamics is a general term used to refer to the study of complex, interactive, dynamic aspects of motivation, emotion, and behavior.

The dynamics of personality are determined by the ways of distribution and use of psychic energy on the part of the “It”, “I” and “Super-Ego”. Since the total amount of energy is limited, the three systems “compete” for the possession of energy. Initially, "It" has all the energy and uses it for reflexive actions and the fulfillment of desires through the primary process. These two types of activity are in complete service to the pleasure principle on the basis of which the “Id” operates. Bringing energy into action - into action that will satisfy the "Id" - is called an object-choice or object-cathexis.

The dynamics of personality are also largely determined by the need to satisfy needs through interaction with objects of the external world. The environment provides the hungry body with food. In addition to this role - source of collateral - external world plays another role in the fate of the individual. There are dangers in it: it can not only satisfy, but also threaten. The environment has the power to cause pain and increase tension - as well as to bring pleasure and reduce tension. The usual human reaction to external threats that he is not ready to cope with is fear. The self, overwhelmed by overstimulation beyond control, becomes filled with anxiety.

Freud distinguished three types of anxiety: real anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety or guilt. The main type is real anxiety or fear of real dangers in the outside world; the other two are derived from it. Neurotic anxiety represents the fear that an instinct will get out of control and cause a person to do something that will result in punishment. Neurotic anxiety is not so much a fear of instincts as such, but rather a fear of punishment that will follow its satisfaction. Neurotic anxiety has a basis in reality, since in the person of parents or other authoritarian figures, the world punishes the child for impulsive actions. Moral anxiety is fear of conscience. People with a well-developed “super-ego” tend to feel guilty when doing something contrary to the moral code or even thinking about it. They are said to be tormented by pangs of conscience. Moral anxiety is also fundamentally realistic: in the past a person has been punished for moral violations, and may be punished again.

The functions of alarm are to warn a person about impending danger. Anxiety is a state of tension; this is an urge, like hunger or sexual urge, but does not arise in the internal tissues, but is initially associated with external causes. Increased anxiety motivates a person to take action. He can leave a dangerous place, restrain his impulse, obey the voice of his conscience.

Anxiety that cannot be effectively dealt with is called traumatic. It returns a person to a state of infantile helplessness. In fact, the prototype of later anxiety is birth trauma. The world bombards a newborn with stimuli to which he is not prepared and cannot adapt. The child needs a refuge so that the self has a chance to develop enough to cope with strong external stimuli. If the “I” is unable to cope with anxiety rationalistically, it is forced to revert to unrealistic methods. These are defense mechanisms.

These defense mechanisms are designed to reduce the level of tension in the “I” that is created by overwhelming anxiety.

Freud identified seven defense mechanisms: 1. suppression of desires - removal of desires from consciousness, since it “cannot” be satisfied; suppression is not final; it is often the source of bodily diseases of a psychogenic nature (headaches, arthritis, ulcers, asthma, heart disease, hypertension, etc.). The mental energy of suppressed desires is present in the human body regardless of his consciousness and finds its painful bodily expression. The result of suppression is demonstrative indifference to a given sphere, reality; 2. denial – withdrawal into fantasy, denial of any event as “untrue”. “This cannot be” - a person shows clear indifference to logic, does not notice contradictions in his judgments; 3. rationalization - building acceptable moral, logical justifications, arguments to explain and justify unacceptable forms of behavior, thoughts, actions, desires; 4. inversion - substitution of actions, thoughts, feelings that correspond to a genuine desire, with diametrically opposite behavior, thoughts, feelings (for example, a child initially wants to receive his mother’s love for himself, but, not receiving this love, begins to experience the exact opposite desire to annoy, anger his mother , cause a quarrel and hatred of the mother towards herself); 5. projection – attributing one’s own qualities, thoughts, feelings to another person, i.e. "removing the threat from oneself." When something is condemned in others, this is precisely what a person does not accept in himself, but cannot admit it, does not want to understand that these same qualities are inherent in him. For example, a person claims that “some Jews are deceivers,” although in fact this could mean: “I sometimes deceive”; 6. isolation – separation of the threatening part of the situation from the rest of the mental sphere, which can lead to separation, dual personality, and an incomplete “I”; 7. regression - a return to an earlier, primitive way of responding; stable regressions manifest themselves in the fact that a person justifies his actions from the perspective of a child’s thinking, does not recognize logic, defends his point of view, despite the correctness of his interlocutor’s arguments, the person does not develop mentally, and sometimes childhood habits return (biting nails, etc.) .

