- claudettecathey
- celiaschoenberg
We said yesterday that we inherit a lot of built-in behaviour from our ancestors. They did things a certain way, and were successful - if they weren't we wouldn't be here
We label this genetically inherited behaviour as our instincts - follow our instincts and we have a good chance of surviving
Humans have a unique capability to learn behaviour in our life times (we don't mean to suggest other creatures don't - just that the ability is exceptional in humans). Dogs also learn behaviour - we call it pavlovian - show them a picture of a yellow car, and give the some food, a lot of times, then afterward they will run to a yellow car - even if they don't get fed
So we learn behaviour - much of it from our parents at an early age - don't talk with your mouth full - unfortunately a lot of this behaviour becomes unhelpful in adult life (men are all pigs, trust no-one, keep your money under the mattress etc.) but it's difficult to unlearn
The good news is that humans are probably the only species to learn that our instinctive behaviour - what loosely equates to Freud's id, and our learned behaviour and prejudices from our childhood, what loosely equates to Freud's superego - can be modified by understanding them in the first place
All therapy and counselling is about understanding these behaviourial origins, and adding to our behaviour to make things better
chat-therapy can help by understanding the behaviours and experiences of others in the group
Comments
john (not verified)
Fri, 28/03/2014 - 5:39pm
Permalink
talking about Freud...
...where does Freud's ego fit in?
Charles Darwin (not verified)
Fri, 28/03/2014 - 6:08pm
Permalink
the ego
That is the part of us that has the realization that we have an id and a superego isn't it?