The Classic Wanderer

Which Major Force In Psychology Emphasized Unconscious Thought Processes?

• Sabrina Sarro
• 05.05.2023
• 0
• 16

The Psychoanalytic school of thought in psychology was founded by Sigmund Freud, emphasizing the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour.

What major force in psychology emphasizes unconscious thought processes?

Learning Objectives –

• Describe the major models of personality within the psychodynamic perspective.
• Define the concept of ego defense, and give examples of commonly used ego defenses.
• Identify psychodynamic concepts that have been supported by empirical research.
• Discuss current trends in psychodynamic theory.

Have you ever done something that didn’t make sense? Perhaps you waited until the last minute to begin studying for an exam, even though you knew that delaying so long would ensure that you got a poor grade. Or maybe you spotted a person you liked across the room—someone about whom you had romantic feelings—but instead of approaching that person you headed the other way (and felt ashamed about it afterward). According to psychodynamic theory, a lot of our behaviors and preferences of adulthood are shaped by the experiences in our childhood. Psychodynamic theory (sometimes called psychoanalytic theory ) explains personality in terms of unconscious psychological processes (for example, wishes and fears of which we’re not fully aware), and contends that childhood experiences are crucial in shaping adult personality.

• Psychodynamic theory is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud, and with psychoanalysis, a type of psychotherapy that attempts to explore the patient’s unconscious thoughts and emotions so that the person is better able to understand him- or herself.
• Freud’s work has been extremely influential, its impact extending far beyond psychology (several years ago Time magazine selected Freud as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century).

Freud’s work has been not only influential, but quite controversial as well. As you might imagine, when Freud suggested in 1900 that much of our behavior is determined by psychological forces of which we’re largely unaware—that we literally don’t know what’s going on in our own minds—people were (to put it mildly) displeased ( Freud, 1900/1953a ).

1. When he suggested in 1905 that we humans have strong sexual feelings from a very early age, and that some of these sexual feelings are directed toward our parents, people were more than displeased—they were outraged ( Freud, 1905/1953b ).
2. Few theories in psychology have evoked such strong reactions from other professionals and members of the public.

Controversy notwithstanding, no competent psychologist, or student of psychology, can ignore psychodynamic theory. It is simply too important for psychological science and practice, and continues to play an important role in a wide variety of disciplines within and outside psychology (for example, developmental psychology, social psychology, sociology, and neuroscience; see Bornstein, 2005, 2006 ; Solms & Turnbull, 2011 ).

This module reviews the psychodynamic perspective on personality. We begin with a brief discussion of the core assumptions of psychodynamic theory, followed by an overview of the evolution of the theory from Freud’s time to today. We then discuss the place of psychodynamic theory within contemporary psychology, and look toward the future as well.

The core assumptions of psychodynamic theory are surprisingly simple. Moreover, these assumptions are unique to the psychodynamic framework: No other theories of personality accept these three ideas in their purest form.

Who emphasized unconscious thought processes?

Unconscious Mind – In psychoanalysis, the unconscious mind refers to that part of the psyche that contains repressed ideas and images, as well as primitive desires and impulses that have never been allowed to enter the conscious mind. Freud viewed the unconscious mind as a vital part of the individual.

It is irrational, emotional, and has no concept of reality which is why its attempts to leak out must be inhibited. Content that is contained in the unconscious mind is generally deemed to be too anxiety-provoking to be allowed in consciousness and is maintained at an unconscious level where, according to Freud, it still manages to influence our behavior.

The unconscious mind comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002). Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.

Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious conscious. 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. Much of our behavior, according to Freud, is a product of factors outside our conscious awareness.

People use a range of defense mechanisms (such as repression or denial) to avoid knowing what their unconscious motives and feelings are. The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulse kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious area.

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. This can happen through the process of repression, The unconscious mind contains our biologically based instincts (eros and thanatos) for the primitive urges for sex and aggression (Freud, 1915).

Freud argued that our primitive urges often do not reach consciousness because they are unacceptable to our rational, conscious selves. Freud believed that the influences of the unconscious reveal themselves in a variety of ways, including dreams, and in slips of the tongue, now popularly known as Freudian slips.

What emphasizes unconscious thought?