Personality develops on the basis of four sources of tension: 1) processes of physiological growth; 2) frustrations; 3) conflicts and 4) threats. A direct consequence of the increase in tension arising from these four sources is that the individual is forced to learn to discharge this tension. This is what is meant by personality development. Identification and displacement are two methods by which an individual learns to resolve frustrations, conflicts and anxieties.

Identification can be defined as the method by which a person takes on the characteristics of another and makes them part of his own personality. A person learns to reduce tension by modeling his behavior after someone else's. We choose as models those who, it seems to us, are more successful in meeting their needs than we are. The child is identified with the parents because they are seen as omnipotent, at least in early childhood. As children get older, they find other people with whom they identify—those whose achievements are more in line with their current desires. Each period has its own figures of identification. Needless to say, most identifications occur unconsciously and not with conscious intention, as it may seem. Displacement is when the original object of choice turns out to be inaccessible due to external or internal barriers (anti-cathexis), a new cathexis is formed, unless strong suppression occurs. If this new cathexis is also blocked, a new displacement occurs, etc., until an object is found that allows the tension to be relieved. Throughout the series of shifts which largely constitute the formation of personality, the source and purpose of instinct remain unchanged; only the object changes.

Thus, the dynamics of personality are determined by the ways of distribution and use of psychic energy on the part of the “It”, “I” and “Super-Ego”. Also, it is largely determined by the need to satisfy needs through interaction with objects of the external world, which, in addition to the function of satisfying the needs of the “Id,” also carries dangers that, when affecting the “I,” create a state of anxiety in it.

Psychosexual stages of personality development

There is an opinion that Freud was the first theoretical psychologist who paid special attention to personality development and, in particular, emphasized the decisive role early childhood in the formation of basic personality structures. . Thus, the dynamics of personality are best traced in the periodization of the psychosexual stages of personality development identified by Freud.

During the first five years of life, a child goes through five dynamically differentiated stages. According to Freud, the first five years of a child's life play a decisive role in the formation of personality. Each stage of development during the first five years of life is determined by the response characteristics of certain bodily zones. In the first stage, which lasts about a year, the most important area of ​​dynamic activity is, for example, the mouth.

The oral stage begins at birth and lasts until the second year. During this period, all primary sensory pleasures are associated with the child's mouth: sucking, biting, swallowing. Inadequate development at this stage - too much or too little - can give rise to an oral personality type, that is, a person who pays too much attention to habits associated with the mouth: smoking, kissing and eating. Freud believed that a very wide range of adult habits and character traits - from excessive optimism to sarcasm and cynicism - are rooted in this childhood oral stage.

During the anal stage, the main source of pleasure moves from the mouth to the anal area. The child receives primary satisfaction from this area of ​​the body. It is at this time that the child begins to learn to use the toilet independently. In this case, the child may either show increased activity or refuse to defecate altogether. Both cases indicate open disobedience to parents. Conflicts at this stage of development can lead to the emergence of two different personality types in adulthood: the anal-expelling (untidy, wasteful and extravagant type of person) and the anal-retentive (incredibly clean, neat and organized type).

During the phallic stage of development, which occurs in the fourth year of a child's life, the child's primary focus is on erotic gratification, which includes admiration and display of genitals and sexual fantasies. Freud describes this stage using the concept of the Oedipus complex. As you know, Oedipus is a character in ancient Greek mythology who, unknowingly, kills his father and marries his own mother. According to Freud, at this stage the child develops an attraction to the parent of the opposite sex and a rejection of the parent of the same sex, who is now perceived as a rival.

