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Kayla Stone
EDUC 121- Child and Adolescent Development
Constance Deardorf
December 11, 2014

Freudian Psychology

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist best known for his studies relevant to the
development of human mind, most explicitly through his developmental theory of
psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud Bio, 2014). Psychoanalysis, as defined by Freudian studies
entails an introspective analysis of a persons unconscious desires, most explicitly through the

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methodology of studying free association, rational/irrational impulses, primitive sexuality, and
ego (Sigmund Freud Bio, 2014). Although today, the basis of Freudian psychology is often
regarded as controversial due to its sexually saturated nature, historically Freudian psychology is
still revered as significant due to its groundbreaking exploration of the human subconscious.
Sigmund Freud was born in Freiburg, Moravia on May 6, 1856. Freud and his family
lived in Freiburg until he was four years old, and then relocated to Vienna out of war-related
concerns (Thorton, 2012). It is in Vienna that Freud would later establish the grouping of
students that would comprise his first school of psychoanalytic psychology. Freuds initial
interest in the human mind stemmed from his interest in biology during his time spent at the
University of Vienna (Thorton, 2012). To Freuds chagrin, he spent many of his early postcollege years practicing medicine at Vienna General Hospital. After establishing himself as a
notable medical professional, Freud spent the remainder of his years occupying himself with
private practices that allowed him to freely treat and diagnose psychological illnesses (Thorton,
2012).
Freuds initial development of psychoanalytic theory refined itself out of an observational
study that he conducted on a woman named Bertha Pappenheim (referred to as Anna O). As
Freud reports, Anna suffered from a vivid case of hysteria, a condition with characteristics Freud
attributed to repressed childhood trauma (McLeod, 2013). The physical manifestation of Anna
Os hysteria exhibited itself through the noted symptoms of hallucinations, convulsions, and
paralysis; all manifesting themselves without apparent physical reason (McLeod, 2013). The
exhibition of these seemingly causeless physical ailments led Freud to propose a theory asserting
that physical ailments arise as surface manifestations resultant of unresolved repressed emotional
conflicts (McLeod, 2013). Ultimately, Freuds continual observation of cases similar to that of

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Anna O led him to devise the theory of psychoanalysis, which sought to understand his proposed
three levels of the unconscious mind; the id, ego, and superego.
Through the proposed concept of the three levels of the mind, Freud began to most
explicitly associate the workings of the human mind with the concepts of divisive primitive
instincts and sexual drives that serve as principle working forces of the essential psyche
(Thornton, 2012). Alongside the three levels of the mind (id, ego, superego), Freud proposed that
two governing categories of subconscious human instinct exist in the forms of drives seeking to
both preserve and destroy the essential self (Thornton, 2012). The id, the most impulsive of the
three levels, contains Eros, the life instinct. According to Freud, Eros helps the individual
maintain impulses that allow for comfortable survival such as eating, drink and sexual activity.
This realm of energy for Freud created the concept of libido, or an urgent drive. Contrastingly,
Thanatos, the death instinct reflects the self-destructive nature of mans subconscious desires that
often emulates itself in the form of external aggression. Freud ultimately rationalized that the
force of Eros presides over the force of Thanatos in most people, which is why man usually
proves to be self-motivating as opposed to self-destructive (McLeod, 2013).
Freud describes the id, ego, and superego as being forces that manifest themselves most
distinctively at selective portions of mans life. According to Freudian psychology, the early
stages of the ego arise out of the id during infancy. The role of the ego is to combat the strictly
impulsive behaviors of the id, by maintaining an individuals balance of desire against reality
(McLeod, 2008.) The ego however, has no definitive conceptualization of morality, and for this
must depend upon the morally-definitive superego. Freudian psychology describes the superego
as being an individuals ideal self or more familiarly, the conscience. The superego appears to

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develop in children between the ages of 3-5, when they first are beginning to experience and
understand the rewards or consequences of their actions (McLeod, 2008).
In accompaniment to the three levels of mind as well as the two instinctual states of
being, Freud also devised a series of five stages of development to pattern the sexual
development of an individual to better explain human personality and conscious cognitive
functioning. Formally titled the five stages of psychosexual development, the contents of each
stage comprise of what is regarded as the most controversial work ever conducted by Freud due
to its highly sexualized nature in accordance to the discussion of child psychology (Sigmund
Freud Bio, 2014).
Freuds five psychosexual stages are as follows; oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Each stage focuses upon the deliverance of gratification at a subconsciously sexual level within
the perception of the individuals needs and desires. The oral stage occurs during infancy, and
individual pleasure is fixated upon oral gratification through thumb sucking and feeding
(McLeod, 2008). The anal stage occurs around the age of three, where a child learns to respond
to the demands of toilet training, and experiences pleasure from maintain control over their own
keeping and eventual release of bodily excrements (McLeod, 2008). During the phallic stage,
conscious pleasure becomes more complex as children begin to learn the structural and social
differences between men and women (Mcleod, 2008). While in the latency stage during
adolescence, sexual development continues, but at a relatively stagnant pace. During adulthood,
the final psychosexual stage is achieved in the genital stage, where the grown adult experiences
the fullest extent of sexual pleasure through the gratification of orgasmic release (McLeod,
2008).

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Alongside the development of psychosexual stages, Freud also attributed shifts in familial
relations as children age toward two stages of unconscious mind that he referred to as the
Oedipus (male) or Elektra (female) complex. Named for the Grecian figures who fell in love
with their own parents, the Oedipus and Elektra complexes account for the shift in behavior
when children begin to prefer one parent over the other (Himmat, 1997). In the instance of young
boys, Freud utilizes the Oedipus complex to describe the feelings of hostility or competitiveness
that boys may feel towards their fathers for swaying their mothers attention away from them
(Himmat, 1997). Similarly, Freud utilizes the Elektra complex to account for the resentment
young girls may develop towards their mothers for birthing them unequal to their male
counterparts, a sub-concept Freud rationalized to be phallic envy due to the alleged feelings of
biological inadequacy (Himmat, 1997)
Although controversial, and to some regard modernly incorrect, Sigmund Freud is still
regarded as one of the most important contributors to the early psychological world. Freuds
rationalizations allowed for future doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists to further examine
the possibility of underlying tension that may exist within a childs psyche that could resurface
during adulthood to manifest itself as unresolved personal turmoil. Despite the fact that his
speculative theories are met with excessive criticism for their absolute nature, Freud likely will
remain celebrated within the world of psychology for many years to come due to his presentation
of human sexuality and cognitive development in a paralleled, and distinctively alternative way
of thinking.

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References

Himmat, R. (1997, May 8). Sigmund Freud. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/freud.htm

McLeod, S. A. (2013). Freudian Psychology. Retrieved December 1, 2014 from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html

McLeod, S. A. (2008). Id, Ego and Superego. Retrieved November 30, 2014 from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html

Sigmund Freud Bio. (2014). A&E Bio. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from
http://www.biography.com/people/sigmund-freud-9302400

Thornton, S. (2012, March 14). Sigmund Freud: An Overview. Retrieved December 1, 2014,
from http://www.iep.utm.edu/freud/#H1