Personality : Freud Psychoanalytic theory

Defense Mechanisms
Ego defense system, that may be distorting reality
i. Repression: Blocking unpleasant/ unacceptable thoughts by pushing them into the unconscious e.g. forgetting
events of the painful childhood.
ii. Regression: Reverting back to a stage that was satisfying e.g. a boss showing temper tantrums like a child; or
acting like a baby.
iii. Displacement: Redirecting the expression of unwanted desires or impulses to a substitute rather than the
actual target e.g. beating children when a wife cannot express anger toward husband.
iv. Rationalization: In order to justify ones behavior, one develops a socially acceptable explanation or reasoning
e.g. going for a second marriage saying that the first wife was quarrelsome.
v. Denial: Refusing to acknowledge or accept anxiety provoking thoughts or impulses e.g. being a heavy smoker
but saying I am an occasional smoker.
vi. Projection: Attributing unwanted thoughts and impulses to others e.g. a person takes bribe and blames the
organization for paying him not enough salary.
vii. Sublimation: Converting unwanted impulses into socially approved thoughts, feelings and actions e.g. disliking
the in-laws but behaving in a very friendly manner, or becoming a stamp collector to overcome the impulse to
steal

Criticism against Freudian Psychodynamic Theory

There is no scientific proof that many psychodynamic constructs, e.g. unconscious, exist
Psychic Determinism: Freudian approach is deterministic and leaves not much room for conscious, rational,
decision making or personal will to act
It ignores the external variables and the environment
It emphasizes the early childhood experiences too much
Mostly criticized for its interpretation of the relationship between the genders
The therapy is too time consuming and therefore expensive

Evaluating Freuds Psychosexual Stage Theory

The theory is focused almost entirely on male development with little mention of female psychosexual
development.

His theories are difficult to test scientifically. Concepts such as the libido are impossible to measure, and
therefore cannot be tested. The research that has been conducted tends to discredit Freud's theory.

Future predictions are too vague. How can we know that a current behavior was caused specifically by a
childhood experience? The length of time between the cause and the effect is too long to assume that there is a
relationship between the two variables.

Freud's theory is based upon case studies and not empirical research. Also, Freud based his theory on the
recollections of his adult patients, not on actual observation and study of children.

Theories of Personality

Biological
Behavioral
Psychodynamic
Humanist theories
Trait theories

Psychoanalytic Theory and Freud: Main Points

Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud was born in Vienna in 1856. He was the first born in his family which consisted of three boys and
five girls. His father was strict, which was common in this time period, leaving him to often spend time with his
mother, whom he felt was warm and kind. His family lived in a small apartment, however his family noticed his
intelligence and made sure to foster his learning. He graduated from the university of Vienna at the age of 26 and
obtained his medical degree. Four years later he became a lecturer at the university. Freud spent much of his life
working on his theory, which he named psychonalaysis. Freud often suffered from somatic complaints, phobias
and the intense fear of dying. Freud invented the term self-analysis, which he would often perform himself to
understand his fears and his unconscious. Freud became popular and is often viewed as the father of Psychology.
He died in 1939 of cancer of the jaw.
Id, Ego, and Superego
To Freud, humans consist of impulses and drives. These impulses are often buried deep within us, some by which
we do not even recognize. This is especially true of young children under the age of six. Freud coined the term
libido, which consists of all the life energies of a person. This libido contains the drives that make is who we are,
and is a source of motivation. We often gravitate toward pleasure and avoid pain. Within a person, the personality
is working to balance the libido in an efficient manor. To that end, the personality of a person is divided into three
main parts: the id, ego, and superego.
The Id is the first portion of the personality to develop. The Id is focused on the wants and needs of a person. The
Id does not care about consequences, and aims at achieving pleasure and avoiding pain. The Id is not rational, and
does not care how its wants are obtained. The Id is present from birth, where babies only care about their needs
being met. To make things easier, think of the Id as a spoiled child, who cries if they do not get their way.
The Ego is the opposite of the Id, which focuses on morality and justice. The Ego is the judgement portion of the
personality, who uses intellect to gain order within a situation. The Id is a sort of traffic cop, who controls how to
best operate. The Ego works against the Id and tries to control the Ids impulses. While the Id worked around the
pleasure principle, the Ego works as the reality principle, and sees the world as it should be.
The Superego is the bridge by which tempers the Id and Ego. The purpose of the Superego is to provide a balance
so both sides are at an equilibrium. The Superego makes decisions if things are right or wrong. The Superego has
the ability to reward by feelings of acceptance and self love, and punish by feelings of guilt and shame.