The latent stage is characterized by a decrease in sexual interest. The psychic authority “I” completely controls the needs of “It”; being divorced from the sexual goal, the energy of the “Id” is transferred to the development of universal human experience, enshrined in science and culture, as well as to the establishment of friendly relationships with peers and adults outside the family environment.

Genital stage . Cathexis of the pregenital periods are narcissistic in nature. This means that the individual derives satisfaction from stimulating or manipulating his own body, and other people are cathected only insofar as they help provide additional forms of bodily pleasure. During adolescence, part of this narcissism or narcissism turns into a special object-choice. The adolescent begins to love others for altruistic reasons rather than simply for selfish or narcissistic reasons. Sexual attractiveness, socialization, group activities, vocational determination, preparation for marriage and family life begin to emerge.

Despite the fact that Freud identified five stages of personal development, he did not assume that there were sharp transitions from one to another.

Thus, the first five years of a person’s life play an important role in the dynamics of personality development. But in the future, as the individual grows older, he experiences some changes.

Conclusion

The theory of personality developed by Sigmund Freud shocked the ideas of its time, since it presented man not as homo sapiens, who is aware of his behavior, but as a being in conflict, the roots of which lie in the unconscious. Freud was the first to characterize the psyche as a battlefield between irreconcilable instincts, reason and consciousness.

Freud's psychoanalytic theory exemplifies the psychodynamic approach. Dynamics here means that human behavior is determined, and unconscious mental processes have great importance in the regulation of human behavior.

Literature

Johnson R. Dreams and fantasies, analysis and use.

REFL-Book WACKLER, 1996.

Zeigarnik B.V. Theories of personality in foreign psychology.

- M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1982.

Cordwell M. Psychology.

Freud Z. “I and It”, 1923. Collected works in 26 volumes. St. Petersburg: Publishing house "VEIP", 2005.

Kjell L., Ziegler D. Theories of personality. – SPb.: PETER, 2000

Shapovalenko I.V. Age-related psychology. – M.: Gardariki, 2005.

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The psychosomatic direction in medicine considers the mechanism of the occurrence of diseases as the result of a primary violation of the soul, the human psyche.

It is safe to say that the origins of modern psychology are the views of the outstanding Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He is rightly called the “father” of modern psychology. Central to the early description of personality in the views of S. Freud was the concept of unconscious mental processes. However, in the early 20s, Freud revised his conceptual model mental life and introduced three structures into the anatomy of personality: id, ego and superego.

Eid

ID. The word “id” comes from the Latin “it” and, according to Freud, refers exclusively to the primitive, instinctual and innate aspects of personality. The id functions entirely in the unconscious and is closely related to the primary needs (food, sleep, defecation) that energize our behavior. According to Freud, the id is something dark, biological, chaotic, lawless, and not subject to rules. The id remains central to the individual throughout his life. Being the oldest original structure of the psyche, the id expresses primary principle throughout human life - an immediate outburst of psychic energy produced by biologically determined impulses (especially sexual and aggressive). The immediate release of tension is called pleasure principle. The id follows from this principle by expressing itself in an impulsive, selfish manner, without regard for consequences to others and contrary to self-preservation. In other words, the id can be compared to a blind king, whose brutal power and authority forces one to obey, but in order to exercise power, he is forced to rely on his subjects.

Freud described two mechanisms by which the id relieves the personality of tension: reflex actions and primary processes. In the first case, the id responds automatically to excitation signals and, thus, immediately relieves the tension caused by the stimulus. Examples of such innate reflex mechanisms are coughing in response to irritation of the upper respiratory tract and tears when a speck gets into the eye. However, it must be recognized that reflex actions do not always reduce the level of irritation or tension. Thus, not a single reflexive movement will allow a hungry child to get food. When reflex action fails to reduce tension, another function of the id, called the primary representational process, comes into play. The id forms a mental image of an object initially associated with the satisfaction of a basic need. In the example of a hungry child, this process may evoke an image of a mother's breast or a bottle of milk. Other examples of the primary process of representation are found in dreams, hallucinations, or psychoses.