Evolutionary approach uses evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.The purpose of this approach is to bring the functional way of thinking about biological mechanisms such as the immune system into the field of psychology and to approach psychological mechanisms in a similar way. The evolutionary perspective considers many different traits which include memory, perception and language. In this perspective, however, it considers these traits as adaptations that have occurred within the human body over time. With the evolutionary perspective scientists look at the way a new trait will evolve in the average person.

• The evolutionary perspective says the only reason that the human race continues to survive and continues to function in the best way possible is through natural selection.
• This is believed to be the way that the human race has come from the caveman era to the modern era as far as skills, traits and abilities.

This approach also influence our decision making, level of aggressiveness, fears, and making patterns. A strength of this approach is that it can explain behaviors that appear dysfunctional, such as anorexia, or behaviors that make little sense in a modern context The sociocultural approach examines the influences of social and cultural environments on behavior. The understanding of human behavior and personality can be developed by examining rules of the social groups and subgroups in which the individual is apart of. Race and ethnicity, religion, gender, social class, family traditions, peer groups, and age are some of the subgroups that may influence someone’s behavior. The psychodynamic perspective derives from the work of Sigmund Freud and his students and followers. Its defined by unconscious, the part of mind that contains hidden desires and motivating forces. The main method of investigation in the psychodynamic perspective in psychoanalysis which attempts to uncover the unconscious elements that affect a person.

• Through the analysis of a person dreams.
• So in psychodynamic perspective, the model of the mind is as an iceberg, with only the tip visible.
• Freud proposed that our thoughts, feelings, self perception and personality is composed of 3 elements.
• The ego which represents our conscious thoughts, the superego which represents our social conscience and the id which represents our subconscious, pleasure-seeking and inner desires.

The id isn’t logical or reasonable, the ego tries to satisfy the id in a safe manner and the superego keeps track of our guilt and social norms. Those 3 elements are known as our psyche and Freud says that the primary energy i our psyche was the libido and libido is energy created by survival and sexual needs below constantly seeking satisfaction of the desires to be safe and experience pleasure but as we grow, the need of want/needs comes in conflict with id. According to Freud, there are five stages of pschosexual development:

oral stage- birth to 18 months anal stage- 18 months to 3 years phallic stage- 3 to 6 years latency stage- 6 to puberty genital stage- puberty and beyond

Also, according to Freud the ego develops strategies to defend you from daily conflicts that may cause stress or anxiety due to our id’s desires and your superego’s attempts to control those desires. These protective strategies are called defense mechanisms.

A strength of this approach is actually providing a better understanding of dense mechanism. Did you know that our behavior and feelings as adults are rooted in our childhood experiences because of the psychodynmaic theory?? The behavioral approach emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.

In other words its the study of the connection between our minds and behavioral. Contemporary behaviorists still emphasize the importance of observing behavior to understand an individual; however, not every behaviorist today accepts the earlier behaviorists rejection of thought processes, which are often called cognition. This comic explains how behaviorism is an influential approach in psychology and how all human behavior can be explained by learning. Learning from stimuli, responses and reinforces. Stimuli presents excitement, response is the reactions to stimuli that are desirable or undesirable, and reinforces is something that increases the rate of response. Reinforcement and punishment examples: The researchers and scientists who study behavioral psychology are trying to understand why we behave the way we do and they are concerned with discovering patterns in our actions and behaviors. The hope is that if we can use behavioral psychology to help us predict how humans will behave, we can build better habits as individuals, create better products as companies, and develop better living spaces as communities.

Also, how rewards and punishments determine our behavior. One of behaviorism strengths are modification procedures have many advantages over other therapies. Also the approach has had great success working with specific population of people. However, not everything can be studied with this approach. Apparently your brain houses a mind whose mental process allow you of remember, make decisions, plan, set goals and be creative and the cognitive approach next emphasizes the mental process involved in knowing how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.

The modern study of cognition rests on the premise that the brain can be understood as a complex computing system. In comparison to the behaviorists approach, the cognitive approach believes that internal mental behavior can be scientifically studied using experiments. Cognitive psychology assumes that the process occurs between stimulus/input and response/output. The event could be the memory, perception, attention pr problem solving etc. They are mediational processes because they go between the stimulus and the response. Some of cognitive strengths s that its its highly applicable and that it combines easily with approaches: -Behaviorism + cog= social learning -Biology+ Cog= Evolutionary Some of cognitive limitations are that it ignores biology(testosterone), experiments, humanism(rejects scientific method) and behaviorism(can’t objectively study observably behavior) Psychologists use cognitive to explain how we solve math problems, why we remember some things for only a short time but others for a lifetime and how we can use our imaginations to plan for the future.

