The Edexcel Specification expects you to understand Freud's theories as an alternative to the biological theory of aggression. Parts of this page that are essential for that are marked with the red Freud icon

The Specification also expects you to understand Freud's theories as an alternative to the biological explanation of development. Parts of this page that are essential for that are marked with the blue Freud icon

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY OF PERSONALITY

Freud's general theory is explained on another page (link below) but this page will add some extra details to show how his ideas apply to individual differences like personality.

Freud's Psychodynamic Theory in general

If you had asked Freud to explain personality, he might have replied, "Which personality?" According to Freud, we have several personalities and they are at war (which is kind of what "psychodynamic" means).

THE ICEBERG MODEL OF THE PSYCHE

Freud came up with a brand new way of looking at the human mind or psyche. He suggested that the conscious mind is like the part of the iceberg above the water. This is the part we call "me, myself" and it contains the thoughts we know we are thinking and the memories we choose to recall.

However, the conscious mind is only a small part of the psyche. Just like an iceberg, most of the mind is out of sight and unknown.

This means that we do not really understand our own personalities. What we usually think of as "my personality" is just the conscious mind - and that's not very much at all.

This is also bad news for anyone trying to measure personality with questionnaires. If people don't know their own thoughts, memories and desires, how can they tell you about their personality?

From a Freudian perspective, working out someone's personality from what you know about their conscious mind is a bit like working out the plot of a book from the titles of the first four chapters. For example, try  the one on the right...

Which book?

1. A long-expected party
2. Shadow of the past
3. Three is company
4. A short-cut to mushrooms

(You'll find the answer further down the page)

As part of the Biological explanation of Individual Differences, you study Hans Eysenck's PEN Model of Personality. However, Eysenck's questionnaires like the EPI and the EPQ only ever examine the conscious mind since that is the part of the mind we are aware of. Unfortunately, the conscious mind gives us little or no real information about our actual feelings, motives or desires and only contains a fraction of our memories (and not the most interesting ones either!).

What we really need to examine is the unconscious mind. Unfortunately, that is inaccessible. Freud is quite clear that the conscious mind can never have any direct knowledge of the unconscious.

Fortunately, we have the pre-conscious mind which is the part of the mind that contains remembered dreams, feelings that haven't been put into words and memories that can be recalled without help.

Since the pre-conscious is as close to the unconscious as we are ever going to get, this is what Freud says we must study. Therefore, his approach to personality involves studying dreams and childhood memories.

The unconscious mind is a mystery, but there are sometimes clues about what it contains:

• Dreams may contain unconscious wishes or fears. However, these unconscious thoughts always turn up in disguised or symbolic form. Dreams have to be interpreted by a trained psychoanalyst.
• "Slips of the tongue" (or parapraxes) may reveal our unconscious wishes, because we accidentally say what we really (unconsciously) mean rather than what we intended (consciously) to say. These are often called "Freudian slips". A trained psychoanalyst will notice these and help the patient interpret them.

Still wondering about those chapters?

It's The Lord Of The Rings

THREE PARTS OF THE PSYCHE

It's bad enough that most of our personality is hidden in the mysterious unconscious. But it's worse than that, because our personality is split into three warring parts.

The id

The id is the most basic part of the psyche. It consists of urges and desires and exists entirely in the unconscious mind.

The id is based on "the pleasure principle" and this means that different people's ids aren't very distinctive. We all want the same things: food and physical comfort, warmth and security. On the level of the id, we hardly have any personality at all.

However, some people seem to have a strong id and others a weak id. Strong ids are very driven; they have big needs but they are also very energetic and motivated. Weak ids are more passive.

Dividing people into strong or weak ids is a very basic sort of individual difference. In contrast, Eysenck's PEN Model is much more sophisticated, because it looks at the sort of things we are motivated to seek out. But Freud considers that too, later on.

The id resembles the function of the limbic system in the human brain: this is the brain's "emotion centre" and the source of our appetites, fear and aggression.

The ego

The ego is the second part of the psyche and exists within the conscious mind. It is based on "the reality principle" and it studies the world and makes decisions on behalf of the id..

The ego resembles the function of the pre-frontal cortex in the human brain: this is the brain's "decision-making centre" which handles messages from the limbic system and decides how to act on them.