Primary processes- an illogical, irrational and fantasy form of human ideas, characterized by the inability to suppress impulses and distinguish between the real and the unreal, “oneself” and “not oneself”. The difficulty of behavior in accordance with the primary process lies in the fact that the individual cannot distinguish between the actual object capable of satisfying the need and its image. For example, between water and the mirage of water for a person wandering through the desert. Therefore, Freud argued, it is an impossible task for the infant to learn to postpone the gratification of his primary needs. The capacity for delayed gratification first emerges when young children realize that there is an outside world beyond their own needs and desires. With the advent of this knowledge, a second personality structure, the ego, arises.

Ego

The ego (from the Latin “ego” - “I”) is a component of the mental apparatus responsible for decision making. The ego seeks to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the external world. The ego receives its structure and function from the id, evolves from it, and borrows part of the energy of the id for its needs to meet the demands of social reality. Thus, the ego helps ensure the safety and self-preservation of the organism. For example, a hungry person in search of food must distinguish between the image of food that appears in the imagination and the image of food in reality. That is, a person must learn to obtain and consume food before the tension decreases. This goal makes a person learn, think, reason, perceive, decide, remember, etc. Accordingly, the ego uses cognitive and perceptual processes in its effort to satisfy the desires and needs of the id. Unlike the id, whose nature is expressed in the search for pleasure, the ego obeys reality principle, the purpose of which is to preserve the integrity of the organism by delaying the gratification of instincts until the moment when the opportunity to achieve discharge in a suitable way is found or appropriate conditions are found in the external environment.

Superego

In order for a person to function effectively in society, he must have a system of values, norms and ethics that are reasonably compatible with those accepted in his environment. All this is acquired through the process of “socialization”; in the language of the structural model of psychoanalysis - through the formation of the superego (from the Latin “super” - “super” and “ego” - “I”).

The superego is the last component of the developing personality. From Freud's point of view, the organism is not born with a superego. Rather, children must acquire it through interactions with parents, teachers, and other “formative” figures. Being a moral and ethical force, the superego is a consequence of the child's prolonged dependence on his parents. It begins to appear when the child begins to distinguish between “right” and “wrong” (around the ages of 3 to 5 years).

Freud divided the superego into two subsystems: conscience and ego-ideal. Conscience is acquired through parental discipline. It involves behavior that parents call “disobedient behavior” and for which the child is reprimanded. Conscience includes the ability for critical self-evaluation, the presence of moral prohibitions and the emergence of feelings of guilt. The rewarding aspect of the superego is the ego ideal. It is formed from what significant people approve or highly value. And, if the goal is achieved, it evokes a feeling of self-respect and pride.

The superego is considered fully formed when parental control gives way to self-control. The superego, trying to completely inhibit any socially condemned impulses from the id, tries to direct a person to absolute perfection in thoughts, words and actions. That is, it tries to convince the ego of the superiority of idealistic goals over realistic ones.

Psychosexual stages of personality development

Psychoanalytic developmental theory is based on two premises. First, or genetic premise, emphasizes that early childhood experiences play a critical role in the formation of adult personality. Freud was convinced that the basic foundation of an individual's personality is laid in very early age, up to five years. The second premise is that a person is born with a certain amount of sexual energy (libido), which then goes through several stages of development. psychosexual stage, rooted in the instinctive processes of the body.

Freud has a hypothesis about four successive stages of personality development: oral, anal, phallic and genital. IN general scheme development, Freud also included a latent period, which falls between approximately 6-7 years of a child’s life and the onset of puberty. But, strictly speaking, the latent period is not a stage. The first three stages of development span ages from birth to five years and are called pregenital stages, since the genital area has not yet acquired a dominant role in the development of personality. The fourth stage coincides with the beginning of puberty. The names of the stages are based on the names of the areas of the body whose stimulation leads to a discharge of libidinal energy. The table describes the stages of psychosexual development according to Freud.

Since Freud's emphasis was on biological factors, all stages are closely related to erogenous zones, that is, sensitive areas of the body that function as loci of expression of libidinal impulses. Erogenous zones include the ears, eyes, mouth (lips), breasts, anus and genitals.

