Freud theory

Three parts of the self:
ID- “it/pleasure principle”
Immediate gratification is required therefore the person eats when they are hungry and have sex when they want.

EGO- “reality principle”
Control the ID
Person is conscious and is aware of circumstances
Delays gratification when necessary

SUPER EGO- “morality principle”
Person moral beliefs, what behaviours they think are right and wrong.

Psychosexual development stages:
Explains development of personality
Sexual motivation is genetically built in

ORAL STAGE 0-1years old
Erotic pleasure from the mouth
Activities involving the mouth, such as sucking, biting, and chewing
E.g. Sucking mother breast
Immediate gratification is required therefore babies protest when they are hungry or feel discomfort.
FIXATIONS- happens if they child does not successfully complete the oral stage
Dependence on others
Over-eating
Excessive smoking
Excessive drinking
Biting nails
Oral aggression such as sarcasm

ANAL STAGE 1-3years old
Erotic pleasure focus on the anus
Can control excretion
Ego develops
Able to delay gratification eg can wait to go to the toilet
FIXATIONS
Obsessively tidy
Preoccupied with money
An overly controlling (anal-retentive) personality
An easily angered (anal-expulsive) personality

PHALLIC STAGE 3-6 years old
Erotic pleasure from the genitals
Sexual desires for their parents begins to develop
Super-ego develops by the children taking on their parents set of attitudes and moral beliefs. The superego causes people to feel guilty when they go against society’s rules.

Oedipus conflict= boys conflict between desire with their mother and the fear of punishment by their father. The fear they felt was that their father would cut off their penis.

Electra conflict= the daughter is attached to her mother, but then a shift of attachment occurs when she realizes she lacks a penis. “Penis envy” is regret/resentment they do not have penises. They believe they have been castrated by their mother as a punishment. She desires her father whom she sees as a means to obtain a penis substitute (a child). She then represses her desire for her father and incorporates the values of her mother and accepts her inherent 'inferiority' in society.

Girls have weaker super egos because they have less to fear.

FIXATIONS
Guilt or anxiety about sex

Attachment:
Infant attach to their mother through feeding especially breast feeding giving the baby erotic pleasure in the oral stage.
Criticism: babies attach to people who do not feed them

Pro/anti social behaviour:
Moral beliefs are gained through identification with the same sex parent during the phallic stage
Moral beliefs vary depending on the parents; some parents value helping and cooperation and pass this on to their children. Whereas others value aggression and hostile competitiveness and pass this on to their children.

Strength of super ego:
People with a powerful superego overall the ego- produce more pro social behaviour.

Strength of the id:
A person with a stronger id is likely to be more impulsive and aggressive producing more anti social behaviour.

Sex differences/gender roles:
Through identification with their parents in the phallic stage they take on their parent’s beliefs and behaviours. For example if the father is interested in cars the son is likely to be interested in cars as well.

However, children who are raised without the same sex parent still display the usual sex differences in behaviour suggesting that parents are not the only influence.

Implications on child rearing:
In the child’s development Parents are more important for the children as appose to caregivers
Authoritarian parenting style is likely to give the child a stronger superego

Evaluation of Freud theory

Criticism:
♥ Babies suck objects but it can not be proved they do it for pleasure- weak evidence
♥ Not scientific research
♥ Implausible
♥ Women are morally weak then men reflects prejudiced against women at the time
♥ Impossible to test- there is no way of detecting parts of the personality or observing the unconscious motives
♥ Did not research kids

Strengths:
♥ Helps explain misunderstandings and conflicts that occur between people in everyday life.