Difference between revisions of "Unconscious mind" - New World Encyclopedia

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For the physiological state of "being unconscious", as when knocked-out or asleep, see unconsciousness.

In psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious refers to that part of mental functioning of which the subject makes himself unaware. The psychoanalytic unconscious is similar to but not precisely the same as the popular notion of the subconscious.

For psychoanalysis, the unconscious does not include all of what is simply not conscious - it does not include e.g. motor skills - but rather, only what is actively repressed from conscious thought.

As defined by Sigmund Freud, the psyche is composed of different levels of consciousness, often

For Freud, the unconscious was a depository for socially unacceptable ideas, wishes or desires, traumatic memories, and painful emotions put out of mind by the mechanism of psychological repression. However, the contents did not necessarily have to be solely negative. In the psychoanalytic view, the unconscious is a force that can only be recognized by its effects - it expresses itself in the symptom.

At the present stage, there are still fundamental disagreements within psychology about the nature of the unconscious mind (if indeed it is considered to exist at all), whereas outside formal psychology a whole world of pop-psychological speculation has grown up in which the unconscious mind is held to have any number of properties and abilities, from animalistic and innocent, child-like aspects to savant-like, all-perceiving, mystical and occultic properties.

Pre-Freudian history of the idea

Although the idea of the unconscious is generally attributed to Freud, the notion of the unconscious originated in antiquity. The Romantic philosophers and writers helped to popularize the notion from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Leibniz, Schopenhauer, and later [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche] all developed ideas that foreshadowed the modern conception of the unconscious, as did writers such as Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson. Its more modern history is detailed in Henri F. Ellenberger's Discovery of the Unconscious (Basic Books, 1970).

Medical researchers also made important contributions. With the rise of industrialization, industrial accidents helped provide a curious background to Freud's "discovery" of the unconscious mind. Railway accidents in particular were significant, as doctors would often discover that some victims of these accidents with no organic trauma would nonetheless experience symptoms similar to those with physical wounds. This opened to door to lots of investigations and speculation about the nature of the unconscious mind. One such researcher was Jean-Marie Charcot, one of Freud's teachers and mentors. Charcot became interested in hysteria, as he noticed that his hysterical patients had symptoms that mimicked those of his epileptic patients. Based on that finding, he experimented with hypnosis, discovering that he could introduce symptoms and remove them through the use of the hypnotic trance. Freud studied with Charcot, becoming interested in the problem of hysteria.

Freud's view of the unconscious was influenced by his time spent at Charcot's clinic (1885-6), the Salpetriere, and his use of hypnosis on his patients to induce and remove hysterical symptoms. Freud confesses that "I received the profoundest impression of the possibility that there could be powerful mental processes which nevertheless remained hidden from the consciousness of men." (Autobiography, S.E. 20:17)

The Freudian unconscious

Freud does not have a singular theory of the unconscious. His views changed over time as his theories changed. In his early topographical theory, which dominated his view from roughly 1890 to 1920, the division of consciousness was tripartite. The three parts were designated as follows:

the waking consciousness
preconsciousness
the unconscious proper

However, early psychoanalytic theory was essentially dualistic. The preconscious refers to those ideas, memories, etc. that are not currently conscious, but which are capable of becoming conscious by merely turning our conscious attention to them. The conflict that drives Freud's early psychoanalytic theory is the one between consciousness and the unconscious, which is defined as that which is not capable of becoming conscious. For example, we don't have memories from our first few years in life because memories require some conceptual ability and linguistic ability that babies lack. Yet, according to Freud, events that happen in early childhood have an enormous influence on the development of the personality. Even more important are those ideas and desires or impulses that must be repressed. The Freudian unconscious is unavailable to consciousness due to repression. It exists as a product of repression.

Freud's theory of the personality is based on a system of cathexis and anti-cathexis, the libido. The libido seeks an object which releases the energy. A buildup of energy creates tension, creating anxiety. But not every release of tension is socially acceptable to in civilization. Some desires have to be repressed because they are socially unacceptable.

Repression exists in two forms, the primal repression and repression proper. The primal repression refers to the repression of the (male) child's Oedipal desire to possess the mother. This is the source of what Freud calls the incest taboo. According to Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex every (male) wants to possess his mother, but due to the demands of civilization expressed in the incest taboo, the Oedipal desire is repressed into the unconscious. In addition to this primal repression, which forms the basis of civilization, since society could not function were every male child to fulfill this desire, there are other socially unacceptable desires that must also be repressed. The function that allows this material to be repressed is the unconscious.