Consciousness and Unconscious

One of the hallmark features of Freuds theory is the development of the unconscious. Freud viewed the mind as a
collection of two main parts. The first part, the conscious, is the part of the mind we are aware of. It includes the
thoughts and feelings of a person. It is the surface level, meaning it is the level we are aware of in a thinking state.
Freud viewed the conscious as the smallest portion of the mind, as the drives and impulses which drive humans
often exist on a level lower then the conscious. The largest level, the unconscious, includes all impulses, desires,
and is the core of a person. The unconscious is not directly observed, as it is hidden below the conscious. One
studies the unconscious by looking at slips of the tongue, dreams, free association techniques, hypnosis, and
projective techniques.
For example, let us take a man who has become an alcoholic. He has a low paying job while his wife is highly
successful and brings in a majority of the money into the house hold. He does not often receive attention from his
wife due to her job. He begins to drink because he feels he hates his job and feels inferior to his wife. Now he is an
alcoholic, and his wife has to take time off for him to get help. In the conscious, he hates his job and feels inferior;
in the unconscious, he craves attention, so he created a drinking problem to obtain the attention. In this example,
the unconscious influenced the conscious in ways the conscious was not aware of. If his true feelings of attention
are not obtained in the long term, the unconscious will create another problem to gain the attention it craves.
Anxiety
Anxiety, according to Freud, is a state of tension which motivates us to action. It develops as a conflict between the
id, ego, and superego over control of available psychic energy. Anxiety warns of impending danger. There are thee
kinds of anxiety: reality, neurotic, and mortal. Reality anxiety deals with threats from the external world. The level
of anxiety depends on the degree of danger.
Neurotic and mortal anxiety deals with internal threats to the balance of power within the personality. Unless
steps are taken to reduce the anxiety, the ego may become overthrown. Mortal anxiety is the fear of ones own
conscience. A person with a well developed ego may feel guilty when doing something against their moral code,
and punish themselves. Neurotic anxiety occurs when a person fears they will do something by which they will be
punished.
Defense Mechanisms
When the presence of anxiety, the ego can become overwhelmed. To keep the Ego from collapse, the ego has
developed defense mechanisms. The defense mechanisms below are normal, and are often experienced by a
majority of people.
Repression: Repression is the egos way of denying access of painful memories from consciousness. Some painful
memories are extremely devastating, which can cause massive stress to the ego and the entire personality. By
denying these memoeies, a person can exist without the negative affects of these memories.
Denial: Similar to repression, denial is the egos way of focusing attention away from a problem. Denial operates at
preconscious and conscious levels, where the ego will avoid a problem or play down a situation.
Reaction Formation: When engaging threating stimuli, the ego may respond in the opposite manor. By expressing
the opposite impulse, stress is reduced. Example: John hates his boss, so he bakes a cake for his boss on his
birthday. While John hates his boss, the ego removes the hateful emotion and replaces it with kindness, reducing
the stress John feels.

Projection: Unacceptable impulses and fears are projected at others. By labeling others with ones own impulses,
the ego can reduce stress. Example: Johns lustful thoughts are causing him stress, resulting in John yelling at
others who experiencing similar thoughts.
Displacement: At times, we cannot respond to others as we would like. When the ego has extreme feelings
towards a target, tension builds. To relieve this tension, the ego will target the aggression to another source.
Example: Johns boss yells at him all day at work, so when he gets home, he yells at his kids to relieve the stress he
felt by being yelled at by his boss.
Rationalization: When a bad event occurs, the ego reduces the tension by explaining reasons for the event.
Example: John looks for a new job, but is rejected, so he blames the bad economy for the rejection.
Sublimilation: Unacceptable impulses and drives are channeled in a manor acceptable to society. Example: John
would love to beat up his boss and others, but he cannot, so he quits and becomes a police officer so he can beat
up bad guys.
Regression: Under severe stress, the ego may wish to revert to an earlier time of less stress. Example: Johns
severe stress from work and home results in him loosing his job, where he moves back with his parents and wants
to play games all day, as he did when he was a teenager.
Introjection: Under severe stress, the ego may identify with those providing the severe stress in a form of stress
relief. Example: prisoners of war often begin to identify with their captors. This helps them relieve the stress they
are under.
Identification: To protect one from feeling like a failure, the ego may drive a person to join a cause or an
organization bigger then the person, as to feel worthwhile. John feels like a failure in life after loosing his job, so he
joins Greenpeace as a way to belong to something bigger then he is.
Compensation: The ego may feel inferior in specific instances, so it highlights the successful aspects of its
personality. Example: John feels inferior as a productive member of society, so he highlights his time with
Greenpeace as much more important then his professional career.

