SIGMUND FREUD

THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

Freud believed that the mind was divided into three parts: THE PRECONSCIOUS, CONSCIOUS, and UNCONSCIOUS MINDS (Freud,1904). While no one really disagreed with the idea of a conscious mind in which one's current awareness exist, or even of a preconscious mind containing memories, information, and events of which one can easily become aware, the unconscious mind (also called "the unconscious") was the real departure for professionals of Freud's day. Freud theorized that there is a part of the mind that remains hidden at all times, surfacing only in symbolic form in dreams and in some of the behavior people engage in without knowing why they have done so. Even when a person makes a determined effort to bring a memory out of the unconscious mind, it will not appear directly, according to Freud. Freud believed that the unconscious mind was the most important determining factor in human behavior and personality.

This iceberg represents the three levels of the mind. The part of the iceberg visible above the surface is the conscious mind. Just below the surface is the preconscious mind, everything that is not yet part of the conscious mind. Hidden deep below the surface is the unconscious mind, feelings, memories, thought, and urges that cannot be easily brought into consciousness. While two of the three parts of the personality (ego and superego) exist at all three levels of awareness, the id is completely in the unconscious mind.

THE DIVISIONS OF THE PERSONALITY

Freud believed, based on observations of his patients, that personality itself could be divided into three parts, each existing at one or more levels of conscious awareness. The way these three parts of the personality develop and interact with one another became the heart of his theory.