PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL THEORY Application of the free association method and accompanying technique led Freud to his three most important conclusions.
1. The Unconscious.—The first was the demonstration not only that many mental processes are unconscious, i.e., both un conscious in themselves and completely unknown to consciousness, but also that they could be rendered accessible. The absolute in accessibility of these processes to consciousness, apart from the use of the psycho-analytic method, differentiates the unconscious proper from the subconscious processes mentioned earlier. Two other features of it also emerged immediately. One was the dy namic nature of unconscious processes; that is, they are not merely dormant material but are constantly exercising pressure which actively influences conscious thinking and behaviour. The other was concerned with the genetic point of view, for it was shown that a number of mental acts of various kinds which had been thought to originate in consciousness are really derivatives of deeper, unconscious processes. This, indeed, appears to hold good for all conscious processes except possibly simple responses to external stimuli (perception). The unconscious processes them selves were seen to be essentially expressions of the instinctual life, so that, as might have been expected biologically, the in stincts proved to be the foundation of all mental life, the latter being an extraordinarily elaborate manifestation of impulses de rived from these and interactions between one set and another.
These discoveries have an important bearing on the doctrine of free will, for they greatly extend the field of scientific deter minism. Indeed, the whole work is based on the assumption that causeless phenomena do not exist and this assumption is amply confirmed by demonstrating in detail the actual causes of phenomena that were supposed to be due either to "chance" or to "free will," i.e., to be causeless. The conception of free will, however, receives a fresh signification. While it is believed that all thought and conduct are determined by pre-existing factors, there is nevertheless an important difference between that which is automatically determined by unconscious ones and that where consciousness plays a larger part. The practical difference is that in the former case the possible responses to a given situa tion are much fewer, whereas in the latter they are both more varied and more likely to be adjusted to the actual possibilities in the outer world. It is the difference between the fixed and un varying response of an insect and the freer adaptation of a higher animal; it is the latter that, when highly developed, gives rise to the conscious feeling of free choice.
It is found that the mental processes of the unconscious proper differ from those we are familiar with in many respects besides the obvious one of not being accompanied by consciousness. To begin with, they are regulated throughout by what is called the pleasure-pain principle ; the only consideration that matters is the diminution of pain (in its widest sense; including all forms of dis comfort) and the pleasurable gratification of various impulses. As we know, this simple rule is often subordinated in conscious ness to more complex considerations; an immediate gratification is often postponed or abandoned in favour of a distant interest of the individual or of some one he cares for. This is expressed by saying that in the more conscious layers of the mind the prim itive pleasure-pain principle has been evolved into the reality principle. In the unconscious the freedom of association is far greater than in consciousness ; ideas that have only a slight re semblance are brought together or even fused into one, the feeling or significance attaching to one readily passes over to the other, and so on. This ease with which "displacement," as it is termed, occurs results in one idea often serving as a representative of an other and is at the basis of the extraordinary part played by sym bolism in connection with unconscious processes. The idea of time does not exist in the unconscious ; similar events or ideas that may logically be separated from one another by many years are simply telescoped together as though they happened at the same moment.
2. Repression and Conflict.—By the concept of repression Freud solved the great riddle of mental dissociation which had baffled previous investigators. He came to it quite empirically. Observing that his efforts to penetrate into the deeper layers of the mind—for example, to recover lost memories—regularly met with an opposition which cost an active effort to overcome, and that this opposition or "resistance," as he called it, was always strongest just as an important part of the unconscious was being approached, he conceived the idea that the force thus exercised must be the very same force that had previously kept the uncon scious thoughts from becoming conscious. There must therefore be some agency within the mind that automatically acts as an ac tive barrier, fulfilling the functions of a censorship, and both pre vents any spontaneous tendency on the part of the unconscious processes to become conscious and obstructs any effort from without to reach them.
Resistance is a phenomenon that can be observed, repression is an inference. But this inference has been extensively confirmed by careful unravelling of the relations between conscious and unconscious processes, and in addition much has been learned about the nature and functions of the mental agency in question. Repression may be defined as a striving of a given group of agencies in the mind to keep certain mental processes from con sciousness ; the processes in question may once have been con scious or, which is true of the most important ones, may never have been. Conversely, unconscious processes may be defined as those which are incapable of becoming conscious. All those which are so capable, however, do not necessarily become conscious; their capacity is a potential one. Only a relatively small number are conscious at a given moment ; the others are called "precon scious" and there is also a slight barrier, which, however, can be overcome in many ways, between the preconscious and conscious ness. The preconscious roughly corresponds with what we con sidered earlier under the name of subconscious.
What has been indicated here is a doctrine of conflict within the mind, a conflict the very existence of wilich is unknown to the subject. It is between two sides of the total personality, between what is called the ego on one side and various repressed impulses on the other. The ego, which of course includes the conscious with its sense of "self," is a relatively consistent unity, but it is essential to realize that part of it also is unconscious, f or its roots, so to speak, extend below the threshold of conscious ness. This unconscious ego has to be distinguished carefully from what we have hitherto been referring to as the unconscious proper, but which should more correctly be termed the repressed un conscious. It is thus more accurate to say that the conflict is between the ego and the repressed than between consciousness and the unconscious, though the two statements overlap to a con siderable extent. The nature of the conflict is essentially a moral one. The ego, from which the repressions emanate, condemns and repudiates various internal impulses on moral or aesthetic grounds. This is not an act of judgment, as might be supposed from this statement, but an automatic avoidance which is more in the nature of "flight from" and which indeed probably orig inated in the instinct of fear. Incompatibility is thus the secret of dissociation. To defend itself against the demands for grati fication on the part of various primitive impulses the ego resorts to the flight mechanism of repression. It is the innumerable f orms of failure in this mechanism that provide the only way whereby the unconscious can be investigated, hence the enormous im portance attaching to abnormal psychology.