The humanistic approach emphasizes a person’s positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth and the freedom to choose one’s destiny. Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumptions that phenomenology is central ad that people have free will. Humanism is a psychological perspective that that study the whole person.

The humanistic approach has been applied to relatively few areas of psychology compared to other approaches. Its contributions are limited to areas such as therapy. A human being is more than just a sum of his or her parts. A person’s behavior is influenced by his or her environment. Social interactions are key in the development of a human being.People are aware of their existence, that is, they are conscious of themselves and their surroundings. The biological approach believes us to be as a consequence of our genetics and physiology. It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a biological and thus physical point of view. A biological perspective is relevant to the study of psychology in three ways and they are used to help explain human behavior -The comparative- Used to help search to understand human behavior -Physiology(The brain)- how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions, how changes in structure and/or function can affect behavior.

-The genetic- Determines what people will inherit from there parents One strength of the biological approach is that it is deterministic. This is a strength because it increases the likelihood of being able to treat people with abnormal behavior and provides explanations about the causes of behavior.

This understanding can then be used to improve people’s lives. One weakness of the biological approach is that it is nomothetic. This is a weakness because it develops theories about disorders and generalizes them to apply to everyone. It does not take into account the view that humans are unique.

An example of this is that General Adaptation Syndrome assumes that everyone responds in the same way to stress but does not take into account that some people have more support than others. Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is everything we do that can be directly observed.

Mental processes are the thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly. When dealing with science, psychology uses systematic methods to observe human behavior and draw conclusions. The goals of psychological science are to describe, predict, and explain behavior.

1. Also, psychologists are often interested in controlling or changing behavior, and they use scientific methods to examine interventions that might help.
2. Psychology is the study of how and why we behave as we do.
3. In this course, you may come across factors which affect behavior; such as habits, attitudes, emotions and personality and how they are developed.

It also includes discussions of how we learn and how to get along with others. Psychologist uses 7 approaches to help with the studies of learning psychology. Those approaches are: 1.Biological-Belief that cause of behavior is your brain 2.Evolutionary-Mental abilities evolve over millions years 3.

Which theory emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts?

Key Takeaways –

Freudian motivation theory posits that unconscious psychological forces, such as hidden desires and motives, shape an individual’s behavior, like their purchasing patterns.Freudian motivation theory is frequently applied to a number of disciplines, including sales and marketing, to help understand the consumer’s motivations when it comes to making a purchasing decision.The Freudian motivation theory explains the sales process in terms of a consumer fulfilling conscious, functional needs as well as unconscious needs.

What are unconscious processes in psychology?

Unconscious Processes Consciousness has to do with two aspects of mental life: monitoring ourselves, so that our experiences, thoughts, and actions are accessible to phenomenal awareness; and controlling ourselves, engaging in voluntary behavior that goes beyond reflex, instinct, and conditioned response.

1. The unconscious mind—whether it exists at all, and if so what its scope and limits are—has been an important theoretical issue since the beginning of scientific psychology.
2. There are of course many physical and biological processes that, in some sense, proceed unconsciously: the orbiting of planets around the sun and photosynthesis are two examples.

Changes in blood pressure are not accessible to phenomenal awareness; and the brain activity which gives rise to consciousness itself goes on unconsciously (neurosurgeons assure us that there is no afference in the brain). But there is little point in talking about something being unconscious if that same thing cannot also be conscious, in the sense of being accessible to phenomenal awareness and voluntary control.

Therefore, the adjective unconscious only makes sense when applied to mental states and mental activity, as an adjectival contrast to conscious, These mental states come in various forms—namely cognition (percepts, memories, thoughts, and knowledge acquired through learning), emotion (positive and negative feelings), and motivation (desires and goals of approach and avoidance).

Usually, these mental states are accessible to consciousness, in that people are generally aware of what they are thinking, what they want and feel, and what they are doing. “The unconscious” is shorthand for mental states and processes that are inaccessible to introspective phenomenal awareness and voluntary control.

