Psychoanalytic Theory

To understand what psychoanalytic theory is, we must first introduce the man who came up with the theory. His name was Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist who is known as the father of psychoanalysis. Freud theorized that behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind. The three components are: the id, ego and superego. These three components of the mind work on a structural basis and are all working on a mostly unconscious level. According the theory, personality develops during childhood and is shaped through a series of psychosexual stages oral, anal, phallic, and genital. Each psychosexual stage conflicts with the id, which is a person’s biological urges and superego, which determine their social and moral conscious. A good example of this theory can come from the show Wilfred, a show about a very depressed man who has an imaginary friend that looks like a man in a dog costume. While everyone else in the show sees Wilfred as a regular dog, the main character, Ryan sees Wilfred as a man dressed up as a dog that tries to help him become a happier person. Wilfred is Ryan’s id, he does what he wants when he wants without thinking and hardly ever considers of the reproductions. Ryan represents both the ego and superego, he holds himself to a certain moral standard and usually argues with Wilfred on what they should be doing together. When Wilfred wants to do something dangerous like steal a marijuana plant from Ryan’s neighbor, Ryan stops to consider what could happen and tries to argue that stealing is wrong. In the end Ryan is the one that stole the plants. Since Wilfred is just a figment of his imagination, in reality Ryan is having an internal conflict between all three of his components that make him who he is. Just like psychoanalytic theory explains, these conflicts are what determine what kind of person you become.