2.7: 1930s: Freud
- Page ID
- 77345
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Freud and Psychodynamic Theories of Personality: The Role of the Unconscious


Id, Ego, and Superego

Defense mechanism | Definition | Possible behavioral example |
---|---|---|
Displacement | Diverting threatening impulses away from the source of the anxiety and toward a more acceptable source | A student who is angry at her professor for a low grade lashes out at her roommate, who is a safer target of her anger. |
Projection | Disguising threatening impulses by attributing them to others | A man with powerful unconscious sexual desires for women claims that women use him as a sex object. |
Rationalization | Generating self-justifying explanations for our negative behaviors | A drama student convinces herself that getting the part in the play wasn’t that important after all. |
Reaction formation | Making unacceptable motivations appear as their exact opposite | Jane is sexually attracted to friend Jake, but she claims in public that she intensely dislikes him. |
Regression | Retreating to an earlier, more childlike, and safer stage of development | A college student who is worried about an important test begins to suck on his finger. |
Repression (or denial) | Pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts into the unconscious | A person who witnesses his parents having sex is later unable to remember anything about the event. |
Sublimation | Channeling unacceptable sexual or aggressive desires into acceptable activities | A person participates in sports to sublimate aggressive drives. A person creates music or art to sublimate sexual drives. |
Stage | Approximate ages | Description |
---|---|---|
Oral | Birth to 18 months | Pleasure comes from the mouth in the form of sucking, biting, and chewing. |
Anal | 18 months to 3 years | Pleasure comes from bowel and bladder elimination and the constraints of toilet training. |
Phallic | 3 years to 6 years | Pleasure comes from the genitals, and the conflict is with sexual desires for the opposite-sex parent. |
Latency | 6 years to puberty | Sexual feelings are less important. |
Genital | Puberty and older | If prior stages have been properly reached, mature sexual orientation develops. |

- This chapter is an adaptation of The Origins of Personality by Saylor Academy and [Author removed at request of publisher] and is used under a CC BY NC SA license. ↵
- Roudinesco, E. (2003). Why psychoanalysis? New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ↵
- Taylor, E. (2009). The mystery of personality: A history of psychodynamic theories. Springer Science. ↵
- Freud, S. (1949). The ego and the id. Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923). ↵
- Thompson, C. (1943). "Penis envy" in women. Psychiatry, 6(2): 123. ↵