Consciousness and the UnconsciousPerhaps his greatest contributions are Freud's concepts of the unconscious andof the many different levels of consciousness, which are the keys to understanding behaviorand the problems of personality. The unconscious cannot be studied directlybut is inferred from behavior. Clinical evidence for postulating the unconsciousincludes the following: (1) dreams, which are symbolic representationsof unconscious needs, wishes, and confl icts; (2) slips of the tongue and forgetting,for example, a familiar name; (3) the posthypnotic suggestions; (4) materialderived from free-association techniques; (5) material derived from projectivetechniques; and (6) the symbolic content of psychotic symptoms.For Freud, consciousness is a thin slice of the total mind. Like the greaterpart of the iceberg that lies below the surface of the water, the larger part ofthe mind exists below the surface of awareness. The unconscious stores allexperiences, memories, and repressed material. Needs and motivations thatare inaccessible — that is, out of awareness — are also outside the sphere of consciouscontrol. Most psychological functioning exists in the out-of-awarenessrealm. The aim of psychoanalytic therapy, therefore, is to make the unconsciousconscious motives, for only then can an individual exercise choice. Understandingthe role of the unconscious is central to grasping the essence of thepsychoanalytic model of behavior.Unconscious processes are at the root of all forms of neurotic symptoms andbehaviors. From this perspective, a "cure" is based on uncovering the meaning
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