The term “psychosexual” emphasizes that the main factor determining personality development is sexual instinct, progressing from one erogenous zone to another during a person's life. According to Freud's theory, at each stage of development, a certain area of ​​the body strives for a certain object or action in order to produce pleasant tension. The social experience of an individual, as a rule, brings to each stage a certain long-term contribution in the form of acquired attitudes, traits and values.

The logic of Freud's theoretical constructions is based on two factors: frustration and overprotectiveness. In cases of frustration, the child's psychosexual needs (for example, sucking, biting and chewing) are suppressed by parents or caregivers and therefore are not optimally satisfied. If the parents are overprotective, the child is given few opportunities (or none at all) to manage his own internal functions(for example, to exercise control over excretory functions). For this reason, the child develops a feeling of dependence and incompetence. In any case, as Freud believed, the result is an excessive accumulation of libido, which subsequently, in mature years can be expressed in the form of “residual” behavior (character traits, values, attitudes) associated with the psychosexual stage at which frustration or over-concern occurred.

Basic instincts of human behavior

Psychoanalytic theory is based on the idea that people are complex energy systems. In accordance with the achievements of physics and physiology of the 19th century, Freud believed that human behavior is activated by a single energy, according to the law of conservation of energy (that is, it can move from one state to another, but its quality remains the same). Freud took this one general principle nature, translated it into the language of psychological terms and concluded that the source of psychic energy is the neurophysiological state of excitation. He further postulated: each person has a certain limited amount of energy that fuels mental activity. According to Freud, mental images bodily needs expressed as desires are called instincts. Freud argued that all human activity (thinking, perception, memory and imagination) is determined by instincts.

Although the number of instincts may be unlimited, Freud recognized the existence of two main groups: instincts of life and death. The first group (under the general name Eros) includes all forces serving the purpose of maintaining vital important processes and ensuring the reproduction of the human race. Recognizing the great importance of life instincts, Freud considered sexual instincts to be the most essential for personality development. The energy of sexual instincts is called libido (from the Latin “to want” or “to desire”).

Libido- this is a certain amount of mental energy that finds release exclusively in sexual behavior.

The second group is the death instincts, called Thanatos, - underlies all manifestations of cruelty, aggression, suicide and murder. Unlike the energy of libido, as the energy of the life instincts, the energy of the death instincts has not received a special name. He believed that the death instincts obey the principle of entropy (that is, the law of thermodynamics, according to which any energy system strives to maintain dynamic equilibrium). Referring to Schopenhauer, Freud stated: “The goal of life is death.”

3. Freud presented personality structure in the form of a three-component model.

1. Id (It) - the source of energy for the entire personality, has a biological nature. The contents of the id - thoughts, feelings, memories, events from life - are unconscious, since they were never realized or were rejected, being unacceptable, but they affect human behavior even without conscious control. The id is the guardian of all innate human instincts, the main ones - the instinct of life (Eros) and the instinct of death (Thanatos) - oppose each other. The id lives and is governed by the pleasure principle, seeking its satisfaction without being subject to the reality principle. The id is irrational and at the same time has unlimited power, and the demands of the id are satisfied by the authority of the Ego (I). The id is located at the unconscious level of the psyche.

2. Ego (I) is the part of the personality that is in contact with reality; it is a kind of human consciousness, localized at the conscious level of the psyche. The ego follows the principle of reality, developing a number of mechanisms that allow it to adapt to the environment and cope with its requirements. Its task is to regulate the tension between internal (drives or instincts) and external stimuli (coming from the environment), to control the demands of instincts emanating from the Id.

3. Superego (Super-I) - the source of moral and religious feelings, the figurative existence of conscience, includes traditional norms, as parents understood them, acts as a censor of actions and thoughts, uses unconscious mechanisms of limitation, condemnation and prohibition. The location of the Supereto may vary depending on the perceived contents of it.