The circumstance that sexuality in childhood has been so ex tensively overlooked and even denied is to be ascribed to the powerful repressions that occur early in life 'in connection with it. Freud interestingly correlates with this occurrence the mys terious loss of childhood memories that is so general. As the same factors operate throughout life, adults are prone to ignore or discount the numerous sexual manifestations to be observed during childhood. When these cannot be quite ignored they are automatically treated as sexual misdemeanours, but they are simply called "naughty habits," and the sexual nature of them is not consciously recognized. This is assisted by the fact, inev itable in the nature of the case before the reproductive function is properly established, that the manifestations are mostly of what would in an adult be termed a perverse kind, i.e., they are acts that deviate from the final goal of the instinct. The puzzling per versions of the instinct met with in adults can be shown to be little more than the persistence, often in a somewhat altered guise, of the normal manifestations of childhood.
The periods at which the two developments in question take place are the first four or five years of life and the four or five years following puberty respectively. In the former period the development runs through a prescribed course, naturally with in finite individual variations, and the interesting point is that the same course is then repeated, on a correspondingly modified plane, when the time comes for the second period of development. This means that any particular feature in the first period, an arrest of development at one stage or a peculiar variation at another, will inevitably be repeated in the second period and will, of course, leave its trace for life. Between the two lies the so-called "latency period" during which sexual manifestations play a subordinate part and in any event do not undergo any development.
Genetic investigation of the sexual instinct traces its roots back to infancy itself. It is here characterized by leading at first no independent existence, being parasitic on the great life-preserv ing instincts. Thus its first manifestations are to be seen in con nection with sucking activities prolonged far beyond the actual need for nourishment and occurring in respect of objects quite un connected with nourishment. The sexual nature of these acces sory acts, with their later manifestations of kissing, thumb-suck ing and nail-biting, is not simply inferred from observation of them, but can be amply demonstrated by the unravelling of their numerous derivatives. The interests aroused in connection with the mouth, the so-called "oral" stage of development, extend later to other bodily functions, notably those of excretion. This alimentary or pre-genital stage thus precedes that in which con centration takes place in the genital organs proper, though some degree of genital activity, e.g., what is known as infantile mas turbation, occurs from a very early age.
The first period of development may also be regarded, not only from the point of view of the bodily areas concerned, but from that of the goal or object of the impulse. It is evident that to begin with this is purely concerned with the child's own body and sensations, the "auto-erotic" stage. In the next, or "narcissistic" stage, the child becomes conscious of itself as distinct from the outer world and takes itself as its first love object. Soon, however, its interests, curiosities and needs are aroused in connection with the environment, and here the other members of the family play a preponderating part. It is then that is generated the infantile conflict over incest on the solution of which will depend so much of the later character and capacities. The condemnation, and con sequent repression, of sexuality at this age is almost absolute and appears to arise from internal as well as external sources. All the unconscious conflicts to be observed at various ages and in various spheres are radiations from the central conflict over infantile sexuality and the kernel of this is its incestuous nature. Endless reactions, tendencies and traits of character in later life can be shown to have originated in repudiation of incest, and there is much reason for supposing that this was the historical origin of morality and religion in the individual and the race.
The sexual instinct is not altogether set from the first in the direction of the opposite sex. On the contrary, the evidence would make it seem necessary to assume a congenital bisexuality. This complicates the original situation in regard to the parents. In addition to the normal attitude of attraction towards the parent of the opposite sex with jealousy of the other parent, the classical "Oedipus complex," there would appear to be always present more or less active indications of the opposite, the inverted Oedi pus complex. The latter may become abnormally developed as a result of flight from what was originally the normal.
There is always intense repression of the early incestuous trends. Indeed, this repression is the centre and prototype of all later ones. The exact factors bringing it about are somewhat obscure, especially the relative importance of internal (inherited) and external ones. It is at all events certain that the process is connected with intense fear and guilt. The fear would seem to be essentially that of damage to the genital organs, but whether this arises purely in terms of punishment is not yet clear. The guilt, which is in large part an elaborated product of fear, be comes later what we described above as the super-ego, the critical faculty which gives rise to, among other things, the normal con science. The super-ego, which embodies the image of the parents, may thus be termed the heir of the Oedipus complex. The sexual and hostile attitudes towards the parents are renounced to a greater or lesser extent, the child identifies itself with its con ception of the parents and so incorporates into itself their images.
A small part of these happenings is sometimes conscious and the careful observer may discover indications of this in the child's conduct, but the essential part is certainly throughout uncon scious. The work done in the latter respect even at the ages of two and three years old, gives unequivocal proof that the infer ences drawn from studies of adults were correct. Melanie Klein has evolved a special technique for the analysis of young children. It is thought that these early unconscious conflicts, or rather the way in which the child deals with them are of vast importance for its whole future life. Psychoanalysis makes it likely that the fundamentals of character are permanently set by the age of four or five. The possible outcomes of the conflicts, which are, of course, infinite in number, may be grouped under four headings.