Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, personality develops through a series of stages, each
characterized by a certain internal psychological conflict.
Key Takeaways
Key Points
Sigmund Freud ‘s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the
interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego.
This “structural theory” of personality places great importance on how conflicts among the parts of the
mind shape behavior and personality. These conflicts are mostly unconscious.
According to Freud, personality develops during childhood and is critically shaped through a series of
five psychosexual stages, which he called his psychosexual theory of development.
During each stage, a child is presented with a conflict between biological drives and social
expectations; successful navigation of these internal conflicts will lead to mastery of each
developmental stage, and ultimately to a fully mature personality.
Freud’s ideas have since been met with criticism, in part because of his singular focus on sexuality as
the main driver of human personality development.
Key Terms
neurosis: A mental disorder marked by anxiety or fear; less severe than psychosis because it does not
involve detachment from reality (e.g., hallucination).
psychosexual: Of or relating to both psychological and sexual aspects.
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human
behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of
the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory, known as Freud’s
structural theory of personality, places great emphasis on the role of
unconscious psychological conflicts in shaping behavior and personality.
Dynamic interactions among these fundamental parts of the mind are
thought to progress through five distinct psychosexual stages of
development. Over the last century, however, Freud’s ideas have since
been met with criticism, in part because of his singular focus on sexuality
as the main driver of human personality development.
Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind
According to Freud, our personality develops from the interactions among
what he proposed as the three fundamental structures of the human
mind: the id, ego, and superego. Conflicts among these three structures,
and our efforts to find balance among what each of them “desires,”
determines how we behave and approach the world. What balance we
strike in any given situation determines how we will resolve the conflict
between two overarching behavioral tendencies: our biological aggressive
and pleasure-seeking drives vs. our socialized internal control over those
drives.
The Id
The id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification of basic physical
needs and urges. It operates entirely unconsciously (outside of conscious thought). For example, if your id
walked past a stranger eating ice cream, it would most likely take the ice cream for itself. It doesn’t know, or
care, that it is rude to take something belonging to someone else; it would care only that you wanted the ice
cream.
The Superego
The superego is concerned with social rules and morals—similar to what many people call their ” conscience ”
or their “moral compass.” It develops as a child learns what their culture considers right and wrong. If your
superego walked past the same stranger, it would not take their ice cream because it would know that that
would be rude. However, if both your id and your superego were involved, and your id was strong enough to
override your superego’s concern, you would still take the ice cream, but afterward you would most likely feel
guilt and shame over your actions.
The Ego
In contrast to the instinctual id and the moral superego, the ego is the rational, pragmatic part of our
personality. It is less primitive than the id and is partly conscious and partly unconscious. It’s what Freud
considered to be the “self,” and its job is to balance the demands of the id and superego in the practical
context of reality. So, if you walked past the stranger with ice cream one more time, your ego would mediate
the conflict between your id (“I want that ice cream right now”) and superego (“It’s wrong to take someone
else’s ice cream”) and decide to go buy your own ice cream. While this may mean you have to wait 10 more
minutes, which would frustrate your id, your ego decides to make that sacrifice as part of the compromise–
satisfying your desire for ice cream while also avoiding an unpleasant social situation and potential feelings of
shame.
-Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in constant conflict and that adult personality and behavior
are rooted in the results of these internal struggles throughout childhood. He believed that a person who has
a strong ego has a healthy personality and that imbalances in this system can lead to neurosis (what we now
think of as anxiety and depression) and unhealthy behaviors.
Psychosexual Stages of Development
Freud believed that the nature of the conflicts among the
id, ego, and superego change over time as a person grows
from child to adult. Specifically, he maintained that these
conflicts progress through a series of five basic stages, each
with a different focus: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and
genital. He called his idea the psychosexual theory of
development, with each psychosexual stage directly related
to a different physical center of pleasure.
Across these five stages, the child is presented with
different conflicts between their biological drives (id) and
their social and moral conscience (supereg0) because their
biological pleasure-seeking urges focus on different areas
of the body (what Freud called “erogenous zones”). The
child’s ability to resolve these internal conflicts determines
their future ability to cope and function as an adult. Failure
to resolve a stage can lead one to become fixated in that
stage, leading to unhealthy personality traits; successful
resolution of the stages leads to a healthy adult.
Criticism of Freud’s Theories
Although Freud’s theories have many advantages that helped to expand our psychological understanding of
personality, they are not without limits.
Narrow Focus
In his singular emphasis on the structure of the human mind, Freud paid little to no attention to the impact of
environment, sociology, or culture. His theories were highly focused on pathology and largely ignored
“normal,” healthy functioning. He has also been criticized for his myopic view of human sexuality to the
exclusion of other important factors.
