Psychology - Compare and Critically Evaluate Freud's Topographical and Structural Models of Personality

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Compare and Critically Evaluate Freud's Topographical and Structural Models of Personality - Exam Prep Essay

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[...] Now that both the topographical model and the structural model have been explained they can be compared. Both models are effectively separated into the conscious and unconscious parts of the psyche. The structural model provides more detail about the different parts, breaking it down further into the id, superego and ego, and what role they play in shaping our behaviours and personality. In both models the unconscious plays the most important role, as it is the part of the psyche that Freud is most interested in. [...]

[...] In conclusion, undeniably Freud's topographical and structural models of personality have had a huge impact on psychology as we know it today and Freud is able to provide some evidence in support of his models, using his case studies. However, there are several limitations to his models, that it would be beneficial to explore, so that ways of falsifying his theories could be found to give them more scientific merit. Yet despite these limitations, they are not of enough weight to completely dismiss the positive values of psychoanalysis and Freud's theories. [...]

[...] An example of this would be Freud's case study of Anna O. Anna O was diagnosed with hysteria by Freud, after she went to him and Breuer presenting with symptoms such as paralysis, hydrophobia and lethargy. Freud put Anna O under a state of hypnosis to bring her unconscious anxieties to the consciousness. Anna O revealed that she had experienced dreams where a snake had approached the bed of a person that she was caring for and she had said that she was paralysed and unable to protect the patient. [...]

[...] Compare and Critically Evaluate Freud's Topographical and Structural Models of Personality Sigmund Freud made major contributions to psychology by creating psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis explains personality as a dynamic process which is the result of conflict between different parts forming the psyche. Two of Freud's models of personality are the topographical model and the structural model, which will be compared in this essay, whilst how they contribute to personality will be discussed. Freud first proposed the topographical model in 1900, to understand how thoughts interact with the mind (Mitchell & Margaret, 1995). [...]

[...] Greenberg (1986) said that whilst Freud has over 100 cases, he only really presented 12. Therefore, it could be the case that he was only presenting what he wanted people to see in order to make his theory look better than it actually was. A further criticism is that Freud only presented findings from his own case studies and is therefore lacking empirical evidence to support his theories (Grünbaum, 1986). To expand on this Popper (1986) said that Freud's theories are not scientific and not falsifiable. [...]