The ego is what we think of as "my personality" but, especially if the id is strong, the ego may not be in charge. Freud compares this to a horse (the id) which goes where it wants to go, not where the rider (the ego) wants it to go. In fact, the ego may have little control over the id at all.  

As with the id, there are strong egos and weak egos, just as their are good and bad riders.

One might compare the relation of the ego to the id with that between a rider and his horse. The horse provides the locomotor energy, and the rider has the prerogative of determining the goal and of guiding the movements of his powerful mount towards it. But all too often in the relations between the ego and the id we find a picture of the less ideal situation in which the rider is obliged to guide his horse in the direction in which it itself wants to go - Sigmund Freud (1932)

The ego has a powerful bargaining chip for dealing with the id. This is deferred gratification. Deferred gratification involves putting off pleasure until later, or enjoying a smaller pleasure in the short term for the sake of a larger pleasure later on.

There is a link here to Eysenck's PEN Model. Highly neurotic (N) personalities have difficulty controlling their emotions and working towards long-term goals. This may be because they have a very strong id or a very weak ego or both.

The super-ego

The final part of the psyche to develop is the super-ego which is based on "the morality principle" and acts as "the voice of conscience". When the super-ego objects to the ego's thoughts, it generates guilt and shame.

Eysenck explicitly links his psychoticism (P) trait to the concept of the super-ego. High-P individuals have a weak super-ego and do not feel shame or guilt which is why they can be callous and impulsive.

I don't think Eysenck quite grasped Freud's idea here though. A weak super-ego won't be much of a conscience, but it won't lead you to do anything horrible unless you've got a strong id as well. A strong super-ego is much more likely to make you "act out" and behave badly, as we shall see.

It's not a super eagle!

Freud and Eysenck both seem to be reducing personality to three simple traits. For Eysenck it's P, E and N; for Freud it's id, ego and super-ego.

Individuals can be high in one trait but low in another and this is mostly biological (nature). For example, you could be a neurotic extrovert or someone with a strong id and a weak ego.

However, Freud's explanation of personality becomes much more sophisticated with the introduction of defence mechanisms.

DEFENCE MECHANISMS

Freud insists that the personality is at war with itself. The id has an insatiable demand for pleasure and the super-ego inflicts shame and guilt if the ego acts on those demands. The result is frustration.

The ego solves this problem by creating defence mechanisms. Defence mechanisms are behaviours or beliefs that give the id what it wants (or something close to it) without attracting the fury of the super-ego. The stronger your super-ego, the more defence mechanisms you're going to need.

There are lots of defence mechanisms, but here are five that are quite common and may link to Eysenck's PEN Model of personality:

• Repression: the id's demands can be repressed back into the unconscious mind. Repressed people have something 'missing' about them (like a sex drive or a sense of humour). This may be linked to people who score very low on N, because extreme stability is a lack of emotional reaction to things.
  
• Denial: the id's feelings and urges are acted upon, but the conscious mind refuses to admit what they are; an example might be someone who won't admit their sexual feelings ("we're just friends!" or "it's only banter!"). This may be linked to high P (since denial of feelings often leads to cruelty) or low N (same as repression).
  
• Projection: the id's feelings are denied and the super-ego's hostility is directed towards other people who seem to be acting on those same feelings. Projective people are very judgmental about other people. This might be linked to high N (mood swings) or high P (cruelty, lack of empathy).
  
• Displacement: the id's urges are acted upon, but they are directed at a different target. Displacement often involves obsessions. This often links with high E (since a common way to displace feelings is by seeking out social situations where you can discharge those feelings).
• Sublimation: the id's urges are acted upon, but are transformed into something socially acceptable, such as dance, art or work; the sublimated behaviour may not resemble the original unconscious desire but the connection might come out in Freudian slips. This will link with low P but high E (since sublimation is always socially acceptable).
  

Trying to spot your own defence mechanisms is fun. Trying to spot your friends' and teachers' defence mechanisms is even more fun! But Freud makes it clear that this is very difficult without the help of a trained psychoanalyst.

This is what personality boils down to, according to the psychodynamic theory:

Grim thought?