All three components of the personality are in opposition to each other, which determines the main internal conflicts of the personality: the Id, which strives to satisfy its desires, ignoring any rules and norms, faces the Superego, which fights everything that contradicts generally accepted moral norms, and the Ego is a battlefield and confrontation between the Id and the Superego.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN PSYCHOANALYSIS

Freud identified 4 sources of personality development: processes of physiological growth, frustration, conflicts and threats. Because of them, tension arises, which leads to the fact that a person masters more and more new ways to reduce this tension, and this is the process of personal development. Personality development is completed by age 5, and all subsequent growth represents the development of the basic structure. The periodization of the development of a child’s personality consists of 5 stages, which are called psychosexual, since at each stage development is controlled by libido energy, which has its own characteristics, and fixation at a certain stage leads to the formation of one or another type of character.

Stages of psychosexual development

1. Oral stage (0-1 year) - to satisfy his sexual instincts, the child uses the mother as an external object, and satisfaction of desire occurs through the oral cavity. In the case of fixation at this stage, dependence and infantility predominate in a person’s character.

2. Anal stage (1-3 years) - the child learns self-control and develops a sense of ownership.

3. Vaginal stage (3-5 years) - interest in their genitals appears and boys and girls become aware of their differences from each other, sexual identity begins to form, which occurs as a result of the successful resolution of the Oedipus complex in boys and the Electra complex in girls. The essence of these complexes is the emergence of sexual attraction to a parent of the opposite sex and hatred and jealousy towards a parent of the same sex.

4. Latent (hidden) stage (6 years - before the onset of puberty) - the strength of sexual instincts weakens under the influence of social factors - education, school, active physical and intellectual development child.

5. Genital stage (from 10-11 to 18 years) - the external object and methods of satisfying libido are a person of the opposite sex with normal development and a person of the same sex with any deviation and problems associated with sexual identity.

Introduction

2. Personality structure in classical psychoanalysis

3. Personality dynamics

4. Psychosexual stages of personality development

Introduction

It is known that the main regulator of human behavior is consciousness. Freud discovered that behind the veil of consciousness there is hidden a deep, layer of powerful aspirations, drives, and desires that are not consciously realized by the individual. As an attending physician, he was faced with the fact that these unconscious experiences and motives can seriously burden life and even become the cause of neuropsychiatric diseases.

But, moreover, Freud was the first to suggest that this deep layer, as well as the superstructures above it, are the elements that make up the personality. And after the work he had done, Freud presented a ready-made model of personality structure and characterized its dynamics.

And in this work, we will try to meaningfully but succinctly highlight the main theses of the structure and dynamics of personality as presented by classical psychoanalysis, the founder of which was Sigmund Freud.

1. The idea of ​​classical psychoanalysis

“Classical psychoanalysis is a direction of psychotherapy based on the teachings of S. Freud, focusing on the driving forces of mental life, motives, drives, meanings.” .

Before the creation of Freudian theory, psychology had only the phenomenon of consciousness as an object of study, that is, the fact that consciousness exists was undeniable, but it remained something ephemeral, not amenable to study.

And as a result of his activities, Freud came to the conclusion that the human psyche has a certain complex system, consisting of various levels and components, reflecting both conscious and unconscious processes. Freud suggested the existence of two forms of the unconscious. This is, firstly, the hidden, “latent” unconscious, i.e. something that has left consciousness, but may later be conscious; secondly, it is the repressed unconscious, i.e. those mental formations that cannot become conscious because they are counteracted by some powerful invisible force. As a result, the first view Freud's unconscious called preconscious, and the second - actually.

It is also worth saying that Freud emphasizes that he considered the unconscious to be the central component constituting the essence of the human psyche, and the conscious to be only a certain superstructure, based and growing from the sphere of the unconscious.

Also, Freud identified three aspects of human functioning, expressed in the concepts of “It”, or “Id”, “I” or “Ego”, and “Super-I”, or “super-ego”. And it is precisely these three concepts that make up the structure of personality.

Thus, in his teaching, Z. Freud developed a structural diagram of the psyche, in which he identified three levels: conscious, preconscious (or subconscious) and unconscious. And also, the interactions of three levels that are in certain relationships with each other (“It”, “I”, “Super-I”).

