A Primer of Freudian Psychology Research Paper

A Primer of Freudian Psychology by Calvin Hall discusses Freud’s theories. The simple and clear language of Hall makes it easy for general reader to understand Freudian psychology. Hall explains Freud personality theories. According to Freud personality consists of three parts: id, the ego and the superego. The three parts of personality form mental health. If three parts do not interacts properly, mental illness appear, causing malfunction of personality. The function of id or so-called “pleasure principle” is to reduce nervous tension and stress. The function of the ego or “reality principle” is to do an actions and activities in order to keep up proper mental health. The superego forgoes reality and goes for the ideal. The interaction and overlap of three functions of personality allows developing and maintaining healthy personality. The complexity of human being nature allows examining the other factors which influence personality such as surrounding physical world. Psychic energy according to Freud is dynamic that thinks and perceives. Hall also talk about the instincts, conscious and unconscious. According to Hall, anxiety disorder, the most common treated disease, is an important part of functioning personality. Anxiety is classified into three types: reality, neurotic and moral anxiety. The tree types of anxiety are different by their source and equal by severity. Reality anxiety is from physical world. Neurotic comes from fear (fear of ego), while moral (fear of superego) appears from action or thought that contradicts the standard. The reason of anxiety is not known by the person. Hall claims that personality changes and develops during the whole life. With knowledge and wisdom, better skills used to cope with the situations are developed. According to Freud there are five types of such skills: natural, maturation, painful external experience, painful internal conflict and past anxiety. Freud believed that a healthy mentality exists in stable personality. The stable state is achieved by resolving conflicts in the mind.