His theory although influenced by such great medics as Jean Charcot, a French neurologist and practicing hypnotist, and Josef Breuer a former colleague and close friend, proposed that "Personality emerges out of the interplay between conscious awareness and unconscious motivation" and that unconscious motivation was responsible for overt behaviours (ref)
According to Freud's theory the behavioural choices we make are not consciously determined but rather governed by a "hidden" mental process, which he named the unconscious. .
He also suggested, like theorists before him, such as Hobbes (1588-1679) that basic human motivation is self-centred and gratification can not be denied. However, he differed in his rationalization of survival techniques within society and suggested that in order to achieve healthy mental well-being and societal acceptance it is necessary to develop an internal coping mechanism. For Freud this mechanism was not as simple as Hobbes social contract theory; instead it was a complex strategy, involving internalized conflict resolution which relied on the balance between internal and external conflicts created by instinctive drives and societal pressure. .
In 1923 Freud, who was influenced by Plato, offered a deeper insight into the way in which the mind attempts to process inner conflicts and create harmony and peace of mind. He also added that this should not to be considered a permanent state, but that conflicting drives continue to present at differing stages of development. He developed a model of the mind known as the topographical model: a complex concept of interrelated levels of consciousness, which incorporates three conflicting subsystems of human personality which he called the id, ego and superego (Laura's bk p717). Further, this tripartite model operates on different levels of consciousness. We will focus on this often confusing idea in more depth further in the essay, but it would be useful here to start with some definitions of the unfamiliar terminology Freud uses.