1. The question is whether, and to what extent, mental states can exist (and mental activities transpire) outside the scope of phenomenal awareness and voluntary control.
2. Objection : If these mental states and activities are unconscious, how are we to know them? Answer : We know them indirectly by virtue of their effects on our ongoing conscious experience, thought, and action.

Question: If there are two kinds of mental states and processes, conscious and unconscious, how do they compare and contrast? Answer: In principle, unconscious processes differ from conscious processes because they operate outside phenomenal awareness.

And because conscious awareness is the logical prerequisite for conscious control; unconscious processes are not susceptible to voluntary self-regulation. Other differences between conscious and unconscious processes are empirical questions. There are no textbooks specifically devoted to unconscious mental life, but there are several that discuss various aspects of the unconscious in the context of the more general philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific literature on consciousness.

focuses mostly on the mind-body problem. The best of these texts is —now out of print, but well worth finding on the used book market. ; ; and provide more up-to-date coverage. Although none are as comprehensive as Farthing, they are good alternatives for classroom use.

There have been many philosophical monographs dealing with the mind-body problem and other aspects of consciousness, some of which also discuss the problem of the unconscious. There is as yet no comprehensive textbook treatment of this philosophical debate, but some flavor of the current scene can be gleaned from and,

There is also, which is a contribution to Oxford’s Very Short Introduction series, and even a graphic treatment of the topic,,

Blackmore, S.2005. Consciousness: A very short introduction, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. DOI: Too short to serve as a standalone text for a course in consciousness but an excellent ancillary text for courses on philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience—and, as intended, as an introduction for the general public. Blackmore, S.2012. Consciousness: An introduction,2d ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Expressly intended as an undergraduate text, like most books on consciousness it focuses mostly on the mind-body problem but also covers the evolution of consciousness, consciousness in artificial intelligence, and altered states of consciousness. Farthing, G.W.1992. The psychology of consciousness, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Some twenty-five years after its original publication, this remains the best and most comprehensive textbook for a course on consciousness: the model for any who would aspire to replace it. Covers, sometimes in multiple chapters, introspection, the mind-body problem, explicit-implicit dissociations, daydreaming, hypnosis, sleep and dreams, meditation, and psychedelic drugs. Papineau, D., and H. Selina.2000. Introducing consciousness: A graphic guide, London: Icon Books. Comprehensive illustrated inquiry into the mind-body problem, “the last frontier of science”; not just for young people and other reluctant readers. Revonsuo, A.2018. Foundations of consciousness, Oxford: Routledge. In the absence of a new edition of Farthing, these can serve as the core textbook in an undergraduate course on consciousness. Excellent coverage of the neural correlates of consciousness and other aspects of the mind-body problem. Compared to, there is less extensive coverage of altered states of consciousness. Seager, W.2016. Theories of consciousness; An introduction and assessment,2d ed. New York: Routledge. DOI: Comprehensive coverage of contemporary philosophical analyses of consciousness. Searle, J.R.1997. The mystery of consciousness,1st ed. New York: New York Review of Books. Reprints Searle’s reviews of major monographs on consciousness by Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, and others, as well as responses from the authors and rejoinders to them. Wallace, B., B.B. Oswald, and L.E. Fisher.2011. Consciousness and behavior,5th ed. Dubuque, IA: KendallHunt. Also a good choice as the text for an undergraduate course, with much the same coverage as, and the addition of chapters on parapsychology and sensory deprivation. Zeman, A.2002. Consciousness: A user’s guide, New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press. Written by a practicing neurologist, this is also an excellent choice for a core text. Contains lots of material on the neural bases of consciousness but less on altered states and unconscious processes.

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What is unconscious thought in psychology?

unconscious, also called Subconscious, the complex of mental activities within an individual that proceed without his awareness. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, stated that such unconscious processes may affect a person’s behaviour even though he cannot report on them.

Freud and his followers felt that dreams and slips of the tongue were really concealed examples of unconscious content too threatening to be confronted directly. Some theorists ( e.g., the early experimental psychologist Wilhelm Wundt) denied the role of unconscious processes, defining psychology as the study of conscious states.

Yet, the existence of unconscious mental activities seems well established and continues to be an important concept in modern psychiatry. Freud distinguished among different levels of consciousness, Activities within the immediate field of awareness he termed conscious; e.g., reading this article is a conscious activity.

