UNIT 6 Psychoanalysis*

Structure
6.0 Introduction
6.1 Influences on Psychoanalysis
6.1.1 Theories of the Unconscious Mind
6.1.2 Ideas of Psychopathology
6.1.3 The Use of Hypnosis
6.1.4 Charles Darwin
6.1.5 Attitude towards Sexuality in late 19th century Vienna
6.1.6 The Concept of Catharsis
6.1.7 Ideas about Dreams
6.2 Development of Psychoanalysis
6.2.1 Adopting Catharsis and Rejecting Hypnosis
6.2.2 Free Association
6.2.3 First Book on Psychoanalysis and Separation from Breuer
6.2.4 Self-Analysis and the Interpretations of Dreams
6.2.5 Recognition and Dissention
6.3 Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment
6.3.1 Free Association
6.3.1.1  Resistance
6.3.1.2  Repression
6.3.1.3  Transference
6.3.2 Dream Analysis
6.4 Freud’s Method of Research
6.5 Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality
6.5.1 Instincts
6.5.2 Conscious and Unconscious Aspects of Personality
6.5.3 Anxiety
6.5.4 Defence Mechanisms
6.5.5 Psychosexual Stages
6.6 Criticisms
6.6.1 Method of Data Collection
6.6.2 Published Case History
6.6.3 Freud’s Data
6.6.4 Assumptions about Human Nature

Dr. Saif R. Farooqi, Department of Applied Psychology, Vivekananda College,

* 
University of Delhi

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 6.6.5 Views about Women Psychoanalysis
6.6.6 Method of Therapy
6.7 Overall Impact
6.8 Summary
6.9 Key Words
6.10 Review Questions
6.11 References and Further Reading
6.12 References for Figures
6.13 Web Resources
Learning Objectives
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
●● Discuss the various influences on psychoanalysis;
●● Explain the development of psychoanalysis;
●● Describe the methods of treatment given by Freud;
●● Describe Freud’s system of personality; and
●● Elucidate the overall impact of psychoanalysis.

6.0 Introduction
Psychoanalysis formally began in the year 1895, and thus, overlaps the
other school of thoughts of psychology. Initially, the representatives of the
settings of psychology and psychoanalysis had little contact with each other.
Despite their fundamental disagreements, the school of thoughts shared an
academic heritage and owed much of their inspiration and form to Wundt.
The science of psychology developed in an academic and laboratory setting,
whereas psychoanalysis developed in a clinical setting.
In its early years, psychology was concerned with investigating the
elements and processes of consciousness. Sensation, perception, memory,
and thinking were its chief topics of interest. Psychoanalysis, on the other
hand, was mainly concerned with the unconscious. Its interests were in the
areas of motivation, emotion, conflict, neurotic symptoms, dreams, and
character traits. These differing areas of interest kept both psychology and
psychoanalysis apart for quite some time.
Box 6.0: Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, which led to the first
comprehensive theory of personality. Psychoanalysis is about the role of
the unconscious mind in behaviour and psychological disorders.
Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in Jewish family. He spent most of his
life in Vienna, where he completed all his education and training, and
eventually developed psychoanalysis. Due to the gradual popularity of
psychoanalysis, Freud developed a worldwide following. After the rise of Figure 6.1: Sigmund Freud
Naziism, Freud had to flee from Vienna. He died on September 23, 1939, (1856-1939)
in London. Source: www.livescience.com

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 Development of
Psychological Thought
Freud wrote extensively about the implications of psychoanalysis on the
individual, culture, and society. Some of his important works are: The
Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Psychopathology of Everyday Life
(1901), Three Essays on The Theory of Sexuality (1905), Totem and
Taboo (1913), Beyond Pleasure Principle (1920), and Civilization and its
Discontent (1931).
Psychoanalysis and psychology differ when it comes to the perspectives
of Sigmund Freud (the father of psychoanalysis) and Wilhelm Wundt
(considered to be the father of modern psychology). Wundt limited his
natural science to immediate conscious experience, while Freud, showing a
sensitivity towards this, called his perspective a “meta-psychology”. Freud
was interested in much more than the immediate contents of the conscious
mind. While he still pursued the notion of a scientific discipline, unlike
Wundt, it was not based on the model of physics; it was rather on parallel
grounds with biology.
The investigative practices used within psychoanalysis differ from those
available to psychologists. Psychology has at its roots three quite distinct
nineteenth-century methodological practices: laboratory studies, the
clinical experiment, and the psychological survey. For psychoanalysis
the nineteenth-century medical model of clinical interview was the major
method of investigative practice.
Wundt and Titchener did not accept the unconscious into their systems
because they believed that it is impossible to introspect the unconscious.
And because the unconscious cannot be introspected, it cannot be reduced
to its elementary components. The functionalists, too, with their exclusive
focus on consciousness, had no use for the unconscious. Earlier textbooks
in psychology hardly mentioned the unconscious. It was an afterthought
for them. Watson had no more room in his behaviouristic system for the
unconscious than he did for consciousness. He referred to the unconscious
as merely that which the individual has not yet verbalized, but he accorded
it no role in his system.
After being apart for years, gradually, the gap between psychology and
psychoanalysis, as a result of ego psychology and the object relations
theories, began to diminish. This decrease in the gap between the two
accelerated after the Second World War.

6.1 Influences on Psychoanalysis

6.1.1 Theories of the Unconscious Mind
1) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
In the early 18th century, the German philosopher and mathematician Leibniz
developed an idea called monadology. Monads, which Leibniz considered to
be the individual elements of all reality, were not physical atoms. They were
not composed wholly of matter. Each monad is an unextended psychic entity.
When enough monads were grouped together, they created an extension.
Monads can be likened to perceptions. Leibniz believed that mental events
(the activity of monads) had different degrees of consciousness, ranging
from unconscious to clearly conscious. Lesser degrees of conscious were
called petites perceptions; the conscious realization of these was called
apperception.
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 2) Johann Friedrich Herbart Psychoanalysis