If your defence mechanisms are making you miserable (because, say, they involve you taking drugs or being an insufferable jerk to everyone you meet), then there's some good news and some bad news from Dr Freud:

• The bad news is that there's no living without defence mechanisms. The id, ego and super-ego will never see eye-to-eye. According to psychodynamic theory, the conflict between desire and shame is part of the human condition.
  
• The good news is that Freud has a therapy called psychoanalysis which (he says) can help you understand why you need these defence mechanisms and give you some control over them instead of them controlling you.

12-minute video outlining Freud's ideas and introducing Hermann Rorschach and his ink blots, Carl Jung and Freud's followers!

THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX

You don't need to know about the Oedipus Complex for the Exam, but I'll mention it here for those who want to study more widely.

Freud offers an even MORE sophisticated twist on personality. He suggests that the formation of the super-ego (around about age 5) is a very traumatic change for a child. It involves an emotional crisis that Freud calls the Oedipus Complex.

​During the Oedipus Complex, each child struggles with their sexual desire for their opposite-sex parent and the feelings of jealousy and fear this produces over their same-sex parent. Children resolve the Oedipus Complex with two defence mechanisms:

• They repress the original feelings
• They identify with their same-sex parent
  

Repression is the reason why you don't remember your own Oedipus Complex. Identification is where you get your gender roles from.

The Oedipus Complex is a particularly difficult time and most children don't resolve this conflict perfectly. They remain fixated on one parent or both and the original desire and jealousy/fear keep resurfacing through their lives, but get displaced, projected or sublimated instead.

2-minute video  describing Freud's discovery of the Oedipus Complex

Freud's theory of the Oedipus Complex was explored in his famous case study of Little Hans, the boy with a phobia of horses. You may wish to study this because it gives a very different explanation of phobias from the one proposed by Watson & Rayner for Little Albert's fear of rats.

Summary of the Little Hans case study

APPLYING THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY TO REAL LIFE
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Addiction

Most drug-users take recreational drugs because they are pleasurable (at least, in their early stages). The Biological Approach explains this through reward pathways in the brain. Psychodynamic theory identifies the id as the part of the psyche that craves pleasure.

However, drugs are dangerous and illegal, so the ego will usually resist giving in to the id on this. The ego will use deferred gratification and offer the id other, less risky pleasures, like a nice walk in the fresh air or even less risky, more socially-acceptable drugs (like nicotine, rather than crack).  But what if the ego is weak and the id is strong?

The super-ego may interfere with the ego's plans to visit your drug-dealer. It will fill you with shame and horror. But what if the super-ego is weak? Or what if the shame and horror is so strong that drugs are the only way you can block the super-ego out?

Defence mechanisms give even more ingenious explanations of drug abuse.

Repression enables us to act "normal" but it is an immense drain on  the psyche. Repressed people may turn to drugs as an "escape" - especially if they can do the things on drugs that they would feel guilty about normally. Then they can use denial afterwards. ("Me? Gay? That's just the drugs!").

Displacement can cause us to take the frustration we feel from not being able to act on our feelings and "take it out" on others. Taking drugs often hurts our family and loved ones, which might be (unconsciously) what we want to do.

Sublimation involves turning your unconscious problems into something productive, like work, art or sport. Drugs aren't productive but in some social circles there's the idea that drugs "unlock creativity" so people trying to sublimate their problems might be attracted to drugs.

There's not much evidence that drugs really unlock creativity. Even if you think they did wonders for Kurt Cobain you must remember (1) the poor man shot himself, and (2) his music might have been even better if he hadn't spent so much time on drugs.

Projective Tests

Psychodynamic theory needs a different approach from most other psychological theories because you can't study the unconscious mind with brain imaging techniques and you can't ask people about their unconscious thoughts with questionnaires. In other words, you can't use psychometric tests.

​Projective tests are the different approach. These tests give the respond a chance to "project" feelings from their pre-conscious mind in a way that doesn't allow the conscious mind too much chance to interfere. The idea is, the results give a trained psychoanalyst clues about the unconscious mind behind the scenes.

Rorschach's 10 inkblots, followed by the world's funniest Rorschach cartoon

The first projective test was the inkblot test created by Hermann Rorschach in 1921. This test involves showing the respondent inkblots and the respondent describes what the inkblots remind them of. The answers are supposed to reveal conflicts, desires and defence mechanisms.

