Freud and Tocqueville

So since I've just started taking Psych I am starting to connect different ideas from class to my other classes.  In "Democracy in America" Tocqueville talks about the importance of origins for both people and nations.  He says to, "...observe the earliest conflicts [one] endures; only then will you understand the source of the prejudices, habits, and passions that will come to rule his life" (43).  Our past and circumstances will, "...contribute to [our] development, influenc[ing] everything for the rest of [our] lives" (43).

Sigmund Freud would agree.  As a medical doctor, he studied how people's physical problems could have psychological origins.  They could be solved through insight and talking them through.  You could detect parts of someone's unconscious mind by observing unconscious determinants like dreams and "slips of the tongue".  Freud saw childhood experiences as crucial to understanding how one thinks, perceives, feels, and behaves  as an adult.  While Freud's methods were not that scientific and has some biases, his work helped to advance psychology. 

I'm loving psych, especially since I can actually apply what I'm learning to lots of different things.