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and channelling its escape through a restricted outlet.
Freuds ideas of the human mind are shot through with
this metaphor whether blocked instinctual drives or
repressed memories, he believed our greatest destructive
and creative achievements stemmed from forces denied
their natural release (Burns 70).
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spirit. The notion of gravitational force was later replaced with the
magnetism and his theory is known as animal magnetism. He treated
his patients by putting them into trance using magnetised bar over
them. The method known as mesmerism is essentially one of
suggestion. Later, mesmerism came to be known as hypnotism.
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the inner material causing the obvert symptoms was referred to as
insight. Breuers systematic treatment of hysterical symptoms of Anna
O provided scientific considerations about the effect of catharsis in
treating neurotic illness (Barlow and Durand 24).
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revisions both during Freud's time and afterwards. Psychoanalysis is
considered to be a High-Level theory containing various sub theories
such as levels of consciousness, psychic structure of personality,
psychosexual development, defence mechanisms and theory of
instincts, and it serves to unify them to some extent (Farrel 21).
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released through amorous activities. However, society can see no
more menace to its culture than would arise from the liberation of
sexual impulses and a return to their original goal (Page 180). In
psychoanalysis,
Deviating from the view held during his time, Freud introduced
the threefold division of mind into conscious mind, pre-conscious
mind and unconscious mind. Of these three divisions of mind, it is the
conscious mind of which we generally are aware. The conscious mind
is constituted by events, memories, fantasies and the sensations from
sense organs along with the feelings emotions and the like, of which
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one is aware at the moment. In the next moment when one is not
aware of these mental images they become latent. Some of the latent
memories can come back to conscious mind again to form the content
of the moment and thus it becomes conscious. The activity of
conscious mind is not governed by its constituents alone. The
unconscious mental processes, much different from those observed in
conscious mental states, act behind the latter. These two -the
unconscious and the conscious- functionally differentiate into two
levels of mind, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind.
Between these two levels is the third level called the pre-conscious
mind.
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categories of space and time have any relevance in this psychic
division. While conscious and preconscious mind are characterised by
internal consistency, temporal arrangement and adaptability to outer
world, the unconscious is timeless, chaotic, infantile and primitive
(Page 184).
The unconscious has two sources for its contents -of inheritance
and of experience. The inherited contents are primitive, pleasure
dominated, and brutal instincts. The contents formed out of
individuals experience are repressed in nature. These inherited
instinctual drives and repressed memories have no direct access to
conscious mind. However, they exert a profound influence on the
conscious mental processes.
99
that Freud never mentioned the notion of self-consciousness in his
description of the levels of consciousness.
... the logical laws of thought do not apply in the id, and
this is true above all of the law of contradiction. Contrary
impulses exist side by side, without cancelling each other
100
out or diminishing each otherno alterations in its
mental processes is produced by the passage of time
(Freud, NIL 106).
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those arising from the interior of the mind The ego
controls the approaches to motility under the ids orders;
but between a need and an action it has interposed a
postponement in the form of the activity of thought.In
that way it has dethroned the pleasure principle which
dominates the course of events in the id without any
restriction and has replaced it by reality principle, which
promises more certainty and greater success what
distinguishes the ego from the id is a tendency to
synthesise in its contents, to a combination and
unification in its mental processes which are totally
lacking in the id (NIL107-09).
102
are being censored by the super-ego. About the formation of superego,
Freud says,
The role of ego is to mediate the conflict between the id and the
superego. Ego must find some outlet for the instincts of id and at the
same time it has to restrict them within the demands of superego.
According to Freud, ego is often caught between the id and the
superego and also it has to compensate for the demands of external
world.
103
Conscious Level
Pre-conscious Level
Unconscious Level
104
On the other hand the ego is identical with the id, and is
merely a specially differentiated part of it. If we think of
this part by itself in consideration to the whole, or a real
split has occurred between the two, the weakness of the
ego becomes apparent. But if the ego remains bound up
with the id and indistinguishable from it, then it displays
its strength.2
Anxiety: In the earlier analogy of the horse and its rider, the riders
privilege to guide the powerful animal to meet his aim is not always
warranted; at times the horse takes the route at its will. In doing so, the
weakened ego falls into the state of anxiety; realistic, moral or
neurotic.
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symbolized acts. The symbolization enables the ego to meet the needs
of id and repressed unconscious contents without committing the
individual to the dangers from external world, which would have been
imposed on him/ her if a direct outlet to these instincts was given.
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f) Sublimation: Redirecting the impulses through socially
approved channels. This is obvious in ones interest in
expelling his aggression by working as a butcher.
g) Reaction Formation: This is to do actions opposite to ones
actual motivation. This happens when an alcoholic works in
anti-liquor movement.
h) Regression: It is the instance of ones return to earlier stage
of development. An adult crying on listening to a bad news
is an example.
i) Repression: It is the defence mechanism that is most
important in psychoanalysis. In this the unfavourable events
are pulled back to unconscious. Even though it can never
become explicit, it has profound influence on the later
behaviour of the individual. This is done when a girl, for
example, is sexually harassed in her childhood. The memory
becomes latent and is never recollected in her life, but may
be expressed as a fear to be alone in house or workplace.
