Theory of

SIGMUND FREUD
Ms.. Andrea B. Martinez
Ms
Y Freud, an Austrian psychiatrist, who
founded the psychoanalytic
psychology, best known f or his
unconsci ous mind theory.
Y Freud is also renowned f or his
redefinition of sexual desire and
aggressi on as the primary
motivational energies of human life,
as well as his therapeutic techniques
such as the use of free associ ation,
and dream interpretati on as sources
of insight into unconscious desires.
Y Freud emphas ized the importance of
early experiences in one’s life and
believed that adult personality problems
were the result of these experiences .
Y Freud argued that our early relationships with our
parents were the chief environmental contribution to
our personality. The first five years of life (or early
childhood experiences ) are the most crucial for
personality formation.
• Freud assumed that we go through five stages
of psychosexual development and each stage
is completed in predetermined sequence that can
result in either successful completion or healthy
personalit y or can result to failure, leading to
unhealthy personalit y.
• Freud believed that we
develop through stages based
upon a parti cular erogenous
zone.
Erogenous zones are
parts of the body that
have especially strong
pleasure--giving
pleasure
qualities at particular
stages of
development.
• Freud thought that our
adult personality is
determined by the way
we resolve conflicts
between thes e early
pleasure—
sources of pleasure—
the mouth, the anus
tals—and
and the geni tals—
the demands of reality.
• Fixation is the
psychoanalytic
defense mechanism
that occurs when the
individual remains
locked in an earlier
developmental stage
because needs are
under- or over-
gratified
• Weaning a child too early or until too late
• Smothering the child with too much
attention
• Being too strict in toilet training the child
• Punishing the child for masturbation
By SIGMUND FREUD
• From birth to 18 months of life
when the infant’s pleasure
centers on the mouth.
y The mouth is the first organ to
provide an infant with
pleasure—hence the oral
phase.
y Chewing, sucking and biting
are chief sources of pleasure
and these actions reduces
tension in the infant.
y The first oral phase —the oral-
receptive phase—infants feel no
ambivalence toward the
pleasurable object and needs are
satisfied with minimum frustration
and anxiety.
y In the second oral phase —the
oral-sadistic period—infants
respond to others through biting,
cooing, closing their mouth,
smiling and crying and the first
autoerotic experience is thumb
sucking.
• Too much or too little
gratification of oral
pleasures can result in an
Oral Fixation or Oral
Personality which is
evidenced by a
preoccupat ion with oral
activities.
• Personality wise, individuals
fixated at oral stage may
become overly dependent
upon others, gullible, and
perpetual followers.
• They may also fight these
urges and develop pessimism
and aggression towards
others.
• It occurs between 1 ½ until
3 years of age, in which the
child’s greatest pleasure
involves the anus or the
eliminative and retentive
functions associated with it.
y The aggressive drive
reaches fuller development
during the second year
when the anus emerges as
sexually pleasurable zone.
y Freud called it sadistic-
anal phase because this
period is characterized by
satisfaction gained through
aggression and through
excretory function.
y During the early anal
period, children receive
satisfaction by destroying or
losing objects.
y The destructive nature of
sadistic drive is stronger
than the erotic zone and
children behaves
aggressively towards
parents for frustrating them
with toilet training.
y During the late anal
period, children sometimes
take friendly interest
towards their feces.
y This stems from the erotic
pleasure of defecating and
children may even present
their feces to their parents
as valued prize.
• Through society’s pressure,
mainly via parents, the child
has to learn to control anal
stimulation.
• In Freud’s view, the
exercise of anal muscles
reduces tension.
• Through toilet training, the
child comes in contact with
the rules of society.
y If the behavior is accepted
and praised by the parents,
children are likely to grow into
generous and magnanimous
adults.
y But if their “gift” is rejected in
a punitive fashion, children
may withhold the feces.
y This mode of masochistic
pleasure lays the foundation
for anal character.
y During the oral and anal stages, no basic
distinction exists between male and female
psychosexual growth.
y Children either develop active or passive
orientation.
y The active attitude is characterized by
masculine qualities of dominance and sadism.
y The passive orientation is marked by
feminine qualit ies of voyeurism and
masochism.
• It occurs between the
ages of 3-6.
• The word “phallic” comes
the Latin word “phallus,”
which means “penis.”
• During this stage,
pleasure focuses on the
genitals as the child
discovers that self-
stimulation is enjoyable.
y This stage marks the start of the
dichotomy between male and
female development —due to the
anatomical differences between
the sexes.
y For Freud, “anatomy is destiny”—
the physical differences between
males and females account for
many important psychological
differences.
• In Freud’s view, the phallic
stage has a special
importance in personality
development because this
period triggers the Oedipus
Complex.
y Preceding the phallic stage,
an infant boy forms an
identification with his father—
he wants to be his father.
y Later, he develops a sexual
desire for his mother—he
wants to have his mother.
y The boy now sees his father
as a rival for the mother’s
love.