​Rorschach never intended the inkblots to be a personality test; he thought they could diagnose schizophrenia. But by the 1960s they were the world's most popular projective test.

Another test is word association, which was developed by Freud's follower Carl Jung. In word association, the psychoanalyst suggests words and the respondent gives the first word that they think of in reply. Some of the words the psychoanalyst offers are specially chosen to provoke interesting responses ("mother", "abuse", "death").

​Word association is based on the same idea as the "Freudian slip" (parapraxis), where the word you actually use is more meaningful than the word you would have​ used if you had thought about it.

Monty Python's "Word Association Football" sketch, in which a lecture on word association turns into word association. Can you follow it?

You can see that Freud's explanations of personality go much deeper than the biological explanations in terms of genes and brain structure: they focus on feelings, relationships and our sense of who we are. But is there any truth to them?

EVALUATING THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY
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Credibility

Freud's broad theories of personality have been very influential. We often talk of people having "unconscious reasons" for doing things and phrases like "living in denial" or "being repressed" are so common that it's clear Freud's ideas about defence mechanisms have become part of ordinary thinking.

Ordinary experience also gives us examples of people not understanding their own personalities. We all know someone who is blind to just how rude they are or has a mistaken belief that they are funny or irresistible to the opposite sex or certain to pass Psychology. There's also the example of people who are romantically attracted to someone without realising it. Instead, they express their attraction strangely, by teasing or squabbling. Bystanders may see the attraction for what it is: "Get a room!" they say.

In Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", Beatrice and Benedick squabble and insult each other but everyone else can see they are attracted to each other. Which other books, films & TV shows feature this sort of relationship?

Freud based his theories on psychoanalysing his patients. He also carried out a case study on one child (Little Hans). Finally, he psychoanalysed himself, studying his own dreams and childhood memories.

Freud conducted these case studies in a spirit of scientific detachment. He was studying troubling ideas about sex, incest, abuse and shame. Many of his insights went completely against the Christian values of his time and his own Jewish family background. However, he insisted on being non-judgmental about what he discovered. He created his own scientific terminology (libido, id, ego, defence mechanism)  rather than using the biased terminology of ordinary language (lust, sin, self-control, etc).

Objections

Despite his attempts to be scientific, Freud's theories are usually criticised for not being scientific enough.

Freud depends on case studies and gathering qualitative data. There is very little quantitative data in any of his research. This makes his findings hard to analyse and dependent upon his own interpretation. Other psychologists have offered very different interpretations of what was wrong with Freud's patients. They may have had biological problems (like Phineas Gage's brain injury which might have caused his personality to change) or their behaviour might have been learned from role models or conditioning. Little Hans' phobia of horses could be explained using classical conditioning - the way Watson & Rayner created Little Albert's fear of white rats.

Because Freud knew his patients, some critics argue he could never be truly objective about them. Nor could he be objective when it came to psychoanalysing himself.

Differences

The Edexcel Specification expects you to be able to compare and contrast the biological explanation of individual differences with the psychodynamic explanation.

The biological view of individual differences supports the nativist (nature) view of personality. On the other hand, the psychodynamic view supports nature and nurture.

According to Freud, we are born with a psyche that has certain in-built drives and desires. However, Freud also argues that we are shaped by our childhood experiences, especially our relationship with our parents. This nurture decides which defence mechanisms we adopt and they go on to decide our personality.

Some biological psychologists also support nature and nurture. They would say that genes only give us predispositions but that experiences later in life decide whether we act on those predispositions or whether they stay hidden inside us. For example, Hans Eysenck argues that personality is 75% biological but 25% environment.

Both approaches link personality to similar structures. The limbic system functions rather like the id because it generates basic desires and emotions. The pre-frontal cortex functions like the ego because it makes the decision what to do about the emotions generated by the limbic system. The right hemisphere houses the sort of non-verbal emotional intelligence that Freud locates in the unconscious mind.

Freud and Eysenck both group personality into arrangements of three. Freud divides the personality into id, ego and super-ego; Eysenck divides it into P, E and N, based on hormones, the ARAS and the ANS.

However, there's nothing in Eysenck's theory like Freud's defence mechanisms and no acknowledgement that there may be parts of our personality that we ourselves are not aware of.

