Psychoanalytic Perspective Essay
Psychoanalytic
Perspective Essay
Exploring the Unconscious.
The Psychoanalytic Perspective.
Most of what Freud wrote is false by contemporary standards and almost any diligent critic can find mistakes and his assumptions. Nevertheless, Freud is not merely one of the many scientists from the 1800s who had been proven wrong many times, but he is an essential starting point for everyone who studies psychoanalysis, psychology, psychiatry, and sociology. When studied systematically, Freud still has much to contribute to modern understanding of human beings and development of human personality.
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According to Freud’s theory, human personality is a dynamic structure, which consists of tree components – the id, the ego, and the superego, and human behaviour is determined by the interaction among these three elements. The id is the most primitive component, which functions according to the pleasure principle or the fundamental biological needs, such as eating and sleeping. The ego is responsible for thinking and decision-making of the humans and is interested in success and happiness. The id demands immediate gratification of its needs, while the ego is able to delay gratification until it is socially appropriate. The third component of personality, the superego, controls our conscience. The superego decides what is right and what is wrong. (Freud, 1949, p.14-15)
Id is the personality of child when it is born. It is unconscious and inherited. (Freud, 1949, p.14) Later on, when child learns about reality, the Ego develops. Although Ego “is not sharply separated from the id; its lower portion merges into it” (Freud, 1927, p.26). The Ego is conscious and controls demands of the Id (Freud, 1949, p.14-15). The superego emerges in response to rewards and punishments from parents and teachers: “the power of their injunctions and prohibitions remains vested in the ego-ideal” (Freud, 1927, p.49). The superego is capable of such feelings as guild and inferiority. Both id and superego are irrational and strive for perfection, but work in different directions. The superego is influenced by others, by cultural norms, and traditions and its demands are managed by the id. (Freud, 1949, p.15)
One of the cornerstones of Freud’s theory is emphasis on childhood experiences and their influences on personality development. The basis of his theoretical framework is psychosexual stages of human development. Freud came to conclusion that we possess multiple erogenous zones and their role changes as we grow and develop. The way a person goes through the developmental stages significantly affects development of personality. According to Freud, there are five developmental stages and the first three have the most significant impact on personality.
During the oral phase of development, mouth emerges as the first erotogenic zone, and humans provide satisfaction to the needs of the mouth. During the second developmental stage – anal – satisfaction is sought through aggression and pleasure is derived from the anus. The phallic stage comes between ages three and six, and it is when boys enter the Oedipus phase and girls enter the Electra phase. During latency period children do not express any sexuality, which is followed by genital phase (around age of puberty) when sexual function is completely developed. (Freud, 1949, p.23-27)
Freud’s study of psychoanalysis presents quite rigid perception of personality and implies that all people have very much the same developmental paths. Despite of numerous criticism, “most of the current models of counselling and psychotherapy have been inspired either by the work of Freud or by a reaction against his ideas” (Errington & Murdin, in: Feltham, Horton, 2006, p.251).
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