The Topography of the Mind

Before Sigmund Freud introduced the “Iceberg Metaphor”, it was generally believed that the actions of people were primarily influenced by conscious thought and rational choices, made in relation to present situations.

Freud contended that the conscious thought and volitional behavior that the person is aware of constituted only a small portion of the person’s ongoing “day to day” experiences, and that the major influences on both conscious and thinking and observable behavior were unconscious, irrational, and historical, and derived from, multiple layers of the “Psychic Apparatus“, with each layer influencing those layers above it.

The following represents an illustration of the topographic model of the mind, the various levels of mental functioning, and the elements that comprise the components of mental functioning.

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