Psychoanalytic Theory
Many of us have experienced what is
commonly referred to as a Freudian
slip. These misstatements are believed to reveal underlying,
unconscious thoughts or feelings. Consider this example:
James has just started a new relationship with a
woman he met at school. While talking to her one afternoon, he accidentally
calls her by his ex-girlfriend's name.
If you were in this situation, how would you
explain this mistake? Many of us might blame the slip on distraction or
describe it as a simple accident. However, a psychoanalytic theorist might tell
you that this is much more than a random accident. The psychoanalytic view
holds that there are inner forces outside of your awareness that are directing
your behavior. For example, a psychoanalyst might say that James misspoke due
to unresolved feelings for his ex or perhaps because of misgivings about his
new relationship.
The founder of psychoanalytic theory
was Sigmund
Freud. While his theories were considered shocking at the time and
continue to create debate and controversy, his work had a profound influence on
a number of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, anthropology,
literature, and art.
The term psychoanalysis is
used to refer to many aspects of Freud’s work and research, including Freudian
therapy and the research methodology he used to develop his theories. Freud
relied heavily upon his observations and case studies of his patients when he
formed his theory of personality development.
Before we can understand Freud's theory of
personality, we must first understand his view of how the mind is organized.
According to Freud, the mind can be divided into
two main parts:
1.
The conscious mind includes
everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental processing
that we can think and talk about rationally. A part of this includes our
memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily
at any time and brought into our awareness. Freud called this ordinary memory
the preconscious.
2.
The unconscious mind is
a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our
conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable
or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to
Freud, the unconscious continues to influence our behavior and experience, even
though we are unaware of these underlying influences.
Source : http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/consciousuncon.htm
The
story of a little place off the Edgware Road is about Craven who had been
haunted by his dreams of dead bodies that does not decay and will rise again
and walk in the world like a normal person. He had this same dream for three
times. Craven means coward. From our discussion, we agreed that actually Craven
unconscious mind is affected by his conscious mind. In the psychoanalytic theory,
we can say that Craven had this experience of seeing people nearly murdered but
he did not tell anybody or call the police. He was traumatized by this experience,
so he always thinks about it and dream about it many times. So, when he walked
through the Edgware Road, his fear came, and he imagined that he saw the dead
man that he saw have been killed, talking to him. He called the police immediately
because he knows that it is the right thing to do from the first place. His unconscious
mind encourages him to do so. We can conclude here that he acts this way not
because he is mentally ill, but he had this experience before, so he tries to
do the right thing unconsciously.
The police
had found the murderer but they didn’t find the dead body because we believe
that he hid the dead bodies from the world and also hide it from his sight.
This is because he is traumatized from seeing a dead body and it had the
connection with the dream that haunted him and the blood stain on his hand show
that he is the one who hides the dead body. There is no specific opinion or
view about the story because it can be interpreted from various kind of views
and theories.
