KNTV PHILOSOPHY

SIGMUND FREUD

ACTIVITIES

Before watching the programme

Establish what students already know about Freud. They can research more about Newton's life and ideas by using an encyclopaedia, text book, this website or other websites (see Find out more).

After watching the programme

Pupils can work through the student worksheet, which contains programme-related questions.

Worksheet for students (questions only):
PDF, 31KB
Word document, 30KB

Worksheet for teachers (questions and answers):
PDF, 54KB
Word document, 31KB

Questions and answers are also given below:

Programme-related questions (and answers)

1. Where did Freud spend most of his life, and when was he alive?

(He lived in Vienna, Austria, and was alive from 1856 to 1939.)

2. What part of the mind was Freud most interested in?

(He studied the unconscious mind, and believed that when you understand how the unconscious works, you can influence it.)

3. Describe the technique of free association.

(Patients link one thought to another without stopping to think about why they've made a connection.)

4. Why did Freud think childhood memories were so important?

(He believed that people's hang-ups from their youth played a big part in shaping their behaviour as adults.)

5. What sometimes happened when a patient finally revealed deeply buried fears, emotions and desires?

(The patient would cry or become distressed. Freud called this catharsis, and thought it was a natural part of psychoanalysis.)

6. How did Freud feel about his mother?

(He loved her unreservedly, and always held her in the highest esteem.)

7. What dangerous substance did Freud use regularly?

(He believed that cocaine was a wonder drug, and didn't realise how dangerous it could be.)

8. Freud said there are three stages in the evolution of jokes. What is the third kind of joke?

(A practical joke. To be successful, practical jokes need one person to tell or enact the joke, another to listen and watch, and a third person to be the butt of the joke.)

9. What were the attitudes towards mental illness before Freud's groundbreaking ideas became widely known?

(People with psychoses were dismissed as 'mad' and often treated cruelly.)

10. What phobia did 'Anna O' suffer from, and how did Dr Josef Breuer cure her?

(She was petrified of water, and couldn't drink it. Breuer helped her to uncover a memory of a dog she'd seen drinking from a glass, which had disgusted her. Talking about this experience cured her phobia.)

11. What aspect of mental illness did Charcot study, and how did he treat it?

(He was interested in hysteria, the physical symptoms of mental disturbance, and treated it successfully with hypnosis.)

12. How has Freud's work influenced the way people understand the workings of the mind?

(He helped people to understand how much goes on in the subconscious mind, and what a deep effect this has on the way people behave. Knowing this has helped psychiatrists and therapists to treat very deep-rooted problems.)

Discussion questions

Have you ever felt a physical effect from something that was happening in your mind, for example, when you were worried, frightened, excited or happy? Think of other examples where the mind influences what happens in the body.

Psychoanalysis is known as the 'talking cure'. Do you think it's helpful to talk about problems? Does talking about them make them seem less important?