1. The retention of data easily brought to awareness is a preconscious activity; for example, one may not be thinking (conscious) of his address but readily recalls it when asked.
2. Data that cannot be recalled with effort at a specific time but that later may be remembered are retained on an unconscious level.

For example, under ordinary conditions a person may be unconscious of ever having been locked in a closet as a child; yet under hypnosis he may recall the experience vividly. Because one’s experiences cannot be observed directly by another (as one cannot feel another’s headache), efforts to study these levels of awareness objectively are based on inference; i.e., at most, the investigator can say only that another individual behaves as if he were unconscious or as if he were conscious.

Efforts to interpret the origin and significance of unconscious activities lean heavily on psychoanalytic theory, developed by Freud and his followers. For example, the origin of many neurotic symptoms is held to depend on conflicts that have been removed from consciousness through a process called repression.

As knowledge of psychophysiological function grows, many psychoanalytic ideas are seen to be related to activities of the central nervous system, That the physiological foundation of memory may rest in chemical changes occurring within brain cells has been inferred from clinical observations that: (1) direct stimulation of the surface of the brain (the cortex) while the patient is conscious on the operating table during surgery has the effect of bringing long-forgotten (unconscious) experiences back to awareness; (2) removal of specific parts of the brain seems to abolish the retention of specific experiences in memory; (3) the general probability of bringing unconscious or preconscious data to awareness is enhanced by direct electrical stimulation of a portion of the brain structure called the reticular formation, or the reticular activating system.

Also, according to what is called brain blood-shift theory, the transition from unconscious to conscious activities is mediated by localized changes in the blood supply to different parts of the brain. These biopsychological explorations have shed new light on the validity of psychoanalytic ideas about the unconscious.

See also psychoanalysis,

What is Freud’s theory of the unconscious?

Accessing the Unconscious Mind – According to Freud, thoughts and emotions outside of our awareness continue to exert an influence on our behaviors, even though we are unaware (unconscious) of these underlying influences. The unconscious mind can include repressed feelings, hidden memories, habits, thoughts, desires, and reactions.

Which school of psychology emphasized unconscious thought?

Psychoanalysis : Sigmund Freud was the found of psychodynamic approach. This school of thought emphasizes the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the ego, and the superego.

Which theory emphasizes conscious thought?

Whereas psychoanalytic theories stress the importance of the unconscious, cognitive theories emphasize conscious thoughts.

Which approach to psychology emphasizes unconscious thought item 14?

Key Terms –

psychology	The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
science	The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world, including human behavior, and to draw conclusions.
behavior	Everything we do that can be directly observed.
mental processes	The thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly.
critical thinking	The process of reflecting deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating the evidence.
empirical method	Gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning.
positive psychology	A branch of psychology that emphasizes human strengths.
structuralism	Wundt’s approach to discovering the basic elements, or structures, of mental processes; so called because of its focus on identifying the structures of the human mind.
functionalism	James’s approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual’s adaptation to the environment.
natural selection	Darwin’s principle of an evolutionary process in which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and produce off spring.
biological approach	An approach to psychology focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.
neuroscience	The scientific study of the structure, function, development, genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system, emphasizing that the brain and nervous system are central to understanding behavior, thought, and emotion.
behavioral approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.
psychodynamic approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives (such as the drive for sex) and society’s demands, and early childhood family experiences.
humanistic approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing a person’s positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny.
cognitive approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.
evolutionary approach	An approach to psychology centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.
sociocultural approach	An approach to psychology that examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence behavior.
psychopathology	The scientific study of psychological disorders and the development of diagnostic categories and treatments for those disorders.

Which emphasize the importance of unconscious forces?

Sigmund Freud -Psychoanalysis/ emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and internal conflicts in determining human behavior. Freud is very much part of popular culture.

Which theory emphasizes the role of unconscious factors in personality and behavior?

Psychoanalytic theory : Freud’s theory of personality that holds that personality and behavior are shaped by unconscious forces and conflicts. This theory is broken down into four main concepts: levels of consciousness, structure of personality, defense mechanisms, and stages of psychosexual development.

What is unconscious processing called?

In cognitive psychology, a mental process that occurs without a person being explicitly aware of it and largely outside of conscious control. Also called subliminal process.

What causes unconsciousness?

