Part II    Psychodynamic Theories28
fei75766_ch02_019-071.indd 28  02/19/20 08:59 AMLevels of Mental Life
Freud’s greatest contribution topersonality theory ishisexploration oftheuncon -
scious andhisinsistence thatpeople aremotivated primarily bydrives ofwhich 
theyhavelittleornoawareness. ToFreud, mental lifeisdivided intotwolevels, 
theunconscious andtheconscious. Theunconscious, inturn, hastwodifferent 
levels, theunconscious proper andthepreconscious. InFreudian psychology the
three levels ofmental lifeareusedtodesignate bothaprocess andalocation. The
existence asaspecific location, ofcourse, ismerely hypothetical andhasnoreal
existence within thebody. Yet,Freud spoke oftheunconscious aswellasuncon -
scious processes.
Unconscious
Theunconscious contains allthose drives, urges, orinstincts thatarebeyond our
awareness butthatnevertheless motivate most ofourwords, feelings, andactions. 
Although wemaybeconscious ofourovert behaviors, weoften arenotaware of
themental processes thatliebehind them. Forexample, amanmayknow thatheis
attracted toawoman butmaynotfullyunderstand allthereasons fortheattraction, 
some ofwhich mayevenseem irrational.
Because theunconscious isnotavailable totheconscious mind, howcanone
know ifitreally exists? Freud feltthatitsexistence could beproved onlyindirectly. 
Tohimtheunconscious istheexplanation forthemeaning behind dreams, slips
ofthetongue, andcertain kinds offorgetting, called repression. Dreams serve asa
particularly richsource ofunconscious material. Forexample, Freud believed that
childhood experiences canappear inadult dreams eventhough thedreamer hasno
conscious recollection ofthose experiences.
Unconscious processes often enter intoconsciousness butonlyafterbeing 
disguised ordistorted enough toelude censorship. Freud (1917/1963) usedthe
analogy ofaguardian orcensor blocking thepassage between theunconscious and
thepreconscious andpreventing undesirable anxiety-producing memories from 
entering awareness. Toenter theconscious levelofthemind, these unconscious 
images firstmust besufficiently disguised toslippasttheprimary censor, andthen
theymust elude afinal censor thatwatches thepassageway between theprecon -
scious andtheconscious. Bythetimethese memories enter ourconscious mind, we
nolonger recognize them forwhat theyare;instead, weseethem asrelatively pleas -
ant,nonthreatening experiences. Inmost cases, these images havestrong sexual or
aggressive motifs, because childhood sexual andaggressive behaviors arefrequently 
punished orsuppressed. Punishment andsuppression often create feelings ofanxi-
ety,andtheanxiety inturnstimulates repression, thatis,theforcing ofunwanted, 
anxiety-ridden experiences intotheunconscious asadefense against thepainof
thatanxiety.
Notallunconscious processes, however, spring from repression ofchild -
hood events. Freud believed thataportion ofourunconscious originates from the
experiences ofourearly ancestors thathavebeen passed ontousthrough hundreds 
ofgenerations ofrepetition. Hecalled these inherited unconscious images ourFinal PDF to printer