Two Major Aspects of Freudian Theory - Report Example

Ramakrishna Surampudi 9 May Freudian Theory In the first quarter of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis revolutionized the fields of psychotherapy and psychology. In spite of the controversies that surround his propositions, some of his greatest contributions to modern psychological perspective include psychosexual development, defence mechanisms and dream analysis. The central focus of his theory is that an individual’s early childhood experiences (Santrock, 2007) and the unconscious thought play a pivotal role in determining his later development. Freud is of the opinion that the formation of personality involves five stages of what he calls psychosexual development, namely oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent stage and genital stage. Each is associated with a certain age, an area of the body that acts as the pleasure zone, a developmental task and certain patterns of behaviour that characterize the stage. On the whole, Freud’s ideas seem to be in line with the doctrine of original sin (Shaffer, 2009), as they all suggest that man’s natural tendency is towards the so-called undesirable things. Inhibiting and repressing these natural tendencies is what constitutes the process of growing up. The first stage, oral, beginning at the time of birth, lasts for about 12 – 18 months. The ‘id’ is dominant in this stage (Sugarman, 82) and the child seeks immediate gratification of impulses. The mouth, lips and tongue form the erogenous zone. Sucking, biting, chewing and playing with lips are enjoyed. Sucking is the first phase and biting is the second phase. Breast-feeding is very important as it offers the necessary oral gratification (Sigelman et al., 36). Weaning is the intended developmental task but it also causes internal conflict in the child as his mother wants him to come out of a practice that satisfies his needs. Parents have to be highly responsive to the child’s needs because it is a period during which the child learns to trust the people who take care of him. Fixations in this stage may manifest in later years as symptoms related to the mouth area in the form of thumb-sucking, overeating, drinking, smoking, sarcasm, aggression or demanding nature (Leal, 29). In the second stage, anal, which lasts till the child is three years old, the focus of libido shifts from mouth to the anal region. The personality is controlled by id as well as ego. Pleasure is derived from bowel movements, urination and expelling faeces. In the second phase of the stage, after muscle control has been acquired, retaining faeces is enjoyed. It is during this time that the parents want the child to undergo toilet training. That again results in a conflict between the child’s biological urges and the society’s stipulations. It is important that parents grant autonomy to the child during this stage and allow them to do things for themselves, lest the child develops the feelings of shame and self-doubt. Punishing for toileting irregularities can cause fixations which appear as extreme messiness or orderliness, fear of dirt, love of bathroom humour, rebellious nature and anxiety about sexual activities. The child is in his third – that is, phallic – stage, from his third year till his sixth year, during which the genitals form the area of pleasure. Along with id and ego, superego becomes operative in this period. Self-stimulation, manipulation of genitals and masturbation are the sources of pleasure. It is during these years that the child develops incestual, erotic desire for the opposite-sex parent and regards same-sex parent as a rival. This is what has been termed as ‘Oedipus Complex’ in boys and ‘Electra Complex’ in girls. Once this conflict is successfully resolved, the child begins to identify himself or herself with the same-sex parent and internalizes that parent’s values into his or her superego. It is also the age when a child begins to attend pre-school and develops initiative. Fixations in this stage leave behind such traits as excessive masturbation, flirting, promiscuity, being very timid or very proud, or excessive modesty. Of the five stages of psychosexual development, the first three are most important. The fourth stage called latency begins when the child is 6 years old and continues till he is 11 or 12. It is a period of lull. The sexual urges are tamed and interest in sexual gratification is lost. The psychic energy is diverted into schoolwork and games. The friends are usually of the same sex. There is no specific erogenous zone because the libido becomes quiet. Development of defence mechanisms takes place during this period. It is necessary that the child masters social and academic skills during these years. Otherwise, feelings of inferiority are likely to settle and continue in later years. The fifth, the genital stage, begins around the age of 12 and continues through adulthood for the rest of life. Consequent to the onset of puberty, sexual instincts and some