Nonetheless, the unconscious erupts into the conscious world, but in marginal ways, such as in dreams, slips of the tongue and etc. Freud referred to dreaming as the "royal road to the unconscious".

After the publication of Ego, Id and Superego Freud introduces his structural theory. According to this new theory, the personality is composed of these three aspects. The focus shifts from the split between the conscious and the unconscious, to the struggle between the ego, id and superego. Most of the aspects of the unconscious were folded into the id.

By 1895 Freud and Breuer, who were working on Studies in Hysteria together, came to the conclusion that the "strangulation of affect" was caused by three unconscious processes:

strong affect experienced during "hypnoid states." (Anna 0.)
inadequate conscious discharge of affect
ego defense mechanism against unwanted ideas (sexual)

Freud's concept was a more subtle and complex psychological theory than many. Consciousness, in Freud's topographical view (which was his first of several psychological models of the mind) was a relatively thin perceptual aspect of the mind, whereas the subconscious (frequently misused and confused with the unconscious) was that merely autonomic function of the brain. The unconscious was indeed considered by Freud throughout the evolution of his psychoanalytic theory a sentient force of will influenced by human drives and yet operating well below the perceptual conscious mind. Hidden, like the man behind the curtain in the "Wizard of Oz," the unconscious directs the thoughts and feelings of everyone, according to Freud. This unconscious mind is the primitive instinctual hangover we all suffer from and which we must overcome in a healthy way in order to become fully and normally developed, i.e., not neurotic or psychotic but merely unhappy (See Frank Sulloway's Freud, Biologist of the Mind, Basic Books, 1983).

In another of Freud's systematizations, the mind is divided into the conscious mind or Ego and two parts of the Unconscious: the Id or instincts and the Superego. Freud used the idea of the unconscious in order to explain certain kinds of neurotic behavior. (See psychoanalysis.)

Freud's theory of the unconscious was substantially transformed by some of his followers, among them Carl Jung and Jacques Lacan.

Jung's collective unconscious

According to Jung, the unconscious is made up of two layers. The top layer contains material which has been made unconscious artificially; that is, it is made up of elements of one's personal experiences, the personal unconscious. Underneath this layer, however, is the collective unconscious: an absolute unconscious that has nothing to do with personal experiences. Jung described this bottom layer as "a psychic activity which goes on independently of the conscious mind and is not dependent even on the upper layers of the unconscious—untouched, and perhaps untouchable—by personal experience" (Campbell, 1971). The difference in the way the unconscious was conceptualized by Jung and Freud is one of the more conspicuous differences between their psychologies, and had a major impact on the development of psychology as a discipline.

Jung considered the collective unconscious as the whole spiritual heritage of mankind's evolution born anew in the brain-structure of every individual. It can be considered as an immense depository of ancient wisdom. It contains archetypes, which are forms or symbols that are manifested by all people in all cultures.

Lacan's linguistic unconscious

According to Jacques Lacan's famous formulation, "the unconscious is structured like a language."

Lacan's theory is based on the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure. Saussure's linguistic theory focus on the synchronic, as opposed to the diachronic aspect of language, that is, on its system of discontinuity. According to this view, language is based on the differences in structure of the signifiers, that is, the word "cat" is based not on any intrinsic relationship between the word and the thing, but on the relationship of cat with other words, like "hat," "cot," etc.

If the unconscious is structured like a language, it means that for Lacan symptoms are literally words trapped in the body. According to a symbolic exchange, the only way to relieve the symptom is to find the lost signifier, to replace it in the chain of signifiers. Symptoms are made of words. The nature of the symptom is that one word is replaced with another, which is kept repressed. Reconnecting the work in the chain of signifiers releases the symptom. The unconscious, Lacan argued, was not a more primitive or archetypal part of the mind separate from the conscious, linguistic ego, but rather, a formation every bit as complex and linguistically sophisticated as consciousness itself. (Compare collective unconscious).

If the unconscious is structured like a language, Lacan argues, then the self is denied any point of reference to which to be 'restored' following trauma or 'identity crisis'. In this way, Lacan's thesis of the structurally dynamic unconscious is also a challenge to the ego psychology that Freud himself opposed.

Lacan's idea of how language is structured is largely taken from and Roman Jakobson, based on the function of the and signified in signifying chains. This may leave Lacan's entire model of mental functioning open to severe critique, since in mainstream linguistics, Saussurean models have largely been replaced by those of e.g. Noam Chomsky.

