Psychology › Section K · Personality › Topic K.2
Freud and the psychodynamic perspective
Sigmund Freud built the first grand theory of personality: a mind divided against itself, shaped by hidden urges and early childhood. His ideas changed Western culture, but most of his specific claims have not survived scientific testing, so this topic teaches both what he said and how well it holds up.
In this topic
- A doctor and the talking cure
- Levels of awareness
- Id, ego and superego
- Defence mechanisms
- Worked example: naming the defence
- The psychosexual stages
- The phallic stage and its critics
- The evidence problem
- Worked example: testing a Freudian claim
- What has survived
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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