A century later, the German philosopher and educator Friedrich Herbart

developed Leibniz’s notion of the unconscious into the concept of threshold
or limen of consciousness. In Herbart’s view, ideas below the proposed
threshold are unconscious. When an idea rises to a conscious level of
awareness it is apperceived (term given by Leibniz). Ideas to rise into
consciousness need to be compatible with the ideas already in consciousness.
Incongruous ideas cannot exist in consciousness at the same time, and ideas
that are irrelevant are forced out of consciousness to become inhibited ideas.
Inhibited ideas exist below the threshold of consciousness; they are similar
to Leibniz’s petites perceptions.
3) Gustav Theodore Fechner
Fechner also contributed to the development of theories about the
unconscious. Although he, too, used the notion of threshold, it was his
suggestion that the mind is analogous to an iceberg that had a greater impact
on Freud. Fechner speculated that like the greater portion of an iceberg,
much of the mind is hidden below the surface, where it is influenced by
unobservable forces. Freud quoted from Fechner’s book, Elements of
Psychophysics, in several of his own, and he derived major concepts –
pleasure principle, psychic energy, and the importance of aggression – from
Fechner’s work.
4) Intellectual Climate of the 1880s in Europe
Ideas about the unconscious were very much a part of the intellectual
climate of the 1880s in Europe, the time when Freud was beginning his
clinical practice. Not only was the issue of interest to professionals, but it
was also a fashionable topic of conversation among the public.
A book entitled Philosophy of the Unconscious (Hartmann, 1869) was so
popular that it appeared in nine editions between 1869 and 1882. In the
1870s, at least half a dozen other books were published in Germany that
contained the unconscious in their titles. Freud, therefore, was not the first
person to discover or discuss seriously the unconscious human mind. He
conceded that philosophers before him have dealt with it extensively. What
he discovered, he claimed, was a way to study it.
6.1.2 Ideas of Psychopathology
During the 19th century there were two major schools of thought in psychiatry,
the somatic and the psychic. The somatic school held that abnormal
behaviour had physical causes such as brain injuries, under stimulated
nerves, or nerves that were too tight. The psychic school subscribed to
mental or psychological explanations for abnormal behaviour. The somatic
viewpoint was dominant in general.
Psychoanalysis developed as a revolt against this somatic orientation. As
the treatment persons progressed, some scientists became convinced that
emotional factors were of far greater importance than brain injuries or other
potential physical causes.
6.1.3 The use of Hypnosis
1) Jean Martin Charcot
Hypnosis achieved professional acceptance with the work of the French
physician Jean Martin Charcot, in the mid-1800s. Charcot treated hysterical
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 Development of patients by means of hypnosis with some success. More importantly, he
Psychological Thought described the symptoms of hysteria and his application of hypnosis in medical
terminology, making them more acceptable to other physicians. Charcot’s
work was primarily neurological, emphasizing physical disturbances and
symptoms such as paralysis.
Charcot extensively used hypnosis to study the patients of hysteria. He
even used to hypnotize patients for groups of students and others. This got
him the nickname of “the Napoleon of the neuroses”. Freud was a student
of Charcot for a short duration, and was highly influenced by his use of
hypnosis in the treatment of disorders. He began to use hypnosis as a method
of treatment of disorders.
2) Pierre Janet
Janet, a student of Charcot, rejected Charcot’s viewpoint that hysteria was a
physical problem and conceived it as a mental disorder. He posited mental
phenomena – especially memory impairments, fixed ideas, and unconscious
forces – as causal factors, and he chose hypnosis as the method of treatment.
Janet’s work anticipated many of Freud’s ideas.
6.1.4 Charles Darwin
Darwin, more than any individual, is said to have paved the way for Freud
and his psychoanalysis. Darwin discussed several ideas that Freud later
made central issues in his psychoanalysis, including – unconscious mental
processes, conflicts, the significance of dreams, the hidden symbolism
of certain behavioural symptoms, and the importance of sexual arousal.
Darwin’s theories also had an impact on Freud’s ideas about childhood
development. Overall, Darwin focused on non-rational aspects of thoughts
and behaviour, as Freud did later.
6.1.5 Attitude towards Sexuality in late 19th Century Vienna
Interest in sexual matters was visible in everyday Viennese life as well as
the scientific literature. In the years before Freud advanced his sex-based
theory, many studies had been published on sexual pathologies, infantile
sexuality, and the suppression of sexual impulses and its effects on mental
and physical health. Even the word libido, which was to assume such
importance in Freud’s psychoanalysis, was already in use and had the same
meaning Freud later emphasized. Thus, much of the sexual component of
Freud’s work had been anticipated in one form or the other. Because the
professional and the general public were already receptive, Freud’s ideas
received a great deal of attention.
6.1.6 The Concept of Catharsis
Catharsis is the process of reducing or eliminating a complex emotion
by recalling it to conscious awareness and allowing to be expressed. The
concept of catharsis was popular before Freud published any of his work.
By 1890, there were more than 140 publications in German about catharsis.
6.1.7 Ideas about Dreams
Many of Freud’s ideas about dreams had been anticipated in the literature in
philosophy and physiology as far back as the 17th century. Three of Freud’s
contemporaries were already conducting studies of dreams. Charcot proposed
that the psychological trauma associated with hysteria was revealed in the
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 patient’s dreams. Janet believed that the causes of hysteria were contained Psychoanalysis
in dreams, and he used dreams as a therapeutic tool. Kraft‑Ebing argued that
unconscious sexual wishes could be found in dreams.
Check Your Progress 1
1) Discuss the ideas of unconscious that existed before the emergence
of psychoanalysis.
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
2) How did Darwin influence Freud?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………

