Essay
Religious Studies Essay - Evaluate Freud's Approach to Conscience
An a level religious studies essay answering the question: Evaluate Freud's Approach to Conscience. It was graded 38/40 (A*) by my teacher.
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
5 reviews
By: gabijatuu • 1 year ago
By: imanq888 • 2 year ago
By: calflorence • 2 year ago
By: econidaris • 3 year ago
By: shaandosanjh04 • 3 year ago
Content preview
Evaluate Freud’s Psychological Approach to Conscience 11/11/18Overall, Freud’s psychological approach to the conscience, despite some flaws in his methods
and conclusions, is useful to help us to understand the conscience and to ensure that we do
not rely on it too much as a source of moral guidance. Some scholars such as Newman and
Butler argue that the conscience is directly from God and therefore can never be mistaken and
should never be disobeyed. This view is alarmingly dangerous as we know from modern
psychology that people’s upbringing and development can lead them to be psychologically
disturbed which may lead to people causing harm to others. Aquinas held a different view, one
that involved our ability to reason what is right and wrong. Aquinas’ view is less useful than
Freud’s layered approach however because it fails to explain convincingly our irrational
thoughts such as unreasonable feelings of guilt. Freud’s explanation is useful because it argues
that we have different levels of consciousness which explains how we can be both rational and
irrational beings.
Freud saw the conscience as the irrational part of our unconscious mind – the punishing part of
what he called the superego. He believed that the human mind was made up of 3 parts: the id,
the ego, and the superego. The id is entirely unconscious and only seeks satisfaction, pleasure,
and sexual gratification. The superego is our internalised moral standards (our conscience)
which we acquire from our family and society which drives us to seek approval from our
environment for our actions. The ego is the mediation between the id and the superego which
seeks ways to achieve our desires in a socially acceptable way. Because he believed that the
conscience was acquired rather than being innate it means that our conscience is only as good
as our upbringing and a poor upbringing can lead to skewed morals, a flawed conscience
and/or misguided guilt. Some people are ruled by their superego causing them to be overly
judgemental, inflexible, irrational and having feelings of irrational guilt – this can be extremely
damaging to the wellbeing of the individual. This approach is useful because it allows the
conscience to be questioned and means that people can recognise the flaws in their upbringing
and use this knowledge to try to overcome the ‘voice of the punishing parent’ in their superego
that they know to be irrational and try to improve their mental wellbeing. Freud’s ideas about
the separation of different parts of the mind is also useful and has been accepted by modern
psychologists despite the fact that much of Freud’s thinking -especially that on psychosexual
development – has been rejected.
Later psychologists built on Freud’s psychological approach to the conscience – which shows
that some of Freud’s ideas have been valuable. Some have developed the idea of the mature
and the immature dimension of our conscience. The mature dimension is the healthy rational
part which is concerned with right and wrong and looks out into the world and the future. The
immature dimension is the irrational mass of guilty feelings that we acquire in our early years
which acts out of a desire to see approval from others. These ideas have clear links to that of
Freud’s. Other scholars also built on Freud’s ideas such as Piaget, who believed that the
conscience is acquired (meaning it can be unreliable) and we switch from a heteronomous to
an autonomous conscience around the age of 10; Kohlberg, who also believed that our
conscience is acquired and develops as we age from a pre-conventional (obedience driven),
conventional (social acceptance drive) and perhaps to a post-conventional conscience
(universal ethics principles); and Fromm, who developed the theory of a humanist conscience
which he believed was our use of examples, experience and teachings of others to give us
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller alevelhistory. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £2.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
76799 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now