Unconsciousness can be caused by nearly any major illness or injury. It can also be caused by substance (drug) and alcohol use. Choking on an object can result in unconsciousness as well. Brief unconsciousness (or fainting) is often a result from dehydration, low blood sugar, or temporary low blood pressure.

What part of the brain controls unconscious thought?

Just because an explanation is logical and makes sense, it does not mean it is correct. To understand why we usually believe in what we believe, behave the ways we do either in constructive or destructive ways we need to understand how our mind and brain work and how this translates on who we are.

Each and every one of us has two brains: the right brain and the left brain, which control different abilities and functions and they are independent from each other and have their “own minds”. The left brain is associated to the conscious mind and control the ability to speak, write, and comprehend spoken and written language and perform arithmetical operations.

It is responsible for naming, spelling, writing and counting. It controls the right side of your body and the ability to perform skilful sequential movements. The left brain has also greater access to positive emotions, however the positive and negative emotions are stored in the right brain as well.

• The left brain cannot see things as a whole but just sees things as an assembly of parts: it never sees the “big picture” (does not see the traffic jam, just a sequence of cars) but it is good making up logical and rational stories which it ends up believing.
• The right brain is also known as the unconscious mind, and it is dominant in regards to all aspects of emotional processing.

It controls the left side of the body and is good at manipulating and constructing complex shapes, puzzles, and block designs. It also controls the perception of the visual, spatial, geometric relationships, such as depths, distance, location, movement, and motion and can see the “big picture” – it can read between the lines and infer what something may be or may mean based on only a few features – in consequence of the ability of filling in the blanks and deduce or determine what something may be or may mean, even with scanty information, the right brain is considered the more intuitive half of the cerebrum.

In addition, it is responsible for non-linguistic forms of communicating, such as: facial expression, body language, etc. In a communication, the left brain understands what is said, the right brain understands the way the message was given: tone, manner, feelings. Two different messages may be perceived and how you react will depend on which half of your brain prevails.

That’s why it is important to be aware of what is going on inside yourself and acknowledge the emotions and feelings as they arise. We are capable of becoming fully aware of what is occurring in the right brain, although it is non-linguistic and nonconscious.

1. If we choose to, we can also become consciously aware of all of them as they occur.
2. However, it is very difficult to put what the right brain experiences into words, and it is also not always necessary or useful.
3. Instead of thinking, sometimes we need just to feel, experience, and observe without talking about it – it is called mindfulness.

The right and left brains often act cooperatively. In some instances, the left brain interferes with, suppresses, and inhibits right-brain mental processing so that its capacities and abilities are not expressed. This is unfortunate and very self-limiting as the left brain has difficulty processing and recognising emotional signals, particularly those that are negative.

When the left brain interferes with the right and tries to dominate all interactions through logic and reason, it causes the person to completely miss the boat when it comes to successful social, emotional, and intimate interactions. Sometimes the left brain just does not want to know what is really going on emotionally as the information may be too painful or upsetting to consider consciously.

The left brain may deny the significance of an intuitive conclusion drawn by the right half of the brain, even when someone is pointing it out. The consequences of suppressing or underusing the right brain can be disastrous if its feelings and emotions unexpectedly erupt, thus greatly affecting the world that both halves of the brain share and occupy.

When this occurs, the left brain is likely to cry out, “I don’t know what came over me”, “I don’t know why I said that” or even “The devil made me do it” when the person ignored all the signals coming from the right brain. Even when their goals are the same, the halves of the brain may produce and attempt to act on different strategies: it is not surprising that when we are involved in highly complex social interactions or even when we are trying to perform everyday activities, we sometimes feel in conflict, confused or even paralyzed by indecision.

The right and the left brain strive for control over our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and the battle goes on in our head. We are very complex machines with a very sophisticated brain structure and organisation:

Two brains: left and right;Two mental realms: conscious and unconsciousThree mental systems: consciousness, unconsciousness awareness and the limbic unconscious.Four ego personalities: IDfant, Child, Parent and Adult

The Unconscious The unconscious awareness is more accessible while limbic unconscious is inaccessible, very primitive and ancient region buried within the depths of the centremost portion of the brain and is related to the biological aspects of the mind.