6.2 Development of Psychoanalysis

Early in his career as a medical doctor, Sigmund Freud realized that a
large number of his patients with neurological symptoms had no organic
pathology. Instead, their symptoms were produced by intense emotional
conflict (which was then used to be known as hysteria and is now known as
somatoform disorder, conversion type). This led Freud to become interested
in psychiatry. In 1885, Freud studied under the famous psychiatrist Jean
Charcot, who was using hypnosis in the treatment of hysteria. Freud began
using hypnosis on his patients, but did not find it very effective.
Meanwhile, Freud met the physician Josef Breuer and developed a friendship
with him. Freud also began to see Breuer as his mentor. Breuer discussed
his patients Freud, including Anna O. (real name Bertha Pappenheim). This
case became pivotal in the development of psychoanalysis.
6.2.1 Adopting Catharsis and Rejecting Hypnosis
Breuer’s report of the Anna O. case is important in the development of
psychoanalysis, because it introduced Freud to the method of catharsis or
the talking cure. This method became very prominent later in his work.
Breuer was the one who used the method of catharsis. Catharsis involves
encouraging patients to speak of anything that comes to mind, regardless of
how discomforting or embarrassing it may be.
Freud adopted Breuer’s method of catharsis and gradually rejected hypnosis.
Freud, specifically, rejected hypnosis as a treatment for three reasons:
1) Everyone cannot be hypnotized.
2) Some patients refused to believe what they revealed under hypnosis.
3) When one set of symptoms was alleviated under hypnotic suggestibility,
new symptoms often emerged.
6.2.2 Free Association
From the method of catharsis, Freud developed the technique of free
association. In free association, the patient lies on a couch and is encouraged
to talk openly and spontaneously, giving complete expression to every idea,
no matter how embarrassing, unimportant, or foolish it may seem. The goal
of Freud’s system of psychoanalysis was to bring into conscious awareness
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 Development of repressed memories or thoughts, which were assumed to be the source of
Psychological Thought the patient’s abnormal behaviour.
Freud believed there was nothing random about the material revealed
during free association, and it was not censored by the patient’s conscious
choice. The experiences recounted during a free association session were
predetermined. It intruded on the patient’s consciousness so that the patient
had to express it to the therapist. Through the free association technique
Freud found that his patient’s memories reached far back into childhood,
and that many of the repressed experiences they recalled concerned sexual
matters. Already sensitive to sexual matters as possible causes of his patient’s
illnesses, and aware of the current writings on sexual pathology, Freud paid
increasing attention to the sexual material revealed in his patients’ narratives.
6.2.3 First Book on Psychoanalysis and Separation from
Breuer
Freud and Breuer collaborated on the book, Studies on Hysteria, which was
published in 1895. This was the first book written on psychoanalysis, and
is said to have marked the official beginning of psychoanalysis. The book
contained papers by both authors and several case histories, including that
of Anna O. The book was largely praised in scientific and literary journals
throughout Europe and was considered to be a valuable contribution to the
field.
Breuer was hesitant to publish the book. He disagreed with Freud on sexual
issues being the sole cause of neurotic behaviour. He told Freud that there
was not enough evidence on which to base his conclusion. The decision
to proceed the book anyway led to a rift in their relationship. Freud was
convinced that he was correct and that there was no need to accumulate
additional data to support his position. Freud and Breuer gradually began,
moving in different directions, leading to their separation.
6.2.4 Self-Analysis and the Interpretations of Dreams
In 1887, Freud began a self-analysis of his dreams. He had suffered from
a number of neurotic symptoms and diagnosed his condition as anxiety
neurosis. He reported migraine headaches, and he became anxious about
dying, travel, open spaces, and heart disease. This was a time of inner
turmoil, yet it was also one of his most creative periods.
Much of his theory of neurosis was derived from his own neurotic difficulties
and his attempt to analyse them. He undertook self-analysis as a way of
better understanding himself and his patients, and the method he chose was
dream analysis, which was evolved from self-analysis. In the course of his
work Freud had discovered that a patient’s dreams could be a rich source of
significant emotional material. Dreams often contained clues to underlying
causes of a disturbance. Because of his positivist belief that everyone had
a cause, he thought that events in a dream could not be completely without
meaning but must result from something in the patient’s unconscious.
Realizing he could not analyse himself by the technique of free association
– it being difficult to be patient and therapist at the same time – Freud
decided to analyse his dreams instead. On awakening each morning, he
wrote down his dream stories from the night and then analysed them. This
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 self-analysis continued for about 2 years, culminating in the publication of Psychoanalysis
The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), a book now considered Freud’s major
work. In it he outlined for the first time the nature of the Oedipus Complex,
drawing largely on his childhood experiences. Initially it was not very well
accepted, but later it turned out to be one of the most popular books in
psychology. In Zurich, Switzerland, a young man by the name of Carl Jung
read the book and quickly became a convert to the new psychoanalysis.
The Interpretation of Dreams was eventually so successful that it appeared
in eight editions during Freud’s lifetime. He adopted dream analysis as a
standard technique for psychoanalysis, and thereafter devoted the last half-
hour of each day to self-analysis.
6.2.5 Recognition and Dissention
In the years after 1900, Freud developed and expanded his ideas. In
1901, he published The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. In this book,
he generalized psychoanalysis for all people and not just people with
psychological disorders. This is the book in which Freud’s theory began
to take shape. The book contains the description of the famous Freudian
slip. Freud suggested that in everyday behaviour, unconscious ideas that are
struggling for expression can modify thoughts and actions. What might be
seen as casual slips of the tongue or acts of forgetting are actually reflections
of real, although unacknowledged, motives.
During this time (1902), Freud’s popularity increased. He started to conduct
weekly psychoanalytic discussions (Vienna Psychoanalytic Society) with
his disciples. These disciples included Adler and Jung, Adler being one of
the first followers.
In 1909, Granville Stanley Hall invited Freud to America for the 20th
Anniversary celebration of Clark University. Stanley Hall started the
American Journal of Psychology (the first English language journal of
psychology) in 1887 and formed the American Psychological Association
(APA) in 1892, becoming its first president. This visit to America gave
Freud international recognition. Freud’s lectures were highly appreciated in
America. He also met many famous American psychologists like William
James, James McKeen Cattell, and Edward Titchener.

Figure 6.2: Freud’s Visit to America (1909)

Source: http://www2.clarku.edu/departments/psychology/pdfs/ClarkUinAGP.pdf
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 Development of
Box 6.1: Freud’s Visit to America
Psychological Thought
In September, 1909, Sigmund Freud was invited to deliver lectures on
psychoanalysis at Clark University. He was invited by Granville Stanley
Hall, the then President of Clark University. During the visit a photograph
was taken (Figure 6.2), which is often considered to be one of the most
iconic pictures of the history of psychology. In the picture renowned
figures such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Granville Stanley Hall, Franz
Boas, Adolf Meyer, William James, Edward Titchener, James McKeen
Cattell, William Stern, and Joseph Jastrow can be seen all together.
Freud’s lectures were published in the American Journal of Psychology
and translated into several languages. In the annual meeting of APA,
a 3-hour session was devoted to psychoanalysis. This shows that
psychoanalysis had a great impact in the United States and further
increased the popularity of Sigmund Freud. This visit turned out to be a
landmark event for psychoanalysis. It gave Freud international recognition
and worldwide popularity. It also facilitated the growth of psychiatry and
clinical psychology.
Freud, during this time started to become very possessive about his ideas.
He did not tolerate any kind of disagreements and modifications in his
psychoanalysis. He tolerated no disagreement about the role of sexuality
in his theory. Anyone who did not accept it, or who sought to alter it, was
severely criticized and shunned.
The increasing popularity of Freud also brought in dissention and criticism
from his own followers. Adler disagreed with Freud about his emphasis on
sexuality and began to publicly criticize him. He moved away from Freud
in 1911 and formed his own group and his approach came to be known as
Individual Psychology. Disagreements also started to develop between him
and Jung. Jung disagreed with Freud about his obsession with sexuality
and Freud disagreed with Jung about his emphasis on spirituality. This led
Jung to move away from Freud in 1914. Jung formed his own version of
psychoanalysis called Analytical Psychology.
By the end of 1914, there were three different versions of psychoanalysis.
Check Your Progress 2
1) What is the significance of Freud’s visit to America?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
2) What is the role of Freud’s self-analysis in the development of
psychoanalysis?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
3) Name the first book on psychoanalysis.
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
                 
