In 1900, Sigmund Freud, a neurologist living in Vienna, first published his psychoanalytic theory of personality in which the unconscious mind played a crucial role. Freud combined the then current cognitive notions of consciousness, perception and memory with ideas of biologically based instincts, to make a bold new theory of psychodynamics. Freud’s theory, which forms the basis of the psychodynamic approach, represented a challenge and a major alternative to behaviourism. Freud’s theory of personality was based on the assumption that all our behaviour stems from the unconscious processes.
He divided the personality into three different parts. The id, the ego and the superego, which are often in conflict. The id operates on the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification. The ego obeys the reality principle and plans for the future. The superego is conscious and makes us aware of moral standards. Freud believed that people have a continuous stream of psychic energy. He called this constant psychic energy the libido, reflecting that the sex drive was a primary life instinct (Eros).
Freud later believed we were driven by the death drive (Thantos), which is energy manifest in aggression. If a forbidden act or impulse is repressed, the energy will seek an other outlet, such as in dreams or neurotic symptoms. Freud believed we went through several personality developmental stages in the primary years. He called these stages the psychosexual stages. During each stage the pleasure seeking impulses of the id focus on a particular area of the body. The first year of life, Freud called the oral stage. Babies derive pleasure from sucking and nursing.
The second stage was termed the anal stage. Freud believed infants derived pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces. At the age of three the child derives pleasure from fondling his or her genitals. Freud called this the phallic stage. During the phallic stage the child reaches a conflict called the Oedipal conflict. He describes this in the case of a boy whose sexual impulses are directed towards his mother. This leads him to perceive his father as a rival for affections. The boy fears the father will retaliate by castration.
This anxiety is thought to be the basis of all later anxieties. The Oedipal conflict resolves at the latency period, which lasts from the age of seven to twelve. During this time children become less concerned with their bodies and turn their attention to life skills. Finally, adolescence and puberty bring about the genital stage, the mature phase of adult sexuality. Freud’s theory of child development seems to put to much importance on body-parts and the sexual nature of child development. In particular he seems to have put to much importance on the Oedipus conflict.
Freud conducted a case study in a five-year-old boy named Hans. Hans had a phobia of being bitten by a horse. Freud used his theory of the Oedipus conflict to interpret his phobia as an unconscious fear of being castrated by his father. It is worth mentioning that Hans father was a follower and supporter of Freud’s ideas. Furthermore, the boy’s mother often used threats of violence or abandonment to curb the boy’s behaviour. The mother of Hans once threatened to cut of his penis. It seems the mother was the aggressor not the father.