1. However, along with the amygdala, the limbic system is also capable of generating very complex and refined emotions which are often triggered reflexively and without concern about or an understanding of the consequences.
2. It seeks pleasure and satisfaction and its basic message is “I want it now” without considering the longer-term consequences of its acts and it has no sense of morals, danger, values, logic or right and wrong.

The limbic system controls the ability to feel pleasure and displeasure, it can reward or punish the entire brain for meeting or not meeting its needs by generating feeling of pleasure or aversion that the whole brain then experiences. If pleasure is experienced, it will generate rewarding feelings so that the person continues engaging in the activity desired by the limbic system.

If it begins to feel displeasure, it will stop. However, if the limbic needs continue to go unmet, the person will experience depression, anger or rage. Freud described it as the pleasure principle, which is a concept that represents the tendency of all organisms to strive for pleasure and to avoid noxious situations.

It acts to reduce the tensions of unmet needs (hunger, thirst, sexual desire, etc) by promoting their fulfilment. Some limbic impulses can be misinterpreted or purposefully suppressed and inhibited. Although the limbic system may proclaim “I want it now” the rest of the brain may, for whatever reasons, have different ideas and strongly disagree with this demand.

1. The frontal lobes then act to inhibit the impulse.
2. Of course, some limbic impulses do not require the cooperation of the rest of the brain to be fulfilled; the entire cerebrum may simply be overwhelmed, and the person finds himself or herself compelled to eat, search out a sexual partner or explode with rage.

There is a multitude of selves within us, both conscious and unconscious. Although this multiplicity may give rise to numerous conflicts, it may also be beneficial and adaptive, allowing different aspects of our personality to come to the fore as they are needed on various activities.

• Different people and different situations bring out different aspects of our personality or personalities.
• Four Ego personalities IDfant or limbic Ego personality : is the only aspect of the mind that is almost entirely unconscious as it is associated with the limbic system and it is the most primitive aspect of the mind.

It is intensely concerned with maximizing pleasure and minimizing unpleasant tensions. It can influence and take control over behaviours even among well-adjusted, moral, educated adults. When this occurs, the person is likely to behave in an impulsive manner, without thinking and without regard for the consequences.

Child Ego personality: it is found in the right brain and the limbic system, maintains the feelings of self-worth, the self-concept, the self-image, and all associated cognitions, memories and emotions that were formed during childhood. It has the personality of a child, acts childish, and encompasses associated feelings and emotions aroused by others when we were young as well as the labels (stupid, pretty, ugly, clever, retarded, talented, successful, etc) that were repeatedly applied to us by other children, family members, and particularly our parents.

Parent Ego personality: the impressions made by our parents stay with us forever in the form of an internalized Parent, which continues to exert influences similar to those exerted by our parents, but within the confines of our own psyche. If we were repeatedly told we were failures for example, the parental voice will echo forever in the form of a Parent Ego personality.

Parent ego corresponds to our developmental experiences with authority figures and the right half of the brain and the unconscious mind will seek out friends, lovers, teachers, or employers who will treat us as our parents did, or we will find friends, lovers, or employees whom our unconscious Parental voice can criticize.

Adult Ego personality: Is similar to what we consciously recognize as our ideal Self, our adult self image. It is associated with consciousness and is therefore more easily recognized by the conscious mind. The conscious self image is designed to make a particular impression on others, as well as to conceal our true nature from ourselves, our parents, and the culture at large.

• The self-image hides as much as it reveals.
• It can be considered a carefully constructed mask, or persona.
• The conscious Self is sometimes completely overwhelmed by the Parent, Child or IDfant and the tumoil occurring within the unconscious mental system.
• As such he may respond in an irrational, destructive, violent, childish, impulsive, abusive, or loudly critical manner, or may just feel lousy, angry, upset, or moody and not know why.

Adults sometimes act in the same childish manner, as if they don’t want what they in fact intensely desire, for example, forgiveness, love, a date with an attractive person, a high-paying job or a promotion. This attitude protects them from further hurt and rejection, if they pretend something means nothing to them, it loses its power to make them feel bad.

1. Of course, one must feel bad in the first place to go to these extreme of self-protection Avoiding Self-Sabotage & Taking control Who is in charge? This is the key questions and the first major step toward gaining positive control over our life.
2. The more intense we feel, or the more out of control, or the more we act childish or critical, the more likely it is that unconscious forces have come to the fore.