2. Personality structure in classical psychoanalysis

And so, “Id”, “Ego”, “Super-Ego” or, as it is written in Russian sources - “It”, “I” and “Super-I”.

Each of these personality structures has own functions, properties, components, principles of action, dynamics and mechanisms, but they are so closely interrelated that it is almost impossible to separately isolate their influence on human behavior. “Behavior almost always appears as a product of the interaction of these three systems; It is extremely rare that one of them acts without the other two.”

“It” is the deepest layer of the psyche. It includes everything mental that is innate and present at birth, including instincts. It is a reservoir for a certain psychic energy and provides energy for two other systems (“Ego” and “Super-Ego”). Freud called the id "true psychic reality" because it reflects the inner world of subjective experiences and is unaware of objective reality.

Freud's "id" refers exclusively to the primitive, instinctual and innate aspects of the personality. The “id” functions entirely in the unconscious and is closely related to instinctive biological drives (eating, sleeping, defecation, copulation) that energize our behavior. According to Freud, the “Id” is something dark, biological, chaotic, not aware of laws, not subject to rules. It remains central to the individual throughout his life. Being primitive in its core, it is free from all limitations, be it caution or fear. Being the oldest original structure of the psyche, “It” expresses the primary principle of all human life - the immediate discharge of psychic energy produced by biologically determined impulses (especially sexual and aggressive). The latter, when they are restrained and do not find release, create tension in personal functioning and become a factor in the formation of neurosis or another disorder, for example, depression. The immediate release of tension is called the pleasure principle. The "it" obeys this principle by expressing itself - most freely in the dream - in an impulsive, irrational and narcissistic (exaggeratedly selfish) manner, regardless of the consequences for others or in spite of self-preservation. Since the It does not know fear or anxiety, it does not resort to precautions in expressing its goal - this fact can, as Freud believed, pose a danger to the individual and to society, and therefore requires the consultation and help of a psychologist. In other words, “It” can be compared to a blind king, whose brutal power and authority forces him to obey, but to exercise this power he is forced to rely on his subjects. .

In order to obtain this pleasure, there are two processes that the “Id” “uses.” This is a reflex action and primary process. Reflex actions are innate automatic reactions such as sneezing and blinking; they usually relieve tension immediately. The body is equipped with a number of such reflexes in order to cope with relatively simple forms of arousal.

The primary process involves a more complex reaction. It tries to release energy by creating an image of the object, which will cause the energy to move. For example, the primary process will give a hungry person a mental image of food. A hallucinatory experience in which a desired object is represented as a memory image is called wish fulfillment. A typical example of a primary process healthy person- a dream, which, as Freud believed, always represents the fulfillment or attempt to fulfill a wish. The hallucinations and visions of psychotics are also examples of the primary process. But the primary process itself is not able to relieve tension: a hungry person cannot eat an image of food. This kind of confusion can lead to psychological stress or even death if some external sources of need satisfaction do not appear. Therefore, Freud argued, it is an impossible task for an infant to learn to postpone gratification of primary needs. The capacity for delayed gratification first emerges when young children learn that there is an outside world beyond their own needs and desires. With the advent of this knowledge, a second personality structure, the “I,” arises.

“I” appears due to the fact that the needs of the body require appropriate interactions with the world of objective reality. The "I" strives to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the external world.

In other words, the Self is subject to the reality principle and operates through a secondary process. The purpose of the reality principle is to prevent tension from discharging until an object suitable for satisfaction is found. The reality principle temporarily suspends the action of the pleasure principle, although, ultimately, when the desired object is discovered and the tension is reduced, it is the pleasure principle that is “served.”

The secondary process is realistic thinking. Through the secondary process, the self formulates a plan to satisfy needs and then tests it. A hungry person thinks about where he can find food, and then starts looking for it there. This is called a reality check.

However, “I” is a derivative of “It”, and is, in fact, a servant of the desires of the “Id”, but a “literate” servant who knows how to find objectively acceptable ways to satisfy these desires. The “I” does not have an existence separate from the “It”, and in an absolute sense is always dependent on it, since it feeds precisely on the energy of the “Id”.

