One of the most famous psychoanalysts, the author of the theory of psychosexual development - Sigmund Freud. The main idea of his assumption is the fact that personality begins to form from an early age. Currently, the theory has become widespread, is actively used in practice, at the same time being the subject of controversy. The psychosexual theory of the development of Z. Freud implies the successive passage by a person of several stages, within which the energy directed to the search for satisfaction is concentrated in a number of erogenous zones. This energy, as follows from Freud’s reasoning, is the main incentive for a person to behave in some way.
Step by step
The stages proposed by Z. Freud in the theory of psychosexual development are five successive stages. These include: oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital.
From the very beginning
The first begins oral - from the moment when a person is born, and until approximately one year of age. At this stage, the most significant erogenous site is the child's mouth. Its exceptional importance is due to the supply of food. At the same time, a growing person can receive satisfaction of varying degrees of severity, including tasting. At this stage of psychosexual personality development highlighted by Freud, a person is in absolute dependence on the caregiver. This leads to the formation of confidence, a sense of comfort.
The key conflict of this stage of psychosexual development according to Sigmund Freud is the transition to a new diet, weaning from the mother’s breast. A child is less dependent on the person caring for him. At the same time, fixing the situation would cause hostility, could provoke the emergence of dependence. By fixing the baby near the chest, the adult will provide him with many difficulties with nutrition in the future. There are also certain problems with tobacco smoking, the habit of biting nails.
Second step
Upon reaching the age of one, the child enters the anal stage of the psychosexual development of the personality. Z. Freud in his theory pointed out: this period lasts until approximately three years of age. The erogenous zone is the control of the bladder, the functioning of the abdomen. The emphasis of libido is on controlling the functions of the bladder, as well as bowel movements. The main task of the child is to learn to control such processes, thereby taking the next step on the path to gaining independence.
As Freud pointed out, in the second step of development, success is determined by the help of seniors in learning new functions. The task of parents is to praise successful attempts in order to let the child know the feeling of being capable, productive. The positive results of the second stage of development are the basis for the harmonious development of the individual. This stage of psychosexual development, highlighted by Z. Freud, becomes the basis of creativity, human performance in the future.
Note
It so happened that a well-functioning theory is far from always in practice being just as effective. Not every child receives sufficient support from the older generation, many think that punishment and ridicule will be much more effective educational tools.
As follows from Freud's theory of psychosexual development, overly early education of a child in using a toilet is unreasonable, as it leads to the acquisition of personality traits such as rigidity, hardness, rigor, insanity, and excessive cleanliness. Too condescending attitude during the training period can cause a tendency to dirt, wastefulness, excessive personality.
Stage Three
As he reaches the age of three, the child goes to the next stage of psychosexual personality development mentioned in Freud’s doctrine - the phallic one. The average length of a period is up to six years. The organs of the reproductive system become an erogenous site, attention is concentrated on the genitals. In this period comes the primary awareness of the difference between the sexes from each other. According to the ideas of the mentioned psychoanalyst, a male child already in this period begins to see a competitor in his father. The object of competition is the relationship with the mother. All these feelings are fully disclosed by the Oedipus complex. Freud made the assumption of castration anxiety associated with the possible punishment on the part of the father.
According to Freud, little girls at this stage of psychosexual development of the child are characterized by the Electra complex. At the same time, the scientist believed that many already in the period of younger children begin to experience the absence of a male penis. These feelings can haunt a woman all her life.
Fourth step
This stage of psychosexual development according to Freud is briefly called latent. It begins as you reach the age of six and lasts until puberty comes. At this stage, there is a lull in libido, no activity. The stage begins at the time a child enters a general education institution. For the first time, a baby becomes interested in interacting with peers. At this time, hobbies, various activities enter into life.
Considering the essence of this stage of psychosexual development according to Sigmund Freud, we can call it the research period during which libido exists, but is aimed at various aspects, social interaction. Freud did not deny the presence of sexual harassment in this component. The formation of personality, the fourth development step, as the psychoanalyst claimed, lays the ability to communicate, becomes the basis for the development of social skills and qualities, and also allows the individual to gain self-confidence.