Freuds Psychosexual Stages

Freud devised a series of stages by which a person enters at specific points in development. These stages occur in
order, however a person can become stuck at a specific stage, called fixiation.
Oral Stage: Occurring during the first year of life, the child receives oral gratification by sucking at its mothers
breast. By doing so, the child receives both the nutrition and love it needs. Children who do not bond with a
parent, or ones who do not receive proper nutrition may become orally fixated, possibly resulting in mistrust of
others, fear, loss of love and relationship difficulties.
Anal Stage: The anal stage occurs during the second and third years of live, where the child becomes potty trained.
During this period the child learns independence and personal power. A child who does not successfully complete
this stage may feel inferior, and depend on others instead of themselves.
Phallic Stage: The child first begins to discover sexual desires. This often occurs during years three through six,
where the child experiences unconscious desires for the opposite sex parent. This often resolves itself through

wanting love and acceptance from the opposite sex parent. The child may also possess anxiety or fear from the
same sex parent. For boys, it is known as the Oedipus complex, and for girls it is known as the Electra complex.
Latency Stage: With the trauma of the phallic stage over, the child moves from sexual desires to ones of belonging
and acceptance from others. Interests in friends, school, and socialization are the main drives here. This stage
often begins at six, and ends at puberty.
Genital Stage: Beginning, at puberty, the genital stage begins with a reawaking of sexual energy. This is a period
where a child will likely form their sexual identity. The genital stage is the final stage, lasting until death. One of the
main criticism of Freud is the lack of further stages.
Transference
When a client begins sessions with a Psychoanalytic therapist, the client is encouraged to free associate, meaning
to tell what they wish to tell about any topic. The therapist is distant, as to allow the client to give true insights
about themselves without bias towards the therapist. While the therapist may wish to remain distant, the client
may begin to transfer feelings about a person towards the therapist. This is called transference, and is a common
result in Psychoanalytic theory. Usually the client will have unfinished business towards someone, and in turn may
shift these feelings towards the therapist. A psychoanalytic therapist will look for transference during therapy and
use it to get to the unconscious. The concept of transference is often present in modern psychology.
In Conclusion
Freuds Psychonalytic theory was one of the most influential theories in all of Psychology. Many other theories
resulted from Psychoanalytic theory, paving the way for modern psychology. While Freuds theories are criticized
by many, he opened the door for future discussion and research.

Psychosexual Development
Freud (1905) proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place in a series of fixed stages. These
are called psychosexual stages because each stage represents the fixation of libido (roughly translated as sexual
drives or instincts) on a different area of the body. As a person grows physically certain areas of their body
becomes important as sources of potential frustration (erogenous zones), pleasure or both.
Freud believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. Freud also believed that all tension was due to the
build up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from its discharge. In describing human personality
development as psychosexual Freud meant to convey that what develops is the way in which sexual energy
accumulates and is discharged as we mature biologically. (NB Freud used the term 'sexual' in a very general way to
mean all pleasurable actions and thoughts).
Freud stress that the first five years of life are crucial to the formation of adult personality. The id must be
controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a conflict between frustrated wishes and social norms.
The ego and superego develop in order to exercise this control and direct the need for gratification into socially
acceptable channels. Gratification centers of different areas of the body at different stages of growth, making the
conflict at each stage psychosexual.

