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The unconscious mind contains our biologically based instincts (eros and thanatos) for the primitive urges for sex and aggression (Freud, 1915). This can happen through the process of repression. For example, Freud (1915) found that some events and desires were often too frightening or painful for his patients to acknowledge, and believed such information was locked away in the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulse kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious area. The unconscious contains all sorts of significant and disturbing material which we need to keep out of awareness because they are too threatening to acknowledge fully. While we are fully aware of what is going on in the conscious mind, we have no idea of what information is stored in the unconscious mind. Here the id is regarded as entirely unconscious whilst the ego and superego have conscious, preconscious, and unconscious aspects. Our feelings, motives and decisions are actually powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and stored in the unconscious.įreud applied these three systems to his structure of the personality, or psyche – the id, ego and superego. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see. Mild emotional experiences may be in the preconscious but sometimes traumatic and powerful negative emotions are repressed and hence not available in the preconscious.įinally, the unconscious mind comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002).Īccording to Freud (1915), the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. For example, you are presently not thinking about your mobile telephone number, but now it is mentioned you can recall it with ease. This is what we mean in our everyday usage of the word available memory. The preconscious is like a mental waiting room, in which thoughts remain until they 'succeed in attracting the eye of the conscious' (Freud, 1924, p. It exists just below the level of consciousness, before the unconscious mind. The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not currently aware of, but which can easily be brought to consciousness (1924). For example, you may be feeling thirsty at this moment and decide to get a drink.
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Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.įreud (1915) described the conscious mind, which consists of all the mental processes of which we are aware, and this is seen as the tip of the iceberg. Sigmund Freud didn't exactly invent the idea of the conscious versus unconscious mind, but he certainly was responsible for making it popular and this was one of his main contributions to psychology.įreud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, whereby he described the features of the mind’s structure and function. Saul McLeod, published 2009, updated 2015