 This condition of rivalry
towards the father and
incestuous feelings
towards the mother i s
known as male Oedipus
complex..
complex
• The child becomes rival with
the same-sex parent and
sees him/her as competition
for the affection of the
opposite sex parent, hence
developing an intense desire
to replace the same-sex
parent.
• During this time, boys also
develop fear that their father will
punish them for these feelings.
y Castration anxiety—or fear of
losing the penis—develops.
y Castration complex begins
after a young boy becomes
aware of the absence of penis
on girls—this becomes the
greatest emotional shock of his
life.
y After a period of mental struggle
and attempts at denial, the young
boy concludes that the girl had her
penis cut off because of
punishment (reinforced by parental
threats to punish the boy for sexual
behaviors).
y For the boy, the threat of
castration now becomes a
dreaded possibility—hence the boy
represses his sexual impulses.
• Out of fear of castration
and due to the strong
competition of his father,
boys eventually decide to
identify with the father
rather than fight him.
• By identifying with his
father, the boy
develops masculine
characteristics and
identifies himself as a
male, and represses
his sexual feelings
toward his mother.
y The phallic phase is more complicated
for girls than for boys.
y Like boys, pre-Oedipal girls assume
that all children have genitals similar to
their own but soon discover that boys
not only posses dif ferent genital
equipment, but apparently something
extra.
y Girls become envious of this
appendage, feel cheated and desire to
have a penis —called penis envy.
36
y Unlike castration anxiety, penis
envy may last for years (often
expressed in a wish to be a boy
or a desire to have a man or a
wish to have a baby, especially a
boy).
y A girl turns hostile towards her
mother for being responsible for
her having no penis.
y The girl’s libido is then turned
towards the father—who can
satisfy her wish for a penis. 37
y The desire for sexual
intercourse with the father
and accompanying feelings
of hostility for the mother is
known as female Oedipus
complex.
y The female Oedipus
complex is broken up more
slowly and less completely
than male’s.
38
Why is this so?
y For boys, castration anxiety follows the Oedipus
complex and breaks it up nearly completely.
Once the Oedipus complex is shattered, the
energy used to maintain it is free to establish the
superego.
y For girls, the Oedipus complex follows the penis
envy, and since girls do not have a threat of
castration, they experience no traumatic sudden
shock. Hence, her libido maintains the relics of
penis envy and blocks psychic energy used to
establish the superego. 39
Parallel Paths of the Si mple Male and Femal e Phallic Phases
Male Phallic Phase Female Phallic Phase
1. Oedipus complex—sexual 1. Castration complex in the
desire for the mother/hostility f or form of penis envy
the father
2. Castration complex shatters 2. Oedipus complex develops
the Oedipus complex as an attempt to obtain a penis
3. Identification with the father
3, Gradual realization that the
Oedipal desires are self -
defeating
4. Strong superego replaces the 4. Identification with the mother
nearly completely dissolved
Oedipus complex
5. Weak superego replaces the
partially dissolved Oedipus 40
complex
• It occurs approximatel y
between 6 years of age
until puberty when children
go through a period of
dormant psychosexual
development.
• Latency stage is due to
parents’ attempts to punish
or discourage sexual
activity in their young
children.
• If parental suppression
is successful, children
will repress their sexual
drive and direct their
psychic energy toward
school, friendships,
hobbies and other non-
sexual activities,
interacting mostly with
same sex peers.
• The pursuit of social
and academic act ivities
channels much of the
child’s energy into
emotionally safe areas
and aids the child in
forgetting the highly
stressful conflicts of the
phallic stage
y But the sexual drive still
exists but its aim has
been inhibited.
y The sublimated libido
now shows itself in
social and cultural
accomplishments.
• The final stage of
psychosexual development
occurs from when sexual
urges are once again
awakened—termed as
sexual reawakening.
• Through the lessons
learned in the previous
stages, adolescents direct
their sexual urges unto
the opposite sex, with the
primary focus of pleasure
is the genitals.
• Although penis envy may
continue to linger in girls,
the vagina finally obtains
the same status for them
that the penis had during
childhood.
• Boys, on the other hand,
now see the female organ
as a sought-after object
rather than source of
trauma.
• Sexual drive takes on
a more compl ete
organization; the early
erogenous zones have
now gained synthesis,
with the genitals
attaining supremacy.
 Freud believed that
unresolved conflicts with
parents re-emerged
during adoles cence.
Once resolved, Freud
believed that the
individual capable of
developing a mature
love relationship and
functioning
independent ly as an
adult.
y Psychological maturity
is attained after a person
has passed through the
earlier development al
period in an ideal
manner.
y However, it seldom
happens because of too
many opportunities to
develop neurotic
predispositions.