PSYCH 115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Reality Principle, Anna Freud, Reaction Formation
Document Summary
Psychotropic medications: increasingly available, systematically developed. Freud developed a comprehensive theory based upon the development and structure of personality, including a hypothesis about how both can lead to psychopathology. Freud believed that the mind was composed of the id, ego, and superego (structure) The id operates according to the pleasure principle or maximizing pleasure and minimizing competing tensions. The id was thought to be the source of sexual and aggressive thoughts, impulses, and behaviors. The ego was thought to develop a few months after birth to foster realistic interactions with one"s environment. It operates according to the reality principle through secondary process thinking (i. e. , logical and reasonable thought). The primary purpose of the ego is to mediate conflicts between the id and the superego. The superego (conscience) develops last and represents the moral standards instilled by parents or other important influences. The primary purpose of the superego is to counteract the dangerous aggressive and sexual drives of the id.