Answer: 3) Studies on Hysteria
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 Psychoanalysis
6.3 Psychoanalysis as a Treatment
Method
6.3.1 Free Association
Freud found that the method of free association did not always operate so
freely. Sooner or later his patients reached a point in their recollections
where they were unable or unwilling to continue.
6.3.1.1  Resistance
In free association, resistance is a blockage or refusal to disclose painful
memories. Freud believed that these resistances indicated that the patients
had called into conscious memories that were shameful or repulsive to be
faced. Freud thought resistance was a form of protection against emotional
pain. The presence of the pain indicated that the analysis was coming close
to the source of the problem and that the analyst should continue to probe
along these lines.
6.3.1.2  Repression
Freud’s discovery of resistances led him to formulate a fundamental
principle, repression, which described as the process of ejecting or excluding
unacceptable ideas, memories, and desires from conscious awareness. Freud
regarded repression as the only possible explanation for the occurrence of
resistances. Unpleasant ideas or impulses are pushed out of consciousness
and forcefully kept out. The therapist must help patients bring repressed
material back into the conscious mind so they can confront it and learn to
cope with it.
6.3.1.3  Transference
Transference is the process by which a patient responds to the therapist as if
the therapist was a significant person, such as a parent, in the patient’s life.
Freud recognized that the effective treatment of neurotic patients depended
on the development of an intimate personal relationship between patient
and therapist. To Freud, transference was a necessary part of the therapeutic
process. One goal of his therapy was to wean patients from this childish
dependence on the therapist and help them assume a more adult role.
6.3.2 Dream Analysis
Another important treatment method in Freudian psychoanalysis is dream
analysis. Freud believed that dreams represent a disguised satisfaction of
repressed desires and that the essence of a dream is wish fulfilment. Dreams
have both a manifest and a latent content. The manifest content is the actual
story told in recalling the events that occurred in the dream. The significance
of the dream, however, lies in the latent content, which is the dream’s hidden
or symbolic meaning.
Freud believed that when patients described their dreams, their forbidden
desires (the latent dream content) are expressed only in symbolic form.
Although many dream symbols are relevant only to the person reporting the
dream, other symbols are common to everyone.

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 Development of
Psychological Thought 6.4 Freud’s Method of Research
Despite the growing use of psychoanalysis as a method of treatment, Freud’s
desire was to explain the dynamics of human behaviour. He identified
himself more as a scientist than a therapist, and he viewed the techniques
of free association and dream analysis as research tools for the collection
of data for his studies. The fact that these techniques also had therapeutic
applications was, to Freud, secondary to their scientific use. Freud’s passion
was the research on which he built a theory to explain the functioning of the
human personality.
Freud’s system differed greatly in content and methodology from the
traditional experimental psychology of the time. Despite his scientific
training, Freud did not use experimental research methods. He did not
collect data from controlled experiments or use statistics to analyse his
results. He had little faith in the experimental approach, yet he believed his
research was scientific and that the case histories of his patients, and his
own self-analysis, provided ample support for his conclusions.
Freud formulated, revised, and extended his ideas in terms of the evidence
as he alone interpreted it. His own critical abilities were his most important
guide in the construction of his theory. He insisted that only psychoanalysts
who used his methods were qualified to judge scientific worth of his work,
and he ignored criticism from others, particularly from those who were not
sympathetic to psychoanalysis. Only rarely did he respond to his critics.
Psychoanalysis, he believed, was his system, and his alone.

