It also covers how the conscious mind differs from the preconscious.
What Is the Conscious Mind?
In Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, the conscious mind consists of everything inside of our awareness.
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The conscious mind includes:
Essentially, it is anything that is in your current awareness.
Freud’s topographic theory was a “map” of the different systems that make up the human mind.
According to Freud, the mind is made up of three systems: the conscious (Cs.
), the preconscious (Pcs.
), and the unconscious (Ucs.)
The preconscious includes the things we are not thinking of at the moment but can easily draw intoconscious awareness.
Things that the conscious mind wants to keep hidden from awareness are repressed into the unconscious mind.
Things that are in the unconscious are only available to the conscious mind in disguised form.
For example, the contents of the unconscious might spill into awareness in the form of dreams.
Freud believed that byanalyzing the content of dreams, people could discover the unconscious influences on their conscious actions.
The tip of the iceberg that extends above the water represents the conscious mind.
Beneath the water is the much larger bulk of the iceberg, which represents the unconscious.
While the conscious and preconscious are important, Freud believed that they were far less vital than the unconscious.
It is somewhat akin toshort-term memoryand is limited in capacity.
Your awareness of yourself and the world around you is part of your consciousness.
The preconscious mind is a part of the mind that corresponds toordinary memory.
These memories are not conscious, but we can retrieve them to conscious awareness at any time.
It allows only certain pieces of information to pass through and enter conscious awareness.
Phone numbers and social security numbers are also examples of information stored in your preconscious mind.
In Freuds iceberg metaphor, the preconscious exists just below the surface of the water.
Like the unconscious mind, Freud believed that the preconscious could have an influence on conscious awareness.
A Word From Verywell
The conscious mind is an important part ofFreudian theory.
Freud’s model of the human mind.
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