A Sigmund Freud Web-Quest

Sigmund Freud is often recognized only with the field of psychoanalysis, however his involvement in the twentieth century has been far more expansive. Both the sexual and intellectual revolutions can be attributed to the developments of Freud, who became a radical questioner of issues that had previously been taboo. Freud questions society, human interaction, and challenges individuals to question oneself. Because medical science is limited in discussing the subject of human behaviour, Freud introduced himself as a linguistic scientist.

In this role he attempts to unravel the self through the observation of symptoms, which can only be understood through the mediator of language. The patient is unaware of his symptoms, and his/her condition can only be known with the help of the other, the psychoanalyst. The involvement of the other is important as it indicates a dependence upon an outside person to understand ones inner workings; you have to go outside to understand the nature of what is deep inside yourself. The psychoanalyst relies upon external manifestations in ones language to understand their internal cause.

The manifestations can come in various forms. The telling of jokes was one mechanism Freud used in analysing his patients. He claims that these indicate repressed wishes. Slips of the tongue, or parapaxes also provide means of analysis as Freud claims they are not merely accidents, but represent something which has been suppressed by the Superego into the unconscious. Dreams are another indirect route into the contents of the unconscious. According the Freud, dreams are symbolic fulfillments of wishes that can not be fulfilled because they are repressed. Often these wishes cannot even be expressed directly in consciousness, because they are forbidden, so they appear only in dreams, but in a disguised form. The two main mechanisms used by the unconscious to disguise wishes are condensation and displacement. Condensation is when a whole set of images or ideas is compacted into a single image or statement. Displacement is where the meaning of one image or symbol shifts into another somehow associated with it. The duty of the psychoanalyst is thus to reveal the true meaning of language which has been altered by the unconscious.

Your Instructions

Discussion Questions

Helpful Links

“I was walking through a hall of doorways. It was very dark and each door I passed looked strange. Some were large and made of steel and others were so small no human could squeeze through. There was one that seemed to be made of gemstones and another was covered in mud, which ran from the top of the door to the bottom. I was trying to decide which door to choose when all of a sudden I saw an army of men running towards me. I remember a crowned man on horseback followed by an army carrying weaponry. I kept running until I came to the end of the hall where a medium sized door stood before me. It looked very average, not at all like the others I had seen. I had no choice, the army was gaining upon me. I opened the door and at last I awoke.”

Closing Thoughts

One cartoonist's interpretation of Freud

Sigmund Freud is an important player in the way the twentieth century played out. His advancements united the individual with the community, for suddenly the secrets of human behaviour could be unveiled to some degree by one standard. All humans were seen to possess the same inner workings and were treated equally as they were being judged through the same means. As well, human conditions became classifiable and the elements of human nature that had previously been considered abstract gained credibility – Psychoanalysis became a field of science. Introducing such notions as the Oedipus complex and the phallic association with an ordinary object did have their consequences in terms of values. It trampled on issues that had previously been taboo and presented them as the norm. Freud’s theories tore away the previous conceptions of the self and taught people to look deeper within through the mind of another – the psychoanalyst.

Included are links to additional sites, which may be helpful for further reading:

Freud: Media Library

Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams
Freud's Ideas
Dreams Theory According to Freud
Freud's Century
Freud's Selected Works
Sigmund Freud and the Freud Archives

Shared Interpretations

Use the discussion board below to post your interpretations and to read those of others.

Go To Discussion Board

Works Cited

Boeree, Dr. C. George. Sigmund Freud. Personality Theories. 1997. Shippensbrurg U <http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/freud.html>.

Brians, Paul, Mary Gallwey, Douglas Hughes, Azfar Hussain, Richard Law, Michael Myers Michael Neville, Roger Schlesinger, Alice Spitzer, Susan Swan, eds. Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams. Reading about the World. Washington State U. 23 Dec. 1998 <http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/freud.html>

Dream Lynx. Freud. <http://www.dreamlynx.com/biblio_books.html>

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Psych Web. 7 Sept. 2000 <http://www.psywww.com/books/interp/toc.htm>.

Houghton Mifflin. The Interpretation of Dreams: Psychoanalysis is Born. Western Civilization Resource Center <http://college.hmco.com/history/west/resources/students/primary/freud.htm>.

Landry, Peter. Sigmund Freud. Biographies. Dec. 1997 <http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Freud.htm>

Revelle, William. Freud's Ideas.Northwestern U. 20 July 1999 <http://www.psych.nwu.edu/~sengupta/freadid.html>.

Roth, Priscilla. Freud's Century. The British Psychoanalytical Society.11 Jan. 2002 <http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/roth.htm>.

Rowel, Maria Helena. The Freud Page. 2002 <http://www.oocities.org/~mhrowell/index.html>.

Sigmund Freud Museum. Media Library. 27 Jan. 2002. <http://freud.t0.or.at/freud/media/media-e.htm>.

Stevenson, David B. The Freud Web. May 1996. Brown College<http://65.107.211.206/science/freud/Biography.html>.

Thornton, Dr. Stephen P. Sigmund Freud. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2001. <http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/f/freud.htm>.

von Unwerth, Matthew F. Freud Net. The Abraham A. Brill Library of the New York Psychoanalyrtic Institute. 1999 <http://www.nypsa.org/>.

Works Consulted

Bibliomania: Free Online Literature. <bibliomania.com>

Davis, Douglas A. Oedipus Redivivvus. Haverfrod College. 1997. <http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/jungfreu.html>.

Freudian Links 27 March 2000 <http://www.mii.kurume-u.ac.jp/~leuers/Freud.htm>.

Gay, Peter. Sigmund Freud.Time Magazine. 2002.<http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/freud.html>.

Pitchford, Ian and Robert M. Young. Burying Freud. 25 Dec 2001<http://www.human-nature.com/freud/>.

Last Updated: 2002-01-17

1)	First you will visit varous websites explaining his biographical and historical background. There are links below that you may use, and some questions to help guide your reading.
2)	After you have researched the life of Sigmund Freud, you will gain a deeper understanding of Freud by analyzing a few excepts from The Interpretation of Dreams.
3)	Once you have done some preliminary reading, you should visit the site listed below that is dedicated specifically to Freud's method of interpreting dreams.
4)	Posted below is a sample of dream analysis, which you should use as a model. Your final task is to read and analyze the dream posted below using Freud's method. You should then share your interpretations by posting them on the message board at the bottom of this site.
5)	Be sure to re-visit the site at a later time view other posted interpretations.