The psychodynamic theory is a theory by Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theory helps us to understand why people behave in the way they do and why that is. Freud divided the human mind into three sections. These are id, ego, and superego. There are three consciousness levels. 1. Conscious Level – This is where our rationalisation, our thought process and our reasoning is located. The conscious level is only the beginning of the mind and does not delve deep inside it 2. Preconscious Level – This is where our Ego is located. It holds our memories, ideas and values and beliefs. It starts to look into the mind more and gather more information. 3. – The Superego and Id are here. It is seen as the deepest point of our mind. It holds how we think about ourselves and our self-image. It contains our fears and our self-absorbed needs.
The Id part of our mind looks at how we see ourselves biologically and it holds all of our instincts and what we are used to. It attempts to please our needs which in turn, releases us from tension. The Id is driven by pleasure. The Id does what the mind says, what’s in that moment, even if it may not be the morally correct thing to do or it could be looked down upon by other people. It is not affected by external experiences so it stays the same, in its original form.
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The Ego part of our mind looks at how we see ourselves psychologically. The Ego’s job is to connect the Id’s requests with reality. It looks at what is achieved by secondary processes. The cognitive functions that are looked at in secondary processes are attention, perception, memory and thinking. The Ego looks at fulfilling our needs without any consequences. Functions of the Ego include Adaptive-Inhibitory Functions, which incorporate defence mechanisms, controlling impulses and reality testing. It also looks at Synthetic-Integrative Functions which is made up of secondary processes, synthesis and neutralisation. Freud has an example of comparing the Id and Ego which is a horse and its rider. He compares the Id with the horse and says it uses energy to get to the finish line of a race while the rider and its Ego leads the horse to the finish line.
The Superego part of our mind looks at how we see ourselves socially. It is regarded as the social part of our personality. It holds our social values and our morals. The Superego is made up of the Conscience which is the moral values and principles we consider to be okay and also what we feel is not allowed. Breaking or succeeding in our moral views will give either a feeling of guilt or a feeling of pride. It is also made up of the Ego Ideal which contains goals that people want to attain. These goals can be seen as unable to be achieved if they are set to a very high and unrealistic standard. The Superego tries to dismiss unwanted impulses and replaces real goals with ones that are morally correct and idealistic. If the Superego is too harsh then this can make a person very rigid and hard on themselves. It can make them feel guilty or have a judgement towards themselves or others.
Sigmund Freud’s Psychodynamic theory can be related to personality clashes in the workplace. This report found that workers in Hawthorn Ltd. may be clashing if different parts of the mind are stronger or weaker than others. What one worker sees as morally correct, another worker may have a completely different view on it because their Superego is a lot weaker. This can cause different personalities to clash as no two workers will be on the exact same level with the Id, Ego and Superego. It’s important for there to be a good balance in the workplace and for workers to be able to compromise and see things from different points of views so conflict can be avoided.
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Sigmund Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory.
(2022, September 15). Edubirdie. Retrieved November 17, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/sigmund-freuds-psychodynamic-theory/
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