2.2: Freud and the Psychoanalytic Theory

We begin with the often controversial figure, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud has been a very influential figure in the area of development; his view of development and psychopathology dominated the field of psychiatry until the growth of behaviorism in the 1950s. His assumptions that personality forms during the first few years of life and that the ways in which parents or other caregivers interact with children have a long-lasting impact on children’s emotional states have guided parents, educators, clinicians, and policy-makers for many years. We have only recently begun to recognize that early childhood experiences do not always result in certain personality traits or emotional states. There is a growing body of literature addressing resilience in children who come from harsh backgrounds and yet develop without damaging emotional scars (O’Grady and Metz, 1987). Freud has stimulated an enormous amount of research and generated many ideas. Agreeing with Freud’s theory in its entirety is hardly necessary for appreciating the contribution he has made to the field of development.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Sigmund Freud.[1]

Components of Personality

Freud’s theory of self suggests that there are three parts of the self.

Id

The id is the part of the self that is inborn. It responds to biological urges without pause and is guided by the principle of pleasure: if it feels good, it is the thing to do. A newborn is all id. The newborn cries when hungry, defecates when the urge strikes. Clearly if humans continued to remain all id throughout our lives, we would not cooperate, get along with each other or collaborate on all the things we do to reach future objectives.

Superego

The superego represents society’s demands for its members. It is guided by a sense of guilt. Values, morals, and the conscience are all part of the superego. In the start of the child’s life, parents act as the superego and represent external controls. It is the internalization of those controls that is the development of the superego.

Ego

The ego acts as a referee between the id and superego, since by definition the two are always opposed. The id says “I want it!” and the superego “can’t have it!” So the ego develops through interaction with others and is guided by logic or the reality principle. It has the ability to delay gratification. It knows that urges have to be managed.

Psychosexual development

The personality is thought to develop in response to the child’s ability to learn to manage biological urges. Parenting is important here. If the parent is either overly punitive or lax, and if the child receives too much or too little stimulation of the erogenous zone, the child may not progress to the next stage. Freud calls this a “fixation.” Here is a brief introduction to Freud’s stages.

Five stages of psychosexual development (only the first three are considered important according to Freud)

Name of Stage	Descriptions of Stage
Oral Stage	The oral stage lasts from birth until around age 2. The infant is all id. At this stage, all stimulation and comfort is focused on the mouth and is based on the reflex of sucking. An oral fixation might manifest as a constant need to suck or chew.
Anal Stage	The anal stage coincides with potty training or learning to manage biological urges. The superego and ego are beginning to develop in this stage. Anal fixation may result in a person who is compulsively clean and organized or one who is sloppy and lacks self-control.
Phallic Stage	The phallic stage occurs in early childhood and marks the development of the superego and a sense of masculinity or femininity as culture dictates.
Latency	Latency occurs during middle childhood when a child’s urges quiet down and friendships become the focus. The ego and superego can be refined as the child learns how to cooperate and negotiate with others.
Genital Stage	The genital stage begins with puberty and continues through adulthood. Now the preoccupation is that of sex and reproduction.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud’s Theory

Freud’s theory has been heavily criticized for several reasons. The most important is that Freud himself did not do any scientific research and in fact eschewed any notion that his ideas may be incorrect. His response to any criticism of his ideas was to say “come lie down on my therapist’s couch and tell me about your own childhood.”

The other problem is that it is very difficult to test scientifically. How can parenting in infancy be traced to personality in adulthood? Are there other variables that might better explain development? With the development of biopsychological methods like the EEG, and cross cultural research methods, there has certainly been some work on this front. For example, anthropological ethnographer Malinowski (1927, Sex and Repression in a Savage Society) claimed that his work with the people of Trobriand islanders suggests that the centrality of psychoanalysis in the Oedipus Complex is flawed. In Trobriand society, the boy’s biological father (of course the mother’s sexual partner) is not also the disciplinarian. Rather, that disciplinarian is the mother’s biological brother, the boy’s uncle, and that boys’ relationship with their uncle seems to be fraught with the same tensions as Freud claims is the basis of the all-important Oedipus complex in psychoanalysis. On the other hand, there are also other theorists who have used the mechanisms of neuroscience and in fact suggested a seemingly unlikely field of neuropsychoanalysis (Northoff, 2012)[2].

Another criticism of Freud is that his theory is also considered to be sexist in suggesting that women who do not accept an inferior position in society are somehow psychologically flawed. The Neo-Freudian psychologist, Karen Horney, suggested that Freud's notion of women "suffering penis envy" can actually be replaced with the idea that men suffer from "womb envy."

Freud focuses on the darker side of human nature and suggests that much of what determines our actions is unknown to us, and that it is based on bestial impulses.

So why do we study Freud? As mentioned above, despite the criticisms, Freud’s assumptions about the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our psychological selves have found their way into child development, education, and parenting practices. Freud’s theory has value in providing a framework from which to elaborate and modify subsequent theories of development. Many later theories, particularly behaviorism and humanism, were challenges to Freud’s views.[3]

In general, Freud is credited with the emphasis on desires and drives that are unconscious and based in early childhood experiences. And Freud’s perspective inspired several other important psychological figures – Adler, Jung, Horney - to propound their theories. These individuals are called Neo-Freudians, and with our interest in developmental psychology, we turn to Erikson.

Main Points to note about Freud's psychodynamic theory

Freud believed that:

• Development in the early years (0-5years) has a lasting impact – receiving too much or too little stimulation in the early years leads to fixation in that stage.
• There are three parts of the self: the id, the ego, and the superego, and the subconscious plays a very large role in the personality.
• People go through five stages of psychosexual development that are focused on different body parts: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, latency, and the genital stage.

We study Freud because his assumptions the importance of early childhood experience provide a framework for later theories (that both elaborated and contradicted/challenged his work).

References:

[2] Northoff G. (2012). Psychoanalysis and the brain - why did Freud abandon neuroscience? Front Psychol., 3, 71. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00071

Attributions:

Child Growth and Development by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, and Dawn Rymond, 2019, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (modified by Jennifer Paris)

Child Psychology by Nicole Arduini-Van Hoose is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

[1] Image is in the public domain

[3]Psychodynamic Theory by Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0; Lecture Transcript: Developmental Theories by Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0