Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was a pioneer in the field of psychology. Freud was the first to introduce the concept of the unconscious mind to the field of medicine at that time. Freud actually wanted to go to school to be a doctor, but he was given a grant to study hypnosis. His work was especially important because he was the first person to take a non-biological approach to sickness. Before Sigmund all theorists solely said that biological factors were completely responsible for making us who we are and how we act. Freud explained that there were only two different drives that were responsible for how our behaviors, thought, and emotions. The two drives that control all these different things are sex and aggression. Sex was thought to be a strong human driving instinct because sex influences life and procreation, which is what life is all about. Sex is a motivating factor also for animals, because it also reproduces the same way. Aggression is explained as the exact opposite, it’s the way that all living being protect themselves from anything or anyone trying to cause harm to them. The structural model that Sigmund Freud created consists of id, ego, and superego. Id is something that we are born with from the day that we come into the world. It lets us meet our basic needs but all the id is concerned with is pleasure, and it has no doubt about the long-term. Once a child starts to grow out of being baby, when the only part that they have is their id, now their ego begins starts to develop. What the ego does is taking into consideration the long term effects can how pleasing yourself sometimes can hurt others in the long run. So in my opinion ego starts to give some common sense to the id, which strictly long wants to pleasure itself. Once a child has reached five years of age the superego is developed. The superego is the part of us that gives us moral which lead us to believe in what’s wrong and/or right. A balance should be maintained because if the id gets too strong the person would only want to be pleased, and if the superego is too strong then they will be very strict about their beliefs and live very severe. I think that Sigmund Freud’s ideas and theories are important because he was a pioneer in the field of psychology so regardless if someone agrees or disagrees with him, his work is still beneficial and very important to everyone, not only psychologists and doctors but also teachers, lawyers, and anyone who works with people because it’s useful to know how people work.