of the hostile feelings towards parents are restored. Accepting the new sexuality leads to psychic conflict. A capacity to love develops, mature sexual relationships are established and sexual instincts are satisfied through reproduction. With more maturity, the superego becomes less rigid. Identity crisis begins in adolescents and they try to find a meaningful relation with the environment. Fixations may result in fearing intimacy, preferring solitude, despair, stagnation or self-centred nature. The contradicting dictates of id, ego and superego results in anxiety (Hergenhahn, 533). It can be objective (physical) when there is a threat to one’s physical well-being; or neurotic when the fancies of id become uncontrollable; or moral when one feels an internal value is being violated. Defence mechanisms, devised by ego, are the ways through which man seeks relief from anxiety. They work through distorting reality and operating on the unconscious level. ‘Repression’ is a defence mechanism in which unpleasant memories and impulses are pushed into the unconscious mind and the inherent desires are inhibited. Such repressed desires usually show up in dreams, humour or physical symptoms. A man who is angry at his boss ventilating his frustration at home by shouting on his wife and children is an example of ‘displacement’, in which an object is replaced with another. ‘Sublimation’ is a form of displacement. It seeks to express the feelings in a subtle, acceptable form like poetry or art. All civilization can therefore be said to be the result of mankind’s collective defence mechanism. ‘Projection’ is the attribution of one’s unacceptable impulses to another. Blaming the circumstances for one’s failure is a common example of projection. ‘Identification’ is a defence mechanism in which satisfaction is derived from imitating someone, whom one admires, or dressing and behaving like someone else. This is what lends film stars celebrity status. In ‘rationalization’, apparently logical arguments are presented to justify behaviour but the arguments are usually based on clearly false premises. A man who is short of money spending lavishly is an instance of ‘reaction formation’ in which a person exhibits attitudes and behaviour that are the opposite of his actual preferences. Alcoholics refuse to accept they have a problem and that is an example of ‘denial’, a defence process in which, people pretend that a thing, that is unpleasant, did not happen at all. ‘Intellectualization’ seeks to escape from a problem by analyzing the problem in scholarly terms. Defence mechanisms, though devised by ego, are rooted in the unconscious thought. Freud used dream analysis as a means to throw light on the unconscious plane of thought. He argues that dreams are mostly about wish-fulfilling, unconscious wishes from childhood memories (Coolidge, 50). The meaning of a dream has two levels. One is the obvious, manifest meaning, synonymous with the actual theme of the dream. The other is the symbolic, latent meaning. The unconscious wishes get symbolized in dreams because they remain scary even to the consciousness of the dream state. Condensation and displacement are the two ways in which wishes take the shape of dreams. In condensation, several unconscious issues get synthesized into a single dream image. In displacement, threatening, unpleasant issues get transformed into acceptable form and appear in dreams. It may be unpalatable to think that even a dream about the death of a loved one can have something to do with wish-fulfilment but it does. About nightmares, Freud took some time to change his stand, before he accepted that they could be the result of overwhelming anxiety and are not associated with wishes. Freud’s theories attracted criticism mainly because of their pessimistic nature and overemphasis on sexual instincts. Nevertheless, he opened up a new window to the realm of psychology by exploring the emotional side of human beings and its role in their development. Anna Freud’s observation that ‘schooling is merely a continuation of general education which starts at birth’ looks quite relevant then (Bornstein, 96). References Bornstein, Marc H (1984) Psychology & Its Allied Disciplines Volume 2. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Coolidge, Frederick L (2006) Dream Interpretation as a Psycho-Therapeutic Technique. Abingdon: Radcliffe Hergenhahn, B R (2005) An Introduction to the History of Psychology 5th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Leal, Linda (2004) Psychology II. US: Research & Education Association Santrock, John W (2007) Life-Span Development 3rd Edition. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Shaffer, David R (2009) Social and Personality Development 6th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Sigelman, Carol K & Elizabeth A Rider (2009) Life-Span Human Development 6th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Sugarman, Leonie (2001) Life-Span Development 2nd Edition. Hove: Psychology Press Read More