Good
morning beheaded- err, I mean beloved.

"Is
a cigar ever just a cigar?"

-Sigmund Freud

This
is the stereotype psychology- looking into your past, discovering
hidden desires, rumaging through the unconsious. It was what
started it all, but it is also the most radical of the five
theories, and by far the most critisized- accused of being
sexist, seeing the human population as ill, and considering sex
and hostility as the only motivation for human actions. However,
this theory has proven to be one of the most influential forces
in the 20th century.

Sigmund
Freud believed that there was a lot more to the mind than met the
"eye", much like an iceberg - only the very tip is
showing. He's the one who came up with the concept of one's
unconcious - the part of the mind where desires and memories are
stored, unrecognised, only hinted at through dreams or slips of
the tounge.

Rallying
between the concious and unconsious are the id, ego, and
superego- seperate and conflicting forces, requiring a balance
for mental health and normal behaviour. The id is a person's
animal force - their need to satisfy basic psychological needs.
The superego is the "ideal" force - the civilised,
competent figure the person strives to be. The ego sort of
regulates the two, keeping the id satisfied while staying within
the guidelines of the superego. It is seen as the "reality
principle". The strength of each individual force is a
factor in personality - if a person's superego is too strong,
they are seen as rigid and guilty. If a person's id is too
strong, they are seen as delinquent and antisocial.

The
psychodynamic theory also established the idea that what happens
in a person's childhood is one of the most important factors in
personality development; especially traumatic experiences. The
theory states that children who go through such things repress
their memories, and this is the cause of adulthood mental
disease.

In
order to further understand how personalities are shaped during
childhood, Freud thought up the psychosexual stages. This shows
the development of the id and the establisment of pleasure -
sensitive areas known as erogenous zones. This also brings about
the idea of fixations - the theory concludes that my nails are
chewed to the bone because I was orally deprived, and now have a
fixation. (see: Oral Fixation)

* Later other
phychologists developed a parallel Electra complex for females.
This addition was never accepted by Freud.

"The
female...acknowledges the fact of her castration, and with it,
too, the superiority of

the male and her own inferiority; but she rebels against this
unwelcome state of affairs."
- Sigmund Freud

There is much
controversy over Freud's exclusion of females. In short, he loved
his masculinity and could only imagine the horror of living
without. But we must remember that this was during the Victorian
era, and just as equality is big stuff now, that was big stuff
then. He is still considered one of the biggest thinkers in
history, whom without we wouldn't know as much about ourselves as
we do.