A big difference is the scientific status of the two approaches. Freud tried to be objective, but his theory depends very heavily on case studies, qualitative data and his own interpretations. The biological approach also uses case studies (such as Phineas Gage) but it uses other more objective methods too, such as psychometric tests and brain imaging techniques. For example, Eysenck's theories have been supported by using questionnaires like the EPQ-R and MRI scans.

Applications

The main application of Freud's theories is the therapy called psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis can help treat aggression by exploring the unconscious causes of personality. The psychoanalyst helps the client explore their own dreams and childhood memories and work out what they mean. Hopefully, the client will learn about the defence mechanisms they are using and the unresolved conflicts going on in their unconscious. They may come to self-knowledge.

A client will normally visit a psychoanalyst once a week and the session will last for about an hour. In stereotypes, the client lies on a couch and talks while, out of sight, the psychoanalyst takes notes. In real therapy, client and psychoanalyst normally sit on chairs facing each other.

Psychoanalysis is not a miracle cure, but it aims to make the client's emotions seem less confusing and frightening, producing a greater sense of acceptance and more self-control. Freud summed it up like this:

much will be gained if we succeed in transforming your hysterical misery into common unhappiness. With a mental life that has been restored to health, you will be better armed against that unhappiness - Sigmund Freud (1895)

A criticism of psychoanalysis is that it gives too much power to the psychoanalyst. This is because only the psychoanalyst is qualified to interpret your unconscious mind and tell you what you're really thinking and feeling.

Freud himself warned about this, describing a defence mechanism called transference, whereby the client falls in love with the psychoanalyst. One of Freud's female patients came to see him as the answer to all her problems and tried to kiss him. Freud remained detached!

Some critics have tried to change psychoanalysis to give more power to the client. Aaron Beck developed cognitive therapy based on the idea that people can understand their own psyche and only need a counselor for guidance and encouragement.

EXEMPLAR ESSAY
How to write an 8-mark answer

Evaluate the biological explanation of individual differences. In your evaluation you must make at least one comparison with the psychodynamic explanation of individual differences.  (8 marks)

• An 8-mark “evaluate” question awards 4 marks for describing individual differences from the biological perspective (AO1) and 4 marks for evaluation (AO2). You need a conclusion to get a mark in the top band (7-8 marks).
• ​Note: the question doesn't ask about "personality" because the Specification only states "individual differences". It's up to YOU to remember that this means personality.

Description
One example of individual differences is personality which is explained by Eysenck's PEN Model.
​Extroversion is a trait that measures how much stimulation your brain needs. Extrovert people need stimulation but introverts are easily over-stimulated and prefer quiet.
​Neuroticism measures how emotionally unstable you are. Neurotic people have mood swings and don't learn easily but stable personalities have more self-control.
​Psychoticism was the last trait Eysenck added in 1975. It measures impulsivity and aggression but also creativeness. People low in psychoticism may be empathic and inclined to follow rules.

Evaluation
Eysenck groups personality into 3 traits (P, E and N). Similarly, Freud groups personality into 3 structures (the id, ego and super-ego).
Eysenck's traits are linked to biological processes, such as E being linked to the brain's ARAS and N to the ANS. Freud's structures may also have links to brain structures, with the ego being in the frontal lobe and the id in the limbic system.
Freud and Eysenck both try to be scientific. Eysenck uses psychometric tests (like the EPQ) which gather quantitative data and Freud maintained a non-judgemental detachment in his case studies.
However, Eysenck's PEN Model has more scientific status since it is supported by brain imaging research  and statistical tests, whereas Freud gathered qualitative data than can be interpreted in different ways.

Conclusion
Freud offers a much deeper view of personality than Eysenck, including the idea that we may not know our own personalities. Eysenck assumes we do, which is why he created his personality questionnaires.

• Notice that for a 8-mark answer you don’t have to include everything about personality and the brain. I haven’t mentioned the other parts of the limbic system, testosterone or the case study of Phineas Gage. But it is a balanced answer - one third description, one third application and one third evaluation.
• I've made the evaluation section into four different comparisons. You don't need to do this. You only need one comparison; the other evaluation points could be the strengths and weaknesses of the biological view.