Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939) is often referred to as the father of psychoanalysis.
Freud worked with middle class housewives in Vienna, Austria, beginning in the 1880's and 1890's.
Freud believed that human beings operated on both a conscious level (you are aware of what is happening around you and are in control of your actions) and a subconscious level (which you are not aware of).
One of Freud's formulations was of the three part (tripartite) human psyche, composed of
the id (libido), which represented the primal drive and urges of human beings (for Freud, the sex drive was the strongest of these)
the ego, which represented one's conscious self (who you think you are)
the superego, which represented our conscience, or society's morality (what is right and wrong)
Freud ultimately extended his formulation of individual minds to a view of human civilization. In his work Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud postulated that there was a death drive (Thanatos) and a life drive in every human. He believed that civilization was a result of sublimated drives, especially the sex drive.
Note: Critics of Freud say that the information and insights he contributed from his work with his patients was very limited because his clients were all middle class woman (bored housewives) in Vienna.
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