No Scientific Basis
Many critics point out that Freud’s theories are not supported by any empirical (experimental) data. In fact, as
researchers began to take a more scientific look at his ideas, they found that several were unable to be
supported: in order for a theory to be scientifically valid, it must be possible to disprove (“falsify”) it with
experimental evidence, and many of Freud’s notions are not falsifiable.
Misogyny
Feminists and modern critics have been particularly critical of many of Freud’s theories, pointing out that the
assumptions and approaches of psychoanalytic theory are profoundly patriarchal (male-dominated), anti-
feminist, and misogynistic (anti-woman). Karen Horney, a psychologist who followed Freud, saw the
mainstream Freudian approach as having a foundation of “masculine narcissism.” Feminist Betty Friedan
referred to Freud’s concept of “penis envy” as a purely social bias typical of the Victorian era and showed how
the concept played a key role in discrediting alternative notions of femininity in the early to mid-twentieth
century.
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What is Psychoanalysis? A Definition and History of Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to release pent-up or repressed emotions and memories in or to
lead the client to catharsis, or healing (McLeod, 2014). In other words, the goal of psychoanalysis is to bring
what exists at the unconscious or subconscious level up to consciousness.
This goal is accomplished through talking to another person about the big questions in life, the things that
matter, and diving into the complexities that lie beneath the simple-seeming surface.
The Founder of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud and His Concepts
It’s very likely you’ve heard of the influential but controversial founder of
psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud.
Freud was born in Austria and spent most of his childhood and adult life
in Vienna (Sigmund Freud Biography, 2017). He entered medical school
and trained to become a neurologist, earning a medical degree in 1881.
Soon after his graduation, he set up a private practice and began treating
patients with psychological disorders. His attention was captured by a
colleague’s intriguing experience with a patient; the colleague was Dr.
Josef Breuer and his patient was the famous “Anna O.,” who suffered
from physical symptoms with no apparent physical cause.
Dr. Breuer found that her symptoms abated when he helped her recover
memories of traumatic experiences that she had repressed, or hidden
from her conscious mind.
This case sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind and spurred
the development of some of his most influential ideas.
Models of the Mind
Perhaps the most impactful idea put forth by Freud was his model of the human mind. His model divides the
mind into three layers, or regions:
1. Conscious: This is where our current thoughts, feelings, and focus live;
2. Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious): This is the home of everything we can recall or
retrieve from our memory;
3. Unconscious: At the deepest level of our minds resides a repository of the processes that drive our
behavior, including primitive and instinctual desires (McLeod, 2013).
Later, Freud posited a more structured model of the mind, one that can coexist with his original ideas about
consciousness and unconsciousness.
In this model, there are three metaphorical parts to the mind:
1. Id: The id operates at an unconscious level and focuses
solely on instinctual drives and desires. Two biological
instincts make up the id, according to Freud: eros, or the
instinct to survive that drives us to engage in life-
sustaining activities, and thanatos, or the death instinct
that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior.
2. Ego: The ego acts as both a conduit for and a check on
the id, working to meet the id’s needs in a socially
appropriate way. It is the most tied to reality and begins
to develop in infancy;
3. Superego: The superego is the portion of the mind in
which morality and higher principles reside, encouraging
us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways
(McLeod, 2013).
The image above offers a context of this “iceberg” model
wherein much of our mind exists in the realm of the unconscious impulses and drives.
If you’ve ever read the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, then you have enjoyed the allegory of
Freud’s mind as personified by Jack as the Id, Piggy as the ego, and Ralph as the superego.
Defense Mechanisms
Freud believed these three parts of the mind are in constant conflict because each part has a different primary
goal. Sometimes, when the conflict is too much for a person to handle, his or her ego may engage in one or
many defense mechanisms to protect the individual.
These defense mechanisms include:
Repression: The ego pushes disturbing or threatening thoughts out of one’s consciousness;
Denial: The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness, causing the individual
to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is happening;
Projection: The ego attempts to solve discomfort by attributing the individual’s unacceptable thoughts,
feelings, and motives to another person;
Displacement: The individual satisfies an impulse by acting on a substitute object or person in a socially
unacceptable way (e.g., releasing frustration directed toward your boss on your spouse instead);
Regression: As a defense mechanism, the individual moves backward in development in order to cope
with stress (e.g., an overwhelmed adult acting like a child);
Sublimation: Similar to displacement, this defense mechanism involves satisfying an impulse by acting
on a substitute but in a socially acceptable way (e.g., channeling energy into work or a constructive
hobby) (McLeod, 2013).
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