Topic outline
Conscious, Subconscious, Unconscious, Evidence for the existence of the Unconscious, Freud’s theory of dream (Allotted Portion of M. G.)
Freud's Unconscious, Preconscious, and Conscious Minds
Freud delineated the mind in distinct levels, each with their own roles and functions.1 The three levels of the mind are:
- The preconscious consists of anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind.
- The conscious mind contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally. This also includes our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily and brought into awareness.
- The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness. The unconscious contains contents that are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.
Freud likened the three levels of mind to an iceberg. The top of the iceberg that you can see above the water represents the conscious mind. The part of the iceberg that is submerged below the water, but is still visible, is the preconscious. The bulk of the iceberg that lies unseen beneath the waterline represents the unconscious mind, often also referred to simply as the unconscious.