The Role of Conflict

Each of the psychosexual stages is associated with a particular conflict that must be resolved before the individual
can successfully advance to the next stage. The resolution of each of these conflicts requires the expenditure of
sexual energy and the more energy that is expended at a particular stage the more the important characteristics of
that stage remain with the individual as he matures psychologically.
To explain this Freud suggested the analogy of military troops on the march. As the troops advance they are met
by opposition or conflict. If they are highly successful in winning the battle (resolving the conflict) then most of the
troops (libido) will be able to move on to the" next battle (stage). But the greater the difficulty encountered of any
particular point the greater the need for troops to remain behind to fight and thus the fewer that will be able to go
on to the next confrontation.
Frustration, Overindulgence and Fixation
Some people do not seem to be able to leave one stage and proceed on to the next. One reason for this may be
that the needs of the developing individual at any particular stage may not have been adequately met in which
case there is frustration. Or possibly the person's needs may have been so well satisfied that he is reluctant to
leave the psychological benefits of a particular stage in which there is overindulgence.
Both frustration and overindulgence (or any combination of the two) may lead to what psychoanalysts call fixation
at a particular psychosexual stage. Fixation refers to the theoretical notion that a portion of the individual's libido
has been permanently 'invested in a particular stage of his development. It is assumed that some libido is
permanently invested in each psychosexual stage and thus each person will behave in some ways that are
characteristic of infancy, or early childhood.
Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development
You can remember the order of these stages by using the mnemonic: old (oral) age (anal) pensioners (phallic) love
(latent) grapes (genital).
Oral Stage (0-1 year)
The first stage of personality development where libido is centered in a baby's mouth. It gets much satisfaction
from putting all sorts of things in its mouth to satisfy libido, and thus its id demands. Which at this stage in life are
oral, or mouth orientated, such as sucking, biting, and breast-feeding. Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an
oral fixation in later life. We see oral personalities all around us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers, and
thumb suckers. Oral personalities engage in such oral behaviors particularly when under stress.
Anal Stage (1-3 years)
The libido now becomes focused on the anus and the child derives great pleasure from defecating. The child is
now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can bring them into conflict with
the demands of the outside world (i.e. their ego has developed). Freud believed that this type of conflict tends to
come to a head in potty training, in which adults impose restrictions on when and where the child can defecate.
The nature of this first conflict with authority can determine the child's future relationship with all forms of
authority.

Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an anal-retentive personality who hates mess, is
obsessively tidy, punctual and respectful of authority. They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and
possessions. This is all related to pleasure got from holding on to their faeces when toddlers, and their mum's then
insisting that they get rid of it by placing them on the potty until they perform! Not as daft as it sounds. The anal
expulsive, on the other hand, underwent a liberal toilet-training regime during the anal stage. In adulthood the
anal expulsive is the person who wants to share things with you. They like giving things away. In essence they are
'sharing their s**t'! An anal-expulsive personality is also messy, disorganized and rebellious.
Phallic Stage (3 to 5 or 6 years)
Sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the genitals and masturbation (in both sexes) becomes a new source of
pleasure. The child becomes aware of anatomical sex differences, which sets in motion the conflict between erotic
attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear which Freud called the Oedipus complex (in boys) and the Electra
complex (in girls) This is resolved through the process of identification which involves the child adopting the
characteristics of the same sex parent.
The most important aspect of the phallic stage is the Oedipus complex. This is one of Freud's most controversial
ideas and one that many people reject outright. The name of the Oedipus complex derives from Greek myth where
Oedipus, a young man, kills his father and marries his mother. Upon discovering this he pokes his eyes out and
becomes blind. This Oedipal is the generic (i.e. general) term for both Oedipus and Electra complexes.
In the young boy, the Oedipus complex or more correctly conflict, arises because the boy develops sexual
(pleasurable) desires for his mother. He wants to possess his mother exclusively and get rid of his father to enable
him to do so. Irrationally, the boy thinks that if his father were to find out about all this, his father would take away
what he loves the most. In the phallic stage what the boy loves most is his penis. Hence the boy develops
castration anxiety.
A problem the little boy then sets out to resolve by imitating, copying and joining in masculine dad-type behaviors.
This is called identification, and is how the three-to-five year old boy resolves his Oedipus complex. Identification
means internally adopting the values, attitudes and behaviors of another person. The consequence of this is that
the boy takes on the male gender role, and adopts an ego ideal and values that become the superego.
For girls, the Oedipus or Electra complex is less than satisfactory. Briefly, the girl desires the father, but realizes
that she does not have a penis. This leads to the development of penis envy and the wish to be a boy. The girl
resolves this by repressing her desire for her father and substituting the wish for a penis with the wish for a baby.
The girl blames her mother for her 'castrated state' and this creates great tension. The girl then represses her
feelings (to remove the tension) and identifies with the mother to take on the female gender role.
Latency (5 or 6 to puberty)
No further psychosexual development takes place during this stage (latent means hidden). The libido is dormant.
Freud thought that most sexual impulses are repressed during the latent stage and sexual energy can be
sublimated (re: defense mechanism) towards school work, hobbies and friendships. Much of the child's energies
arc channeled into developing new skills and acquiring new knowledge and play becomes largely confined to other
children of the same gender.

Genital (puberty to adult)

Is the last stage of Freud's psychosexual theory of personality development and begins in puberty. It is a time of
adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in a loving one-to-one
relationship with another in our 20's or so. Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self
pleasure during the phallic stage. For Freud, the proper outlet of the sexual instinct in adults was through
heterosexual intercourse. Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual perversions may
develop. For example, fixation at the oral stage may result in a person gaining sexual pleasure primarily from
kissing and oral sex, rather than sexual intercourse.