The third and last developing personality system is the “Super-Ego”. It is the internal system of values ​​and ideals of society as they are interpreted for the child by the parents and forcibly instilled through rewards and punishments applied to the child.

The "super-ego" is the morality of the individual, it is an ideal rather than a reality, and serves more for improvement than for pleasure. Its main task is to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of something based on the moral standards instilled by a particular society.

The “super-ego”, as the moral judge accompanying a person, develops in response to rewards and punishments coming from parents. To receive rewards and avoid punishment, the child learns to structure his behavior in accordance with the requirements of his parents.

What is considered wrong and for which the child is punished is deposited in the conscience - one of the subsystems of the “Super-I”. What they approve of and what they reward the child for is included in another subsystem - “I-ideal ». Conscience punishes a person, making him feel guilty; the “ideal self” rewards him, filling him with pride. With the formation of the “Super-I,” self-control takes the place of parental control.

The psychoanalytic theory of personality developed by S. Freud covers the entire life of a person and uses the internal psychological properties of the individual, primarily his needs and motives, to describe him as a personality. S. Freud compared human self-awareness to the tip of the iceberg. He believed that only a small part of what actually happens in a person’s soul and characterizes him as a person is actually realized by him. A person is able to correctly understand and explain only a small part of his actions. The main part of his experience and personality is outside the sphere of consciousness, and only special procedures developed in psychoanalysis allow one to penetrate into it.

Personality structure, according to Freud, has three components:

"It", "I" and "Super-ego". “It” is the unconscious itself, which includes deep-seated drives, motives and needs. The “I” is consciousness, and the “Super-Ego” is represented at both the conscious and subconscious levels. “It” acts in accordance with the so-called pleasure principle. The “I” is guided by the principle of reality, and the “Super-ego” is guided ideal ideas- accepted moral norms and values ​​in society.

“It” is a product of biological experience inherited by man from animals (in the theory of Freud himself) or an unconscious result of an unfavorably developed individual life experience (in the concepts of neo-Freudians). “I” is, as a rule, a person’s self-awareness, his perception and assessment of his own personality and behavior. The “super-ego” is the result of the influence of society on the consciousness and subconscious of a person, his acceptance of the norms and values ​​of public morality. The main sources of the formation of the “super-ego” of the individual are parents, teachers, educators, other people with whom a given person has entered into long-term communication and personal contacts throughout life, as well as works of literature and art.

The system of vital human needs, which constitutes the content of the “It,” constantly requires satisfaction and unconsciously directs a person’s mental activity, regulating it mental processes and condition. Unconscious drives coming from the “It” are most often in a state of conflict with what is contained in the “Super-I”, i.e. with social and moral assessments of behavior; therefore, between the “It” and the “Super-Ego” there are constant and inevitable contradictions. They are resolved with the help of the “I” - consciousness, which, acting in accordance with the principle of reality, seeks to intelligently reconcile both conflicting sides in such a way that the drives of the “It” are satisfied to the maximum extent and moral norms are not violated.

States of dissatisfaction with oneself; anxiety and worry that often arise in a person are, according to Freud and the concepts of neo-Freudians, a subjective, emotionally charged reflection in a person’s consciousness of the struggle between “It” and “Super-Ego”, unresolved or unresolved contradictions between what actually motivates behavior (“It”), and what should guide him (“Super-I”).

S. Freud's theory of personality and the concepts of neo-Freudians have been repeatedly criticized in both our and foreign literature. This criticism concerned the extreme biologization of man, the identification of his motives social behavior with the biological needs of animals and belittling the role of consciousness in controlling its actions. It should be added to this that Freud's theory is essentially speculative. Many of the positions contained in it and in the works of neo-Freudians, despite the fact that they seem interesting and vitally true, cannot be considered scientifically proven. It is hardly permissible, for example, to build such broad theoretical generalizations as S. Freud did, only on the basis of clinical observations of several patients.

At the same time, one should not diminish the actual merits of S. Freud and the neo-Freudians in the development of a general psychological theory of personality. They, for example, concern the problem of the unconscious and defense mechanisms, their role in the determination of behavior.