Structural model of personality

• what did freud say about the mind


  -rather than having one intergrated whole mind our psyche is seperated into 3 distinct parts which often work against each other.

  -these 3 parts are the ID Ego and superego
• outline the Id


  -part of unconscious mind and works on pleasure principle

  -primitive biological part of the mind present in new-born infants

  -consists of basic biological drives or impulses such as hunger and thirst

  -these biological drives motivate us to behave in certain ways and humans are motivated to satisfy urges and wishes.

  -urges put us in a state of arousal and when they are satisfied arousal is reduced
• outline the ego


  -develops as the child grows and part of the conscious mind

  -aims to gratify the id impulses in line with what is realistically possible by considering the environment it is in

  -works on the reality principle

  -has a role in defending the unconscious mind from displeasure using defence mechanisms
• Outline the superego


  -develops last (during the phallic stage of development)part of conscious and unconscious mind

  -internalised representation of the same sex parent of who the child comes to identify with

  -works on the morality principle

  -violating superego standards causes feelings of guilt
• outline defence mechanisms


  -are unconscious and is used by the ego to protect itself and manage conflict between id and superego

  -provide compromise solutions to deal with resolvable conflict between the id and superego

  -provide a strategy to reduce anxiety which weakens the ego's influence
• define repression


  -forcing a distressed memory out of the conscious mind
• define denial


  refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
• define displacement


  -transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target