Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Life of Sigmund Freud: The Man Behind Psychology

Freud was born into a Jewish family on May 6, 1856 in Moravian, Příbor, Austrian Empire (now known as the Czech Republic).  Growing up, he had two older half-brothers and six younger siblings.  Although the Freud family grew to be quite large, Sigmund remained his mother's favorite child.  The Freud family house had only four bedrooms for everyone to share, but Sigmund was given a bedroom to himself to study.  His parents recognized his natural ability to learn, and thus he became the "golden child".  When he was of age Freud entered Leopoldstädter Kommunal-Realgymnasium, an esteemed high school, where he graduated in 1873 with honors.  After high school, Freud enrolled in the University of Vienna.  There, he studied medicine and graduated at age 24.  Sigmund met his wife, Martha Bernays, at age tenty-six, and they became engaged two short months later.  The two went on to have six children, one of which being Anna, Sigmund's famous daughter.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Eros and Thanatos: Life and Death Drives

Eros- life drive; drive for survival, propagation, hunger, thirst, and sex.

Thanatos- death drive; drive to return to a state of calm, or an inorganic or dead state.


Freud defined the life and death drives by defining pleasure and unpleasure first.  Unpleasure refers to the increase of stimuli.  For example, excessive friction on the skin's surface produces a burning sensation or, the bombardment of visual stimuli amidst rush hour traffic produces anxiety.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, pleasure is defined as a decrease in stimuli.  For example, a calm environment the body enters after having been subjected to a hectic environment.  If pleasure increases as stimuli decrease, the ultimate pleasure would be zero stimulus, or death.