Sigmund Freud

1. Sigmund Freud

2. Aims & Objectives Aim: • To consider the background to Freud’s key study Objectives: • Be able to explain the Oedipus & Electra complex • Be able to describe the 5 stages of psycho sexual development

3. Methods • People are not aware of their unconscious mind therefore Freud could not gain direct access to it by what people told him • He believed sometimes people gave information away when they were not thinking (Freudian slips) • He also used dream analysis & free association to try & access the unconscious

4. Oedipus Complex • Freud began treating his patients using these techniques • His patients were mainly female as they suffered more with hysteria • He found many of them revealed histories of sexual abuse as children during the course of their therapy • Such high incidences of sexual abuse and the resulting abnormality was difficult for Victorian societies to accept • Many of the audiences that Freud presented his ideas to were middle class gentlemen who objected to the suggestion that sexual abuse was common. • To make his ideas more palatable, Freud adapted his ideas into the ‘Oedipus complex’

5. What did Freud believe caused hysteria? • Why did Freud adapt his ideas?

6. Oedipus Complex • Oedipus is the hero in a Greek tragedy who kills his father and marries his mother – Freud suggests that this is every little boys fantasy! • His ‘Oedipus complex stated that the abuse (which caused the hysteria) was a fantasy in the mind of the child • If there was physical evidence of this abuse (e.g. a pregnancy) he said that the fantasy had become so powerful that the children had initiated the sexual contact! • His ideas were never very popular but he was the first psychologist to propose that early experience affects later development

7. The Oedipus Complex: • At between 3 & 5 years old boys become quite clingy to their mothers • Freud believed that this attachment becomes increasingly intense and causes the boys o regard their fathers as a rival • A young boy wants an exclusive relationship with his mother • He is jealous of his father for having a relationship with mother that seems to exclude him • He becomes afraid that his father will punish him for his feelings • Freud suggested that little boys suffer from castration anxiety – the ultimate punishment from the father!

8. The Oedipus Complex: • Freud claims that the boy deals with this by using a defensive process called sex role identification • The boy starts to identify with his father and repress any feelings he has for his mother into his unconscious • This serves to make sure his father does not punish him but also may make his mother like him more as he is now like his father!

9. Past exam Q on the Oedipus complex: • Describe the Oedipus conflict (2 marks) (For two mark you must relate to the relationship with both mother and father)

10. The Electra Complex The Electra complex is supposed to be the female equivalent which occurs in girls between the ages of 3 & 5 • The little girl will be very close to her mother when she is little until she discovers she doesn’t have a penis • This makes her feel inferior and she will blame her mother for allowing her to be castrated • She realises the one way she can feel equal to men is by producing a baby and so sees her father as a potential impregnator • She therefore transfers her affections from the mother to the father • Eventually the girl renounces her feelings for her father as she fears a loss of love from her mother

11. What is the name of the female equivalent of the Oedipus complex? • Why do little girls transfer their feelings from the father to the mother • What makes little girls renounce their feelings for her father?

12. Freud’s Development Theory • Freud’s theory is called the psychodynamic theory because he claimed that there are psychological forces (psycho) that move or drive us forwards (dynamic) to do things – these forces are innate • He believed that the development of a child’s personality is based on these 5 biological drives, which he called the psychosexual stages:

13. 1) The Oral Stage • 0 – 15 months • Main area of sensitivity are the lips and mouth. Baby gets pleasure from sucking swallowing, biting & chewing • If baby is weaned at the wrong time they will be come ‘orally fixated’’ – as adults they will have an excessive interest in oral gratification – become compulsive eaters, drinkers or smokers, chew nails, gum or pens

14. Anal Stage • Age 1-3 years • Sensitive area moves from mouth to anus – child becomes fascinated with faeces • During this stage child is potty trained • If parents are strict & over-anxious child becomes ‘anally retentive’ – obsessed with cleanliness & tidiness • If parents are extremely laid back child becomes ‘anally expulsive’ – over generous, untidy & indifferent to material possessions

15. Phallic Stage • Age 3-5 years • At this age children become fascinated with their genitals – they may play with their ‘bits’ and become inquisitive as to the differences between little boys & little girls • Oedipus/Electra complex develops • Problems result in lack of sex role identification

16. Latency stage • 5 years to puberty • Sexual drives removed from consciousness – ‘infantile amnesia’ • Redirects efforts to intellectual & social development • Problems at this stage can result in poor intellect & few friends

17. Genital Stage • Puberty onwards • Earlier drives re-immerge – genitals are again the centre of attention • Now adult expression of sexuality is shown through relationships with members of the opposite sex