6.5 Psychoanalysis as a System of

Personality
6.5.1 Instincts
Instincts are the propelling or motivating forces of the personality; the
biological (such as hunger) forces that release mental energy that drive
a person to take certain action. Freud used the term as driving force or
impulse. Freudian instincts are not inherited predispositions – the usual
meaning of instinct – but rather refer to sources of stimulation within the
body. The goal of instincts is to remove or reduce the stimulation through
some behaviour such as eating, drinking, or sexual activity.
Freud grouped instincts in two categories – life instincts and death instincts.
The life instincts include hunger, thirst, and sex, and are concerned with
self-preservation and the survival of the species. These are creative forces
that sustain life. The form of energy through which they are manifested is
called libido. The death instinct is a destructive force that can be directed
inwards as masochism or suicide, or outwards as in hatred and aggression.
As he grew older, Freud became convinced that the aggressive instinct could
be as powerful as the sex instinct in motivating human behaviour.
The concept of death instinct is another example of the autobiographical
nature of Freud’s system. He developed the notion of a death instinct only
when death became a personal concern: His cancer worsened, he witnessed
the horrors of war, and his daughter Sophie died at the age of 26, leaving two
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 young children. Freud was devastated by that loss, and less than 3 weeks Psychoanalysis
later was writing about a death instinct.
Freud also became aware of an aggressive tendency within himself.
Colleagues have described him as a good hater, and some of his writings,
as well as the bitterness and finality of his breaks with dissenters within the
psychoanalytic movement, suggest a high personal level of aggression.
The concept of aggression as a motivating force has been better received by
psychoanalysts than his suggestion of a death instinct.
6.5.2 Conscious and Unconscious Aspects of Personality
In his early work Freud expressed the belief that mental life consists of
two parts, the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious includes an
individual’s current thoughts, whatever one is thinking about or experiencing
at a given moment. The conscious part, like the visible portion of an iceberg,
is small and insignificant, presenting but a superficial aspect of the total
personality.
The unconscious includes thoughts, desires, and impulses of which an
individual remains largely unaware. Although some of this material has
always been unconscious, Freud believed that much of it was once conscious
but has been actively repressed, that is, driven from consciousness because
it was too anxiety-provoking. The vast and powerful unconscious – like the
larger portion of the iceberg that exists beneath the surface of the water –
contains the instincts that are the driving force behind all human behaviour.
Freud later revised this simple conscious/unconscious distinction, proposing
instead the id, ego, and superego. The id, which corresponds roughly to
Freud’s earlier notion of the unconscious, is the most primitive and least
accessible part of the personality. The power forces of the id include the
sexual and aggressive instincts. The id knows no judgments of value, no
good and evil, and no morality. Id forces seek immediate satisfaction without
regard for the circumstances of reality, operating in accordance with the
pleasure principle, which is concerned with reducing tension by seeking
pleasure and avoiding pain. The basic psychic energy or libido is contained
in the id and is expressed through tension reduction. Increases in libidinal
energy results in increased tension; an attempt is made to reduce this tension
to a more tolerable level. To satisfy the needs and maintain a comfortable
or liveable level of tension, there must be interaction with the real world.
Hungry people, for example, must act to find food if they are to discharge
the tension induced by hunger. Therefore, some appropriate link between
the demands of the id and the circumstances of reality must be established.
The ego serves as the mediating agent between id and the external world
to facilitate their interaction. The ego represents reason or rationality, in
contrast to the unthinking and insistent passions of the id. The id craves
blindly, unaware of reality. The ego is aware of reality, manipulates it, and
regulates the id accordingly. The ego follows the reality principle, holding
off the pleasure-seeking demands of the id until an appropriate object can
be found to satisfy the need and reduce the tension.The ego does not exist
independently of the id; it derives its power from the id. The ego exists to
help the id, and it is constantly striving to bring about satisfaction of the id
instincts.
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 Development of The third part of Freud’s structure of personality, the superego, develops
Psychological Thought early in life when the child assimilates the rules of conduct taught by parents
or caregivers through a system of rewards and punishments. Behaviours
that are wrong and bring punishment become part of the child’s conscience,
which is one part of the superego. Thus, childhood behaviour is initially
controlled by parental behaviour, but once the superego has formed a
pattern of conduct, behaviour is determined by self-control. At that point the
person administers his or her own rewards and punishments. The superego
represents morality, and is the advocate of a striving towards perfection
– it is, in short, as much as we have been able to grasp psychologically
of what is described as the higher side of human life. The superego, then,
is in conflict with the id. Unlike the ego, which attempts to postpone id
satisfaction to a more appropriate time and place, the superego attempts to
inhibit it completely.
Thus, Freud envisioned a continuous struggle within the personality as the
ego is pressured by insistent and opposing forces. It must try to delay the
urgings of the id, perceive and manipulate reality to relieve tension, and
cope with the superego’s striving for perfection. Whenever the ego is too
greatly stressed, the result is the condition known as anxiety.
6.5.3 Anxiety
Anxiety functions as a warning that the ego is being threatened. Freud
described three types of anxiety – objective, neurotic, and moral.
Objective anxiety arises from fear of actual dangers in the real world. The
other two types derive from it.
Neurotic anxiety comes from recognizing the potential dangers inherent in
gratifying the id instincts. It is not fear of the instincts themselves but fear of
punishment that is likely to follow indiscriminate, id-dominated behaviour.
In other words, neurotic anxiety is a fear of being punished or expressing
impulsive desires.
Moral anxiety arises out of fear of one’s conscience. When a person
performs or even thinks of performing some action that is contrary to the
conscience’s moral values, he/she may experience guilt or shame. Moral
anxiety, then, depends on how well developed one’s conscience is. Less
virtuous people will experience less moral anxiety.
6.5.4 Defence Mechanisms
Anxiety induces a state of tension, motivating the individual to act to
reduce it. Freud proposed that the ego develops protective defences against
anxiety, which are called defence mechanisms. Defence mechanisms are
unconscious denials or distortions of reality. They are modes of behaviour
adopted to protect against anxiety generated by conflicts in everyday life.
Some of the defence mechanisms are given as follows:
●● Denial – denying the existence of an external threat or traumatic event;
for example, a person with terminal illness may deny the imminence
of death.

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 ●● Displacement – shifting id impulses from a threatening or unavailable Psychoanalysis
object to an object that is available; for example, replacing hostility
towards one’s boss with hostility towards one’s child.
●● Identification – adopting the mannerisms of someone who appears
admirable and less vulnerable to the conditions that give rise to
anxiety.
●● Projection – attributing a disturbing impulse to someone else; for
example, saying you don’t really hate your professor-he hates you.
●● Rationalization – reinterpreting behaviour to make it more acceptable
and less threatening; for example, saying the job from which you were
fired wasn’t really a good job anyway.
●● Reaction formation – expressing an id impulse that is the opposite of
the one that is driving the person; for example, someone disturbed by
sexual longings may become a crusader against pornography.
●● Regression – retreating to an earlier, less frustrating period of life
and displaying the childish and dependent behaviours characteristic
of that more secure time.
●● Repression – denying the existence of something that causes anxiety;
that is, involuntarily removing from consciousness some memory or
perception that brings discomfort.
●● Sublimation – altering or displacing id impulses by diverting
instinctual energy into socially acceptable behaviours; for example,
diverting sexual energy into artistically creative behaviours.
6.5.5 Psychosexual Stages
Freud was convinced that his patients’ neurotic disturbances had originated
in their childhood experiences, and he became one of the first theorists
to emphasize the importance of child development. He believed that the
personality pattern of the adult was formed almost completely by the age
of 5.
Freud’s views on this topic can be grouped under the heading psychosexual
stages of development. Psychosexual stages are innately determined stages
of sexual development through which, presumably, everyone passes, and
which strongly shape the nature of personality. Two important processes
take place in psychosexual stages – libido and fixation.
Libido refers to the instinctual life force that energizes the id. The release
of libido is closely related to pleasure, but the focus of such pleasure, and
its expression of libido, changes as the individual develops. In each stage of
development, different kinds of pleasure are obtained, which leave behind
a small amount of libido. This is, however, only in the normal course of
events. If an excessive amount of libido energy is tied to a particular stage,
it results in fixation. Fixation can stem from either too little or too much
gratification during a stage. In either of the conditions the result is harmful.
Since the individual has left too much “psychic energy” behind, less
is available for full adult development. The outcome may be an adult
personality reflecting the stage or stages at which fixation has occurred.
To put it another way, if too much energy is drained away by fixation at
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 Development of earlier stages of development, the amount remaining may be insufficient to
Psychological Thought power movement to full adult development. Then an individual may show
an immature personality and several psychological disorders.
In each of the psychosexual stages, Freud suggests that as an individual
grows and develops, different parts of the body serve as the focus of quest
for pleasure. In the first stage, the oral stage (0 to 1 year), the child seeks
pleasure mainly through the mouth. Infants gain primary satisfaction from
taking in food and from sucking a thumb, or some other object. If too much
or too little gratification occurs during this stage, an individual may become
fixated at it. Freud proposed that either excessive gratification or frustration
of oral needs can result in fixation on oral themes of self-indulgence or
dependency on individuals. Too little gratification results in a personality
that is overly dependent on others; too much, especially after the child has
developed some teeth, results in a personality that is excessively hostile,
especially through verbal sarcasm and “biting” forms of humor.
The second stage, the anal stage (1 to 3-4 years), occurs in response to
efforts by parents to toilet train their children. During this stage, the process
of elimination becomes the primary focus of pleasure. Fixation at this
stage stemming from overly harsh toilet training experiences may result
in individuals who are excessively orderly or compulsive—they can’t
leave any job unfinished and strive for perfection in everything they do. In
contrast, fixation stemming from very relaxed toilet training may result in
people who are undisciplined, impulsive, and excessively generous.
At about age four the genitals become the primary source of pleasure,
and children enter the third stage, the phallic stage (4 to 6 years). Freud
speculated that at this time children fantasize about sex with the opposite-
sex parent—a phenomenon he termed the Oedipus complex (Electra
complex for girls; after Oedipus, a character in ancient Greek literature
who unknowingly killed his father and then married his mother). Fear of
punishment for such desires then enters the picture. Among boys, the feared
punishment is castration, leading to castration anxiety. Among girls, the
feared punishment is loss of love; in both cases, these fears being about
resolution of the Oedipus complex and identification with the same-sex
parent. In other words, little boys give up sexual desires for their mothers
and come to see their fathers as models rather than as rivals, while little girls
give up their sexual desires for their father and come to see their mothers
as models. Perhaps one of Freud’s most controversial suggestions is the
idea that little girls experience penis envy stemming from their own lack of
a male organ. Freud suggested that because of such envy, girls experience
strong feelings of inferiority and envy—feelings they carry with them in
disguised form even in adult life.
After resolution of the Oedipus conflict, according to Freud, children enter
the fourth stage, the latency stage (6 to puberty), during which sexual urges
are at a minimum. Finally, during puberty, adolescents enter the fifth stage,
the genital stage (puberty onwards). During this stage pleasure is again
focused on the genitals. However, lust is now blended with affection, and
people become capable of adult love. For Freud, progression to this final
stage is possible only if serious fixation has not occurred at earlier stages.
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 If such fixation exists, development is blocked, which results in various Psychoanalysis
disorders.
Check Your Progress 3
1) How is dream analysis useful?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
2) What is the role of libido and fixation in psychosexual stages?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
3) List the psychosexual stages.
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
4) Mention some of the defence mechanisms.
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………

