Sigmund Freud: Reflection
Regardless of the reaction and understanding of Sigmund Freud’s scientific legacy, the fact that his name is directly associated with the progress in psychology leads us to believe that Sigmund Freud had a significant impact not only on the field of psychology, but other branches of science as well. Generally speaking, his findings and theories, even receiving a large amount of denial in the post-Freudian era by other practicing psychologists, served as an impetus in development of the more relevant and accurate theories in the area of psychology that we know today.
As it was noted by a number of modern psychologists, many aspects of Freudian theory are indeed out of date (Westen, 1998). However, this notion can only be attributed to the general scientific progress of psychology. Freud died in 1939, and his legacy was only revised and reasserted in the aftermath, bringing new notions and sharpening the ones that we have already established. In that sense, the critique of Freud’s work, could be seen as a form of evolving in the context of scientific thought, as from Freudian views of the 1920s many theories and ideas gained a chance to be studied with the implementation of the modern day technologies and methodology. Freud’s work contributed to our understanding of the continuity of personality and the role of childhood experiences, notion of unconscious, human development, thus, providing a vast ground for many psychologists of today to establish further accuracy in investigation of the human psyche.If studied outside of the context of time, Freud’s views have significantly contributed to the development of contemporary thinking among practicing psychodynamic psychologists and psychiatrists. Since psychodynamic theory deals with similar thematic body that was studied by Freud, many of his theories could be regarded as the beginning of the long investigation of psychodynamic tendencies (Crews, 1996). Regarding studies in the area of social, cognitive, and personality psychology, it is fair to say that many of Freud’s propositions (including two instinctive drives – Eros and Thanatos) found their place in modern psychology, undergoing further development (Crews, 1996).
One the most notable contribution of Freud’s works to modern thought is the conception of the unconscious. The suggestion of the existence of consciousness, unconsciousness and preconsciousness, as a layer between the two, was groundbreaking for his time. His studies of dreams and their interpretation only contributed to the development of already conceived notions of the unconscious and the role that it plays in the system of human behavior. Another aspect of Freud’s theories that finds its place in the modern day, and is crucial to the conception of the unconscious, is “repression,” that gave way for development of the theory of sublimation (Jacoby & Kelly, 1992). The theory that mental representation of the self and others, as well as the relationships between the self and others, determine people’s ability to establish intimate relationships was also suggested by Freud, with an emphasis on childhood experiences. In that area …