When irrational emotions come to the fore, unconscious Parental or Childish influences should be suspected. If our feelings and responses to others are nonlogical, irrational or exaggerated, their origin is usually unconscious. If we are feeling depressed for no particular reason or are suffering from destructive, pessimistic thoughts, it is usually because the unconscious Parent is belittling the unconscious Child.

We should ask why? And then be alerted that something good may be about to be sabotaged (a job promotion, a date, an opportunity, etc). We need to be aware so we can regain control. If we can begin to recognize our own Parent and Child and their critical, abusive, and hurting ways, and can learn to counter act these forces by rejecting abuse or punishment regardless of its source, we can assume self-control.

However, we must also learn to question our own truths (or lies), confabulations, and deceptions, for often the first explanation of our behaviours is completely off the mark and just because an explanation is logical and makes sense, it does not mean it is correct.

Who was the father of the unconscious mind?

Sigmund Freud
Freud c.1921
Born	Sigismund Schlomo Freud 6 May 1856 Freiberg in Mähren, Moravia, Austrian Empire (now Czech Republic )
Died	23 September 1939 (aged 83) Hampstead, London, England
Alma mater	University of Vienna ( MD, 1881)
Known for	Psychoanalysis, including the theories of id, ego and super-ego, oedipus complex, repression, defense mechanism
Spouse	Martha Bernays ​ ( m.1886) ​
Children	Mathilde, Jean-Martin, Oliver, Ernst, Sophie, and Anna
Parents	Jacob Freud (father) Amalia Nathanson (mother)
Awards	Goethe Prize (1930)
Scientific career
Fields	Neurology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis
Institutions	University of Vienna International Psychoanalytical Association
Academic advisors	Franz Brentano Ernst Brücke Carl Claus
Influences	Brentano Breuer Charcot Darwin Dostoevsky Empedocles Fechner Feuerbach Fliess Goethe Hartmann Herbart Kierkegaard Le Bon Nietzsche Plato Sade Schopenhauer Shakespeare Sophocles
Influenced	List of psychoanalysts List of psychoanalytical theorists
Signature

Sigmund Freud ( FROYD, German: ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud ; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in the psyche, through dialogue between patient and psychoanalyst, and the distinctive theory of mind and human agency derived from it.

Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian Empire, He qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1881 at the University of Vienna, Upon completing his habilitation in 1885 he was appointed a docent in neuropathology and became an affiliated professor in 1902.

Freud lived and worked in Vienna having set up his clinical practice there in 1886. Following the German annexation of Austria in March 1938, Freud left Austria to escape Nazi persecution. He died in exile in the United Kingdom in 1939. In founding psychoanalysis Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and discovered transference, establishing its central role in the analytic process.

Freud’s redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory. His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mechanisms of repression,

On this basis Freud elaborated his theory of the unconscious and went on to develop a model of psychic structure comprising id, ego and super-ego, Freud postulated the existence of libido, sexualised energy with which mental processes and structures are invested and which generates erotic attachments, and a death drive, the source of compulsive repetition, hate, aggression, and neurotic guilt.

1. In his later work Freud developed a wide-ranging interpretation and critique of religion and culture.
2. Though in overall decline as a diagnostic and clinical practice, psychoanalysis remains influential within psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy, and across the humanities,
3. It thus continues to generate extensive and highly contested debate concerning its therapeutic efficacy, its scientific status, and whether it advances or hinders the feminist cause.

Nonetheless, Freud’s work has suffused contemporary Western thought and popular culture.W.H. Auden ‘s 1940 poetic tribute to Freud describes him as having created “a whole climate of opinion / under whom we conduct our different lives”.

Who is the father of the unconscious?

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was a physiologist, medical doctor, psychologist and influential thinker of the early twentieth century. Working initially in close collaboration with Joseph Breuer, Freud elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system, the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology.

He articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression, and he proposed a tripartite account of the mind’s structure—all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions.

Notwithstanding the multiple manifestations of psychoanalysis as it exists today, it can in almost all fundamental respects be traced directly back to Freud’s original work. Freud’s innovative treatment of human actions, dreams, and indeed of cultural artifacts as invariably possessing implicit symbolic significance has proven to be extraordinarily fruitful, and has had massive implications for a wide variety of fields including psychology, anthropology, semiotics, and artistic creativity and appreciation.