Most of the psychoanalytic clinical techniques are intended
to investigate into the repressed unconscious memories that
give rise to the neurotic symptoms. In doing so, the patient
gains insight into his/her mental dynamics and this reduces
the symptoms.
3.2.5 Dreams
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of revealing the unconscious; other processes being slips of tongue,
fantasies, inner conflicts, mental symptoms and the like. Freud finds
that sleep fulfils one of the necessary conditions for psychosis in the
sense that it is turning away from reality. In psychosis, the mental
symptoms like hallucination and delusion are repressed experiences
and unconscious conflicts that find expression through actions.
Similarly dream as a wish-fulfilling activity (Freud, Dreams)
fulfils the expressions of the days residues in terms of stressful
thoughts and repressed experiences.
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manifest content are condensation, displacement, representation and
secondary revision.
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3.2.6 Psychosexual Development
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nourishment and for that reason may and should be
described as sexual (OP 12).
(b) Anal Stage: During the age of two to four years the child
becomes aware of himself as an independent individual, who
can control the emotions of his parents at will, with toilet habits.
Pleasure is derived from expulsion and retention. The psychic
force -the libido- is turned towards oneself to form what is
called self-love or narcissism. The reality principle starts ruling
over the pleasure principle. Fixation at this stage is
characterized by liking of yellow colour, orderliness, rigidness
etc. Further,
(c) Phallic stage: During the age of four to six, little boys fall
in love with their mother and hate their father and little girls like
their father and hate their mother. This phenomenon is called
Oedipus complex. The girl-father relation is specifically known
as Electra complex. During this stage, the instinctual sex energy
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gets localized in genital organs. Narcissism gives way to libido
to make parent of opposite sex to become its object. Infantile
masturbation is common among children at this stage.
ii) Latent Stage: From the end of phallic stage to puberty, there is an
apparent renouncement in the sexual interest of the child. During this
period the child becomes interested in both the parents. Narcissistic
interests are being reduced. With the beginning of education, moral
and intellectual growth predominates other interests.
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itself, directed mainly against the theory of sexuality. The other comes
from outside the sphere of psychoanalysis and is intended mainly to
question the scientific status of the theory and its methodology.
113
lack of ability to get attention because of the childs inferiority is
overcome through a direct struggle to master his inferiorities. This is a
struggle to achieve power, the struggle to become a complete man.
114
person to describe a part of the role of the ego in
producing neurosis and to show that the direction in
which a person is going, that is, his goals, significantly
contribute to his neurotic difficulties Another
important contribution of Alders has been his awareness
of cultural factors (160-61).
115
For Jung, the symbol also had a forward-moving
significance, that sexual symbolism can be saying
something about the future, about a positive purpose in
life. So he points out that instead of concluding that all
symbolism has a sexual meaning, sex itself is sometimes
used as a symbol of something else (163).
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his system of therapy. Jungs goal of therapy is different form that of
Freud. Freuds therapy is a retrospective analytic understanding of the
past. In Jungs analytical psychology the functional analysis looks at
the future in order to find the meaning in the present and future. So
self-realization forms an important guiding force in Jungs therapeutic
technique. According to Thompson,
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revealing of the repressed positive potentialities. This helps in
developing the undeveloped aspect of patients personality.
3.3.3 B. F. Skinner
118
that analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but we can make one feel
more at home, we may listen to Skinners words,
119
conscious or unconscious force may be a useful
metaphor, but if this is analogous to force in physics,
what is the analogous mass that is analogously
accelerated? Human behavior is in a state of flux and
undergoing changes that we call processes, but what is
changing in what direction when we speak of, for
example an affective process? (86, authors emphasis)
120
theoriesthis apparent strength was in fact their weakness (Popper
35).
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and thus deny scientific status to psychoanalysis without undermining
its meaning and significance. In Poppers own view,
122
Ned Block and Gabriel Segal evaluate Grnbaums argument
and put forward a modified NCT. Some of Grnbaums arguments
against NCT were the spontaneous remission of neurosis, the outcome
of psychoanalytic treatment as that of placebo effect and Freuds own
position that psychoanalysis often offers only temporary cure. Block
and Segal offer their version of NCT (NCT*) like this:
They conclude,
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3.4 Motivation as Cause
124
conception of human being (and animals) as originators
of causal sequences and as having loci of causation
internal to themselves i.e., as motivated (46).
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the whole of the situation that led to the explosion and he describes
this as cause or the sufficient condition. But the sufficient condition
may also include factors that are irrelevant. John Hospers explains,
126
If Mills sufficient condition is taken as cause, the lack of any
one element among the sufficient condition will not yield the effect.
So, cause may be viewed as the element which when introduced to an
already existing condition makes it sufficient to produce the effect.
This concept of cause is essentially that of necessary condition. Our
search for this element which is the one introduced mainly depends on
our specific interest. Cohen and Nagel maintain a similar view.
