What is a Freudian slip? Well, before we offer a definition, perhaps by way of introduction (or an introduction of sorts), here’s a joke: ‘What’s a Freudian slip? It’s when you say one thing and mean your mother.’ We never said it would be a good joke. This joke, such […]
Here’s a pub quiz question for you. Who came up with the idea of the ‘unconscious’? Perhaps, lest anyone fears a trap, we should make it a little easier. Which German came up with the idea of the unconscious mind? Not Sigmund Freud, of course, who was Austrian rather than […]
What is the superego? Previously, we’ve introduced the id and the concept of the ego as Freud formulated them in psychoanalysis. But the superego is a little different from both. How we can best define the superego and its function is something that becomes easier if we first summarise or […]
Put simply and summarised in one sentence, the Oedipus complex is the phenomenon whereby a very young child is attracted to its mother and becomes jealous of its father, whom the child regards as its rival for the mother’s affection. In summary, the Oedipus complex is about the child’s attachment […]
What is the ego? We know the term ‘ego’ in extended use refers to a person’s sense of self (often inflated or exaggerated, as in the term ‘egotism’ or ‘egotistical’). But in Freudian psychoanalysis, developed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the term ‘ego’ has a more specific meaning. Freud defined the […]