Conscience (Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies): Revision Notes

Freud's psychological approach

Freud

Freud attempts to understand where feelings of guilt occur and their consequences.

Conscience: the internalisation of external (society) authority by the super-ego.

The Impact of Childhood

Conscience is a product of experiences from childhood which result in the creation of the superego

Authority of conscience stems from guilt

Freud places a huge emphasis on the impact of childhood on our conscience. Guilt and neurosis occur if conscience is disobeyed, the same way we feel guilty if we disobey our figures of authority, the two are linked and therefore dictate how we think and act.

Where does conscience come from?

The internalisation of parental values during the formation of the unconscious mind.

This process happens simultaneously with the movement through the psychosexual stages of development whereby we can see that children are heavily susceptible to parental influence that has a lifelong impact on their behaviours – all in an unconscious way

Psychosexual stages of development

• Oral (0-1 years) concerned with sucking and swallowing
• Anal (1-3 years) concerned with withholding and expelling
• Phallic (3-6) concerned with masturbation
• Latency (6-puberty) concerned with the absence of sexual motivation
• Genital (puberty-adulthood:) concerned with sexual intercourse

The id

• Entirely unconscious
• It is the central component of personality and it is powerful, instinctive and primitive.
• It is driven by the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification.
• Develops from 0-18 months

Ego:

• The conscious self
• The part seen by the outside world wants to meet the demands of social interaction
• The ego is driven by the reality principle, it is reasonable and realistic
• The role of the ego is to reconcile the id, which otherwise drives us by the pleasure principle, with the demands of social interaction.
• One of the ego-defense mechanisms that the ego uses to manage the tensions caused when the id is not immediately satisfied is delayed gratification.
• This is where the pleasurable activity is put off until a time and place where it can be deemed appropriate.
• The ego develops from 18months-3years
• The conscience attempts to provide an effective operation of the ego over the id, where desires are achieved in such a way as to avoid censure and punishment from social authorities.

Superego:

• Something within the ego, reaction to the id, set of moral controls, and ideas given by authority and often opposed by the id. (Internalised voice of our parents)
• The superego is what makes us feel guilty for basic desires.
• Acts as a moral guide to controlling the impulses of the id to make them more in line with societal norms and morals.
• The repository of internalised moral standards of right and wrong that children internalise from their families. early messages from authority figures establish a set of rules and fulfilling these rules leads to a sense of pride and achievement and failing to fulfil them leads to a sense of guilt and remorse
• Develops around 5 years

Strengths of Freud:

• He doesn't rely on faith, making the theory applicable to everyone regardless of religion, we can all understand it.
• Based on empirical research and therefore has founding in real world discoveries and evidence.
• Rejects the belief that God is responsible for conscience, which many others would also disagree with.
• Allows for an approach that we can physically see in society.
• Acknowledges the impact of Childhood on our moral reasoning process and explains why everyone reasons so differently.
• People are more likely to repress their harmful urges when they have the autonomy to do so themselves as opposed to doing it for religion.

Weaknesses of Freud

• Psychologists and scientists have disputed the basis of Freuds theories.
• Ideas cannot be tested and rely on little evidence
• Devised a theory to fit the facts rather than the theory being backed by facts.
• Evidence is based on a small number of rich women who don't reflect society as a whole.
• The fallacy of Composition argues that just because something is true of a part does not make it true of a whole, Freud jumps to a conclusion to reinforce his theory as opposed to looking at the bigger picture
• Karl Popper: Psychoanalysis simply does not provide us with adequate details to rule out any possible human behaviour. Absent these sorts of precise predictions, the theory can be made to fit with and to provide a purported explanation of, any observed behaviour whatsoever.

Piaget

• Conscience develops as we get older
• Before 11- morality is dictated by parents and figures of authority.
• After 11- morality becomes more autonomous
• Obedience to Conscience comes from fear of punishment from authority figures.
• Feelings of guilt^

Fromm

• Authoritarian view of conscience: Comes from fear of displeasing authority
• Humanitarian approach: our real self, aiming for self-actualisation, obedience comes from failing to reach self-actualization.

Richard Rorty

• There are no universal values.