6.6 Criticisms
Even though being highly influential and popular, Sigmund Freud faced a
number of criticisms:
6.6.1 Method of Data Collection
Freud’s methods of data collection have been the target of much criticism.
He drew his insights and conclusion from the responses his patients while
they were undergoing analysis. Compared with the experimental method
of systematically collecting objective data under controlled conditions
of observation, Freud’s method has been considered to have a number of
shortcomings:
1) The conditions under which Freud collected his data are unsystematic
and uncontrolled. He did not make a verbatim transcript of each
patient’s words but worked from notes he made several hours after
seeing the patient. Some of the original data (patient’s actual words)
would surely have been lost in the time that had elapsed because
of the vagaries of memory and the well-documented possibility of
distortion and omission. Thus, the data consisted only of what Freud
remembered.
2) It is possible that while recalling his patients’ words, Freud reinterpreted
them. He may have been guided by his desire to find material that
supported his ideas. In other words, he may have remembered and
recorded only what he wanted to hear. Freud’s notes could have been
accurate, but it is not possible to know this because the original data
have not survived.
6.6.2 Published Case Histories
There are discrepancies between Freud’s notes on his therapy sessions
and the case histories he eventually published. One researcher compared
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 Development of Freud’s notes and the published case history and found several differences.
Psychological Thought Among these were:
●● A longer period of analysis
●● An incorrect sequence of events disclosed, and
●● An unsubstantiated claim that the patient was cured
There is no way to determine whether Freud made these distortions
deliberately to provide support for his position or whether they resulted from
his own unconscious. Historians cannot trace any possible similar errors in
Freud’s other case studies, because he destroyed most of his patient files.
Also, Freud published only six case histories after his break with Breuer,
and none of them provides compelling supporting evidence for his system
of psychoanalysis. Some of the cases present such dubious evidence in
favor of psychoanalytic theory that one may seriously wonder why Freud
even bothered to publish them … two of the cases were incomplete and the
therapy ineffective … a third case was not actually treated by Freud.
6.6.3 Freud’s Data
Freud made few attempts to verify his patients’ accounts of their childhood
experiences. Critics argue he should have tried to check these accounts by
questioning relatives and friends about the events described. Thus, the first
step in scientific theory building – data collection – must be characterized,
in Freud’s case, as incomplete, imperfect, and inaccurate. Nothing much
can be said about drawing inferences and making generalizations from his
data because it is not known exactly how this was done as Freud never
explained his reasoning. And because his data could not be quantified
or analysed statistically, historians cannot determine their reliability or
statistical significance.
6.6.4 Assumptions about Human Nature
Many theorists argue that Freud placed too much emphasis on biological
forces, particularly sex. Freud has also been criticized for developing a
personality theory based only on observation of neurotics, thus ignoring the
traits of emotionally healthy persons.
6.6.5 Views on Women
Freud has been challenged for his views about women. He suggested that
women have poorly developed superegos and that they feel inferior about
their bodies. Karen Horney was one of the first person’s to publicly criticize
Freud on these issues and called him a sexist. Most analysts today agree
that Freud’s ideas about female psychosexual development are unproven an
incorrect.
6.6.6 Method of Therapy
Freudian therapy becomes expensive and takes a long time (multiple
sessions) compared to other therapies. Due to this it has declined in
popularity.

