Psychodynamic Perspective Concept Essay

1085 Words5 Pages
How would you react if someone told you that all of your behaviors are motivated by unconscious thoughts, which you can not control? Would you accept it as truth, or try to prove them wrong, even if partially? Well, you would be taking this argument to Sigmond Freud himself. He proposed a psychological view that states, “behavior is motivated by unconscious, inner forces over which the individual has little control,” the psychodynamic perspective (Feldman). The psychodynamic perspective is one of the five major perspectives in psychology. The other five are as follows: neuroscience, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic. They all propose different views and reasoning, however, like Prof. Mirras said once in class, “None of these perspectives are all wrong or all right, they all have a piece of the truth,” which could definitely be the case. However, Freud insists that his psychodynamic approach is the definite reasoning behind our behaviors. The psychodynamic perspective says that our behaviors and feelings as adults are deeply rooted from our childhood experiences. According to this view, our personality is made up of three parts: the id, ego, and super-ego. Also, behaviors are motivated by two instinctual drives: Euros and Thanatos (McLeod). The id, ego, and superego are proposed by Freud as “stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world”(Heffner). The id, being the first stage, is more concerned with having basic needs met. It is the stage of our personality that takes care of the need for food, shelter, bathing, etc,. The ego, is the stage in which we become considerate of other people. It takes care of the needs and considers situations as well. The super-ego is more advanced, its the stage in which morals are taken into consideration. Freud says that the ego is the strongest, since it takes care of the id's needs and does not hurt
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