Evaluation of Freud's psychosexual development theory

Four points:

difficult to test, but the evidence that has been gathered is not favourable
the crucial events (e.g., how the libido is used) are unobservable, and there are no good means to
measure them
there is an awfully long time between the occurence of the causal stimulus and its presumed effect;
relationships between early events and later traits tend to be weak and inconsistent
this theory of development was conceived without studying children; rather, it was developed from
patients' recollections, dreams and free associations

Critical evaluation of Freuds theory

Status of Freuds theory as a scientific one

Question of reliability and validity
Question of generaliability and representativeness
Quantifiability

Status of coherence of Freuds theory

System of interpretation
Delineation of cause and effect relationship
Deemphasizing important influence on personality
Freudian psychotherapy
Strength of Freud work
Status of Freuds theory as a scientific one

Question of reliability and validity

An often made criticism of Freudian theory is that, many of the Freudian hypotheses are not testable, since one
criterion for valuable scientific theory is its ability to generate testable hypothesis.
eg, if Freudian theorist conclude that , patient has a strong unconscious hatred for his sister what sort of evidence
would demonstrate that the conclusion is correct or incorrect.
If the patient says she cannot remember any negative feeling towards sister according to Freud she is repressing
them.

If the patient describes how much she loves her sister. Freud would infer it as reaction formation and if the patient
she harbor some negative feeling towards her sister Freud would argue that the therapy has been successful in
bringing the material into consciousness. Thus if the hypothesis generated by the theory cannot be unsupported
them neither can it be truly supported. This makes the theory less scientific. Moreover, the theory does not lend
itself for empirical validation for e.g. it is impossible to derive any empirical proposition from the postulation of
death wishes.
Freud has also been criticized for accepting at face value whatever a patient said, without attempting to
corroborate it by some external evidence.

Question of generaliability and representativeness

Freud based his theory on a very small number of observations.

E.g., question are being raised as to, in how many cases did he find an association between paranoid and
homosexuality, hysteria and oral fixation etc.
Also Freuds patients hardly representated typical adults. Not only did they come from relatively wealthy and
educated European families they also were suffering from psychological disorders. Thus it will be an illogical
assumption to expect that the minds of the patients function the same as the mind of average psychological
healthy adult. Thus, Freuds theory lacks the capacity to generalize its concepts to diverse social and cultural
backgrounds.

Quantifiability

Thirdly the theory stands silent on the problem of how to quantitatively measure certain concept for e.g. cathexis
and anticathexis.
Status of coherence of Freuds theory

System of interpretation
Freud has never given any systematic account of his method of analysis and his inductive and deductive
operations.
Consequently it is practically impossible to repeat any of the Freudian investigation in accordance with original
design. Thus other investigators have often reached at different conclusion and interpretation of ostensibly by the
same phenomena.
Moreover he is accused of drawing inference and reaching conclusion by a line of reasoning that was rarely made
explicit.

Delineation of cause and effect relationship

Secondly Freudian theory is markedly deficit in providing set of relational rules by which one can arrive at precise
cause and effect relationship between traumatic experience, dreaming , repression etc. what concepts the
formation of superego with Oedipus complex?

Deemphasizing important influence on personality

Freud Theory has also been attacked on the grounds that he ignored or deemphasized important influences on
personality other than childhood. E.g. Freud failed to recognize how experiences beyond the first five years of life
could affect the personality. Freud has also been criticized for over emphasis on an instinctual basis of personality
at the expense of important social and cultural influences. Still other look issue with Freuds tendency to
concentrate on psychological disorders rather than on daily functioning and positive aspects of personality.

Freudian psychotherapy
Freuds therapy has been criticized for being an extremely time consuming and costly process. Freud has also been
unsystematic regarding the structure, frequency and duration of the therapy necessary to bring about change.
One of the most serious limitations of psychoanalytic therapy is that its use is restricted for a narrow section of the
population educated, intelligent, and resourceful with good capacity for verbal expression.
Strength of Freud work
Freuds theory is said to be first comprehensive theory of human behavior and personality. The shape of more
recent approaches to personality, even though far removed from Freuds theory has probably been influenced by
Freud.
Freud is also the pioneer who popularized and promoted psychological principles and their role in the
development of personality as well pathology. Freud can be credited with developing the fist system of
psychotherapy.