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 Psychoanalysis
6.7 Overall Impact
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, is known as one the most
famous persons of the last century. Psychoanalysis is perhaps one of the
most widely known systems of psychology. Despite having his critics, he
has left behind a long-lasting legacy. In general, Freudian psychoanalysis
has had a strong impact on academic psychology, and interest in Freud’s
ideas remains high. Freud had a tremendous impact on twentieth-century
psychology. His psychoanalysis was the first comprehensive theory of
personality.
Freud’s impact on popular culture in the United States has been enormous
and was evident immediately after visit to Clark University in 1909.
Newspapers featured many stories about Freud, and by 1920 more than 200
books had been published on Freudian psychoanalysis. This enthusiasm
for Freud’s ideas occurred much earlier than his acceptance by academic
psychology. Freud’s impact is further reflected by the continued influence
of his psychoanalysis on art, literature, and philosophy. His writings on
the unconscious have led to new interpretations of artistic expression.
Consequently, literary and artistic expressions are interpreted in the light of
the unconscious activities of the artist as well as the unconscious impressions
of the perceiver. The influence of psychoanalysis on Western thought, as
reflected in literature, philosophy, and art, significantly exceeds the impact
of any other system of psychology.
The 20th century has seen a loosening of sexual restraint in behaviour, the
arts, literature, and entertainment. The sexual liberation of modern times
is partly a result of Freud’s work, because his emphasis on sex helped to
popularize his ideas. Even in scientific journals, articles about sex have
a sensational appeal. This as well as some of the popular psychoanalytic
terms introduced by Freud such as the unconscious mind and dream
analysis have made him perhaps the most well-known psychologist of all
time, to the extent that many see Freud to be synonymous to the entire field
of psychology.
Despite the criticisms of a lack of scientific rigor as well as methodological
weakness, Freudian psychoanalysis remains an important force in modern
psychology.
Box 6.2: Sigmund Freud in the Present-Day
Sigmund Freud, undeniably, had a huge impact on psychology. Scholars,
however, have questioned the relevance of Freudian concepts in
contemporary times. Advances in cognitive and neurosciences have given
scientific explanations for Freudian concepts. The society called Neuro-
psychoanalysis led by Mark Solms give neuroscientific explanations for
concepts like id and ego. Research in social cognition by Susan Anderson
and associates have given a social-cognitive perspective of transference.
These advances have widened the scope of Freudian psychoanalysis.
In contrast, contemporary research in memory, trauma, consciousness,
and psychotherapy give a completely different picture. Elizabeth Loftus
with her research on false memory has disproved the idea of childhood
repressed memories being accurately recovered. Richard McNally’s work
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 Development of
Psychological Thought
shows that trauma, unlike what Freud has suggested, is not forgotten. John
Kihlstrom, on the basis of his work on consciousness, has heavily criticized
psychoanalysis, calling it archaic. Such researches have completely
discredited and refuted the central concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis,
suggesting that psychology in today’s time can do away with Sigmund
Freud and his ideas.

Check Your Progress 4

1) What are the criticisms against Freud, regarding his published case
histories?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
2) What can be considered to be the reasons behind the popularity of
psychoanalysis?
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………

6.8 Summary
Now that we have come to the end of this unit, let us recapitulate all the
major points that we have learnt.
●● In its early years, psychology was concerned with investigating the
elements and processes of consciousness. Sensation, perception,
memory, and thinking were its chief topics of interest. Psychoanalysis,
on the other hand, was mainly concerned with the unconscious. Its
interests were in the areas of motivation, emotion, conflict, neurotic
symptoms, dreams, and character traits. These differing areas of
interest kept both psychology and psychoanalysis apart for quite
some time.
●● Freud was influenced by the early theories of unconscious given
by different philosophers such as Leibniz, Herbart, and Fechner.
Psychoanalysis formally began in the year 1895. The science of
psychology developed in an academic and laboratory setting, whereas
psychoanalysis developed in a clinical setting.
●● Charcot extensively used hypnosis to study the patients of hysteria.
Freud was highly influenced by his use of hypnosis in the treatment
of disorders. He began to use hypnosis as a method of treatment of
disorders.
●● Pierre Janet posited mental phenomena – especially memory
impairments, fixed ideas, and unconscious forces – as causal factors,
and he chose hypnosis as the method of treatment. Janet’s work
anticipated many of Freud’s ideas.
●● Darwin discussed several ideas that Freud later made central issues
in his psychoanalysis, including – unconscious mental processes,
conflicts, the significance of dreams, the hidden symbolism of certain
behavioural symptoms, and the importance of sexual arousal.
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 ●● Freud adopted Breuer’s method of catharsis and gradually rejected Psychoanalysis
hypnosis. Freud, specifically, rejected hypnosis as a treatment
because he felt that everyone cannot be hypnotized, some patients
refused to believe what they revealed under hypnosis, and when one
set of symptoms was alleviated under hypnotic suggestibility, new
symptoms often emerged.
●● From the method of catharsis, Freud developed the technique of
free association. In free association, the patient lies on a couch and
is encouraged to talk openly and spontaneously, giving complete
expression to every idea, no matter how embarrassing, unimportant,
or foolish it may seem.
●● The goal of Freud’s system of psychoanalysis was to bring into
conscious awareness repressed memories or thoughts, which were
assumed to be the source of the patient’s abnormal behaviour.
●● Freud and Breuer collaborated on the book, Studies on Hysteria,
which was published in 1895. This was the first book written on
psychoanalysis, and is said to have marked the official beginning of
psychoanalysis.
●● In 1887, Freud began a self-analysis of his dreams. This self-analysis
continued for about 2 years, culminating in the publication of The
Interpretation of Dreams (1900), a book now considered Freud’s
major work. In it he outlined for the first time the nature of the Oedipus
Complex, drawing largely on his childhood experiences.
●● In 1901, Freud published The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.
In this book, he generalized psychoanalysis for all people and not
just people with psychological disorders. This is the book in which
Freud’s theory began to take shape.
●● Freud found that the method of free association did not always
operate so freely. Sooner or later his patients reached a point in their
recollections where they were unable or unwilling to continue. He
believed that the processes of resistance, repression, and transference
played important roles in their willingness to recall and disclose their
past events.
●● Despite the growing use of psychoanalysis as a method of treatment,
Freud’s desire was to explain the dynamics of human behaviour. He
identified himself more as a scientist than a therapist, and he viewed
the techniques of free association and dream analysis as research tools
for the collection of data for his studies.
●● Freud had little faith in the experimental approach, yet he believed his
research was scientific and that the case histories of his patients, and
his own self-analysis, provided ample support for his conclusions.
●● Freud used the term instincts as driving force or impulse. Freudian
instincts are not inherited predispositions – the usual meaning of
instinct – but rather refer to sources of stimulation within the body.
The goal of instincts is to remove or reduce the stimulation through
some behaviour such as eating, drinking, or sexual activity. Freud
grouped instincts in two categories – life instincts and death instincts.
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 Development of ●● In his early work Freud expressed the belief that mental life consists of
Psychological Thought two parts, the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious part, like
the visible portion of an iceberg, is small and insignificant, presenting
but a superficial aspect of the total personality. The vast and powerful
unconscious – like the larger portion of the iceberg that exists beneath
the surface of the water – contains the instincts that are the driving
force behind all human behaviour.
●● Freud later revised this simple conscious/unconscious distinction,
proposing instead the id, ego, and superego.
●● Anxiety functions as a warning that the ego is being threatened. Freud
described three types of anxiety – objective, neurotic, and moral.
●● Freud proposed that the ego develops protective defences against
anxiety, which are called defence mechanisms. Defence mechanisms
are unconscious denials or distortions of reality. They are modes of
behaviour adopted to protect against anxiety generated by conflicts in
everyday life.
●● Freud was convinced that his patients’ neurotic disturbances had
originated in their childhood experiences, and he became one of the
first theorists to emphasize the importance of child development. He
believed that the personality pattern of the adult was formed almost
completely by the age of 5.
●● Freud suggested five stages of psychosexual development – oral
stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and genital stage.
●● In general, Freudian psychoanalysis has had a strong impact on
academic psychology, and interest in Freud’s ideas remains high.
Freud had a tremendous impact on twentieth-century psychology. His
psychoanalysis was the first comprehensive theory of personality.
●● Freud’s impact is further reflected by the continued influence of his
psychoanalysis on art, literature, and philosophy. His writings on the
unconscious have led to new interpretations of artistic expression.