According to them,
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So, finally we see that the attribution of cause to a single event
among others mainly depends on our specific interest. Then, in
analyzing the psychic phenomena, we are apt to consider the external
factors as more or less insignificant (though not irrelevant) and
attribute their cause to psychic elements. This does not deny the
importance of external or of physical factors. It may be noted that the
external factors sometimes become irrelevant in the sense that the
subject does not take it seriously. Whether a persisting noise of a
machine will distract me from my reading or not largely depends on
the way I take it. Hence, it only means that we are now considering the
significance of psychic elements in determining an action. This
particular element, which leads to an action, we call motive. And in
the realm of psychology, motivation may be viewed as causation.
Obviously a motive cannot be the cause in the sense of sufficient
condition but may be seen as necessary cause and hence it is the cause
that we intend to investigate.
128
(will be described later) is selfpreservation and preservation of the
species. Such instincts, which are basically connected with the
preservation of self and of species, may be considered as needs. These
needs are not psychologically manifested enough for a direct
observation. They are rather inferred from psychic activities.
Intentions and volitions may be seen as manifestations of underlying
instinctual needs. So they may be reckoned cause in a secondary sense
only. To state it otherwise, intentions and volitions are the secondary
elements in the chain of psychological causation. The first element,
which is instinct, is necessarily unconscious. According to Freud,
instincts act not only behind intentions and volitions but also behind
all psychic activities.
129
widespread occurrence of cruelty and destruction of the
First World War profoundly impressed Freud); (2) the
conviction that the repetition - compulsion principle was
more fundamental and all-pervasive than the more limited
sexual and self-preservative instincts could explain; and,
most important, (3) the need to find a force to counteract
the then monistic life instincts (603-04).
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incorrect equating of instinct and Trieb has created
misunderstandings.4
131
characteristic of impression is common to all instincts, is
in fact the very essence of them .
132
psychiatry) distinct from the psychological account. This differentiates
between the neurobiology of consciousness and folk psychology (the
contemporary name for the Freudian tradition).
133
The aim of life instinct is the preservation of the individual and
the species. The former is expressed through the drives such as thirst
and hunger and the latter through sexual urges. During the
development through psychosexual stages, the objects and the aim of
sexual instincts become varied and the failure to pass through certain
stages fixes the development at that stage. As seen earlier this
determines some of the characteristic traits of the individual. Even
though Eros is explained as consisting of two drives- the ego drive and
sex drive - Freud recognized the principal energy behind both of them
to be the same. He called this energy libido or sex energy. Libido is
the principle of unification. This aims at preservation and
maintenance. In Freuds own words,
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The death instinct on the other hand is the principle of
alienation. Here lies the contrast between Eros and death instinct. The
death instinct seeks return to an earlier state of the organism- the
physical constituent states; the life instinct aims at reunion. Freud
explains,
135
sexual act is an act of aggression having has its purpose in the most
intimate union. However it is difficult to identify the source of death
instinct. Coffer and Appley explain,
136
mastering stimuli takes place-certainly in the sense that
unpleasurable feelings are connected with an increase and
pleasurable feelings with a decrease of stimulus (Freud,
Instincts 120).
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forepleasure. He depends primarily on the ultimate
reduction of tension for his explanation, but it is clear that
the contradiction of the theory implicit in evidence that
some tension is sought out and apparently pleasurable
bothered him. In dealing with these phenomena, he
comes close to an arousal jag type position (83).
Freud called the death instinct ego instinct and explained that it
springs from the vitalising of inanimate matter, and have as their aim
the reinstatement of lifelessness (Freud, BPP 54). In An Outline of
Psychoanalysis, Freud states that We shall be justified in saying that
there arises at birth an instinct to return to the intra-uterine life that has
been abandoned- and instinct to sleep (27). And in New Introductory
Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Freud speaks of the phantasy of
returning into the mothers womb (120). All these show the
importance of death instinct in Freuds theory.
138
It is significant here to note that birth (the acquiring of separate
identity- alienation) is the primary realisation of the death instinct,
which is governed by the nirvana principle. Death (the physical
decomposition- identification) is the final realisation of the life
instinct, which is governed by the pleasure principle. And life is a
striving for the dialectical synthesis of birth and death, and is governed
by reality principle.
139
coincidence. Freud was aware of the Upanisadic tradition as he had
referred to the comparison of the dual nature of motivation with
division of the primal reality into two as described in
Brihadranyakopanisad (Freud, BPP 74-75). His remark here that
Plato might have been influenced by this notion of Upanisads in his
formulation of the concept of Zeus shows Freuds regard for the
traditional Indian theories of mind.
NOTES
1 Hysteria: The neurotic illness which can have both physical and
mental symptoms. Also known as conversion disorders its
physical symptoms are characterised by its flight into incapacity.
The mental symptoms are characterised by dissociation states.
140
REFERENCES
141
Copi, Irving M. Introduction to Logic. 11th ed. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 2001.
142
Popper, Karl. Conjectures and Refutations. London: Rutledge &
Kegan Paul, 1963.
Strachey, James. Sigmund Freud: His Life and Ideas. Freud, NIL.
11-25.
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