Freud and the conscience

In this video I explore Freudian beliefs about the conscience.

Freud and the conscience - transcript

Freud provided a developmental approach to the conscience which explained why people have different explanations of the conscience and use different moral reasoning. 

Freud first divided the human pshye into three sections to explain this: the Id, ego and the superego. 

The id is the innate part of us which has two main desires: sex and aggression. These are desires we are born with and provide most of the energy in human life. “We are programmed by instinctive psychic structures in the unconscious mind”

The ego is our conscious self: the part of us which is seen by the rest of the world and the part of us that tries to control the id. The ego is acquired it is not innate.

The Superego is what Freud believes is our conscience. It carries guilt from the anger and disapproval of other, forming a set of moral controls. This part is usually always in conflict with the id. For religious people Freud says this is the so called rejection from God and for non-religious people it is rejection from external authorities such as teachers, parents, government etc.

Strengths

• Explains why people have different moral beliefs and belief their conscience is  the voice of God.
• It makes sense and is fairly realistic understanding of our conscience
• His work provided the foundation for other developmental theorists such as Piaget and Kohlberg
• Explain why different things are acceptable in different societies

Weaknesses

• Can be seen to be too simple we can’t simply act in a certain way because of guilt
• To say we are motivated by sex and aggression makes us seem like animals and for many of us other things motivate us e.g. like getting a good  paying job and family
• The research his work is based on seems to be a small sample and many psychologist argue that children have other needs not sexual needs when they are between the ages of 3-6.