The starting point for the linguistic theory of the unconscious was a re-reading of Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. There, Freud identifies two mechanisms at work in the formation of unconscious fantasies: condensation and displacement. Under Lacan's linguistic reading, condensation is identified with the linguistic trope of metonymy, and displacement with metaphor.

Controversy

Many modern philosophers and social scientists either dispute the concept of an unconscious, or argue that it is not something that can be scientifically investigated or discussed rationally. In the social sciences, this view was first brought forward by John Watson, considered to be the first American behaviourist. Among philosophers, Karl Popper was one of Freud's most notable contemporary opponents. Popper argued that Freud's theory of the unconscious was not falsifiable, and therefore not scientifical. However, critics of Popper have underlined that Popper's exclusion of psychoanalysis from the normal domain of science was a direct consequence of his specific definition of science as being constituted by what may be falsifiable. In other words, Popper defined science in terms which necessarily led to the exclusion of psychoanalysis. Thus, defining science in another way may lead to including psychoanalysis into this domain of knowledge.

Still, many, perhaps most, psychologists and cognitive scientists agree that many things of which we are not conscious happen in our mind(s).

John Watson criticizes the idea of an "unconscious mind," because he wanted scientists to focus on observable behaviors, seen from the outside, rather than on introspection. Karl Popper objected not so much to the idea that things happened in our minds that we are unconscious of; he objected to investigations of mind that were not falsifiable. If Freud could connect every imaginable experimental outcome with his theory of the unconscious mind, then no experiment can refute his theory.

The argument seems to be about how mind will be studied, not whether there is anything that happens unconsciously or not.

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@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 Nonetheless, the unconscious erupts into the conscious world, but in marginal ways, such as in dreams, slips of the tongue and etc. Freud referred to [[dreams|dreaming]] as the "royal road to the unconscious".
+After the publication of [[Ego, Id and Superego]] Freud introduces his structural theory. According to this new theory, the personality is composed of these three aspects. The focus shifts from the split between the conscious and the unconscious, to the struggle between the ego, id and superego. Most of the aspects of the unconscious were folded into the id.
 By 1895 Freud and Breuer, who were working on Studies in Hysteria together, came to the conclusion that the "strangulation of affect" was caused by three unconscious processes:
@@ Line 63: / Line 67: @@
 According to [[Jacques Lacan]]'s famous formulation, "the unconscious is structured like a language."
+Lacan's theory is based on the [[structural linguistics]] of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]]. Saussure's linguistic theory focus on the synchronic, as opposed to the diachronic aspect of language, that is, on its system of discontinuity. According to this view, language is based on the differences in structure of the [[signifier]]s, that is, the word "cat" is based not on any intrinsic relationship between the word and the thing, but on the relationship of cat with other words, like "hat," "cot," etc.
+If the unconscious is structured like a language, it means that for Lacan symptoms are literally words trapped in the body. According to a symbolic exchange, the only way to relieve the symptom is to find the lost signifier, to replace it in the chain of signifiers. Symptoms are made of words. The nature of the symptom is that one word is replaced with another, which is kept repressed. Reconnecting the work in the chain of signifiers releases the symptom.
 The unconscious, Lacan argued, was not a more primitive or archetypal part of the mind separate from the conscious, linguistic ego, but rather, a formation every bit as complex and linguistically sophisticated as consciousness itself.  (Compare [[collective unconscious]]).
 If the unconscious is structured like a language, Lacan argues, then the self is denied any point of reference to which to be 'restored' following trauma or 'identity crisis'. In this way, Lacan's thesis of the structurally dynamic unconscious is also a challenge to the [[ego psychology]] that [[Freud]] himself opposed.
-Lacan's idea of how language is structured is largely taken from the [[structural linguistics]] of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] and [[Roman Jakobson]], based on the function of the [[signifier]] and [[signified]] in [[signifying chain]]s.  This may leave Lacan's entire model of mental functioning open to severe critique, since in mainstream linguistics, Saussurean models have largely been replaced by those of e.g. [[Noam Chomsky]].
+Lacan's idea of how language is structured is largely taken from and [[Roman Jakobson]], based on the function of the and [[signified]] in [[signifying chain]]s.  This may leave Lacan's entire model of mental functioning open to severe critique, since in mainstream linguistics, Saussurean models have largely been replaced by those of e.g. [[Noam Chomsky]].
 The starting point for the linguistic theory of the unconscious was a re-reading of Freud's ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]''.  There, Freud identifies two mechanisms at work in the formation of unconscious fantasies: condensation and displacement.  Under Lacan's linguistic reading, condensation is identified with the linguistic trope of [[metonymy]], and displacement with [[metaphor]].