Sigmund Freud's Theory Of Psychoosexual Development

1724 Words4 Pages

Sigmund Freud was one of the original pioneers in the field of Psychology. The work that he accomplished throughout his lifetime laid a foundation for many theorists after him. The theorists that worked in Psychology, after Freud, were able to form their own thoughts, ideas, and hypotheses about the human mind after learning from his work. Sigmund Freud’s major contribution in the field of Psychology was his theory about the human psyche; which he called the Id, the Ego, and the Super-Ego. This theory was based on the human personality and its formation. Many of Freud’s analysis strategies became common practice in the field of Psychology and are still used today. Sigmund Freud will always be one of the most influential figures in the …show more content…

Freud believed that humans develop through stages based on particular erogenous zones. Freud theorized that to gain a healthy personality as an adult, a person would have to successfully complete a certain sequence of five stages. Within the five stages of Freud’s psychosexual development theory, Freud assumed there would be major consequences if any stage was not completed successfully. The stages, in order, were the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage. In general, Freud believed that an unsuccessful completion of any stage would make a person become fixated on that particular stage. The outcome would lead the person to either over indulge or under indulge the failed stage during adulthood. Freud truly believed that the outcomes of the psychosexual stages played a major part in the development of the human personality. Eventually, these outcomes would become different driving forces in every human being’s personality. The driving forces would determine how a person would interact with the world around them. The results from Freud’s theory about the stages of psychosexual development led Freud to create the concept of the human psyche; Freud’s biggest contribution to …show more content…

I believe this is only because they have never studied the mental phenomena of hypnosis and dreams.” By this statement, Freud’s past studies allowed him to accept and be aware of the Ego’s difficult job. This awareness led him to expand his theory of the Ego. He felt that the Ego used, what he called, “the Ego’s Defense Mechanisms.” When the Ego has a difficult time maintaining balance, Freud felt that the Ego would use one or more defense mechanisms to maintain balance. “Freud’s lists of the Ego’s Defense Mechanisms are: • Denial – arguing against an anxiety provoking stimuli by stating it doesn 't exist • Displacement – taking out impulses on a less threatening target • Intellectualization – avoiding unacceptable emotions by focusing on the intellectual aspects of a situation • Projection – placing unacceptable impulses in yourself onto someone else • Rationalization – supplying a logical or rational reason as opposed to the real reason • Reaction Formation – taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety • Regression – returning to a previous stage of

Open Document