6.9 Key Words

Psychoanalysis: The school of psychology, developed by Sigmund Freud,
which gives emphasis on the unconscious and childhood experiences in
determining behaviour.
Catharsis: The process of reducing or eliminating a complex emotion by
recalling it to conscious awareness and allowing to be expressed.
Free Association: Talk openly and spontaneously, in therapeutic session,
giving complete expression to every idea, no matter how embarrassing,
unimportant, or foolish it may seem.
Resistances: A blockage or refusal to disclose painful memories.
Repression: The process of ejecting or excluding unacceptable ideas,
memories, and desires from conscious awareness.
Transference: The process by which a patient responds to the therapist as if
the therapist was a significant person, such as a parent, in the patient’s life.

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 Dream Analysis: An important treatment method in Freudian psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis
Freud believed that dreams represent a disguised satisfaction of repressed
desires and that the essence of a dream is wish fulfilment.
Instincts: The propelling or motivating forces of the personality. The innate
forces that release mental energy, driving a person to take certain action.
Life Instinct: Include hunger, thirst, and sex, and are concerned with self-
preservation and the survival of the species. These are creative forces that
sustain life.
Death Instinct: Destructive force that can be directed inwards as masochism
or suicide, or outwards as in hatred and aggression.
Unconscious: The part of the human mind, in which thoughts, desires, and
impulses remain largely unaware. Although some of this material has always
been unconscious, Freud believed that much of it was once conscious but
has been actively repressed, that is, driven from consciousness because it
was too anxiety-provoking.
Id: Corresponds roughly to Freud’s earlier notion of the unconscious, is
the most primitive and least accessible part of the personality. The power
forces of the id include the sexual and aggressive instincts. The id knows
no judgments of value, no good and evil, and no morality. Operates in
accordance with the pleasure principle, which is concerned with reducing
tension by seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.
Ego: Serves as the mediating agent between id and the external world
to facilitate their interaction. The ego represents reason or rationality, in
contrast to the unthinking and insistent passions of the id. The ego is aware
of reality, manipulates it, and regulates the id accordingly. The ego follows
the reality principle, holding off the pleasure-seeking demands of the id
until an appropriate object can be found to satisfy the need and reduce the
tension.
Superego: Develops early in life when the child assimilates the rules of
conduct taught by parents or caregivers through a system of rewards and
punishments. The superego represents morality, and is the advocate of a
striving towards perfection.
Anxiety: Functions as a warning that the ego is being threatened. Freud
described three types of anxiety – objective, neurotic, and moral.
Defence Mechanisms: Unconscious denials or distortions of reality. They
are modes of behaviour adopted to protect against anxiety generated by
conflicts in everyday life.
Psychosexual Stages: Innately determined stages of sexual development
through which, presumably, everyone passes, and which strongly shape the
nature of personality.
Libido: The instinctual life force that energizes the id.
Fixation: If an excessive amount of libido energy is tied to a particular
psychosexual stage, it leads to fixation. Fixation can stem from either too
little or too much gratification during a stage, and in either case the result
is harmful.

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 Development of
Psychological Thought 6.10 Review Questions
1) Psychoanalysis formally begin in the year …………… .
2) The theorists of the unconscious mind who had an influence on Freud
are ……………, ……………, and …………… .
3) The different stages of psychosexual development are ……… ,
………… ,…………… , …………… , and …………… .
4) How did Freud start the use of hypnosis as a method?
5) Why did Freud find catharsis to be more useful than hypnosis?
6) How is the method of free association useful, according to Freud?
7) What is the role of instincts in psychoanalysis?
8) Discuss the interaction between id, ego, and superego.
9) What is the function of anxiety?
10) What is the purpose of defence mechanisms?
11) What is the major criticism against Freud, with respect to his method
of data collection?
12) Discuss the impact of psychoanalysis on art and literature.

6.11 References and Further Reading

Brennan, J. F. (2014). History and Systems of Psychology. Harlow: Pearson
Education Ltd.
Glassman, W. E. & Hadad, M. (2009). Approaches to Psychology. London:
McGraw-Hill Education
Hergenhahn, B. R. & Henley, T. B. (2009). An Introduction to the History
of Psychology. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning
Leahy, T. H. (2014). A History of Psychology: From Antiquity to Modernity.
Harlow: Pearson Education
Schultz D. P. & Schultz, S. E. (2008). A History of Modern Psychology.
Wadsworth: Thomson Learning, Inc

6.12 References for Figures

American Medical Association (2010). Clark University Vicennial
Conference on Psychology and Pedagogy, Archives General Psychiatry, 67
(3) http://www2.clarku.edu/departments/psychology/pdfs/ClarkUinAGP.
pdf
Bradford, A. (2016). Sigmund Freud: Life, Work, and Theories. https://
www.livescience.com/54723-sigmund-freud-biography.html

6.13 Web Resources

Farooqi, S. (2018). Sigmund Freud in the Present-Day: Contemporary
Research in Freudian Psychoanalysis. http://www.historyofpsychology.
net/2018/06/sigmund-freud-in-present-day.html

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 Farooqi, S. (2020). The Common Origins of Wundtian Psychology and Psychoanalysis
Freudian Psychoanalysis. http://www.historyofpsychology.net/2020/03/
the-common-origins-of-wundtian.html
Freud Museum London (2018). Who was Sigmund Freud? https://www.
freud.org.uk/education/resources/who-was-sigmund-freud/
Jay, M. E. (2020). Sigmund Freud https://www.britannica.com/biography/
Sigmund-Freud/Psychoanalytic-theory
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020). Psychoanalysis https://
www.britannica.com/science/psychoanalysis
Check Your Answers (1-3)
(1) 1895, (2) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Johann Friedrich Herbart, and
Gustav Theodor Fechner, (3) oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency
stage, and genital stage

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