Fifth stage
This psychosexual stage of personality development according to Z. Freud is called genital, begins in a sexually mature period and continues until death. Libido awakens, becomes active. The final stage of development gives a person increased sexual activity relative to the opposite sex. The sexually mature period is accompanied by the development of feelings, their growth as they grow older.
If all the stages of psychosexual development indicated by Freud, fixation and regression of these stages are completed successfully, safely, the person becomes full-fledged. He will have a Nordic personality, the ability to take care of others. The main task of all steps in general and the final one in particular is to achieve equilibrium interaction of different life aspects, harmony.
Theory features
The erogenous zones that Freud spoke about are the sexual goals of a person at different stages of development. The scientist considered the processes of personality formation, characteristics, as well as the root causes of internal conflicts. In his theory there are many precisely defined ways of improving the personality, and conflict is one of them. From step to step, a person moves through conflict; without it, the emergence of a new personality structure is impossible. Two sides of the conflict - attraction and difficulty in achieving the desired, environment and hereditary. Contradiction as a basis for improvement is the center of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development. The psychoanalyst asserted that, according to the desires and possibilities, a person will not be able to develop.
Step One: Sub Phases
The oral stage of development can be divided into two additional, following each other. In the first six months of life, a person experiences a stage called oral-incorporated. At this moment, the main personality trait is autoeroticism. Man does not need external objects in order to satisfy his attraction. Another important personality trait is global narcissism. Sexual attraction is turned strictly on itself, the basic principle is the achievement of pleasure, while the child is not able to separate himself from his mother. Enjoyment is achievable if you suckle the mother’s breast, and the conflict, which can cause neurotization, becomes artificial feeding.
Further, psychosexual development (according to Freud) enters a phase called oral-sadistic. Usually it begins after reaching the age of six months and lasts until the age of one. During this period, the child is gradually weaned from feeding mother's milk and make more intervals between meals. Eating behavior is more clearly regulated, regulated by adults, the norms are imposed, so getting pleasure becomes more difficult. Unhindered pleasure is no more; reality takes its place; the mother temporarily leaves the child, and he remains alone. Such an experience becomes the basis for the formation of the human ego. There are boundaries through which a person is separated from external conditions, objects.
Step Features
The oral-sadistic stage of psychosexual development is accompanied by an ambivalent attitude towards the mother. Masochism, sadism acquire a biological, psychological foundation. The first teeth begin to appear in the child, along with them - a new way of studying the world around him, and the teeth become a tool tested on the mother. Thus, at the same time a woman brings pleasure, but you can punish her. The mother moves away from the child, transferring him to artificial nutrition, which is both a negative factor and an incentive for the development and determination of personality. If the resolution of the conflict is ineffective, the development processes go astray, fixation and repression take effect, which provokes the formation of a neurotic syndrome.
The displacement mechanism that is formed at the stage of psychosexual development under consideration is most often a lump in the throat, vomiting due to hysteria. Fixation - the formation of a clear connection between the mouth and pleasure, which becomes in the future the cause of excessive consumption of food, smoking. Such people like to kiss, often drink. Libido is fixed in the oral stage. If this happens at an early stage, a person becomes gullible beyond measure, and in the future will be a victim of deceivers. Others are too carefree, do not understand the responsibility and are confident that in any situation a third person will come to the rescue, able to cope with all the problems. If fixation occurs at a later stage of development, a person becomes hostile and distrustful, can be greedy and demanding. As a rule, he is characterized by dissatisfaction in any situation.
Anal phase: two subphases
The first phase of the anal stage of personality development according to Freud is called anal-sadistic and lasts about six months. At this time, the opposition of elders and minors was especially actively expressed. Pain and tension become a source of pleasure for the younger one, due to which sadomasochistic inclinations can develop. The reason for this is an attempt to resist the elders.
From about a year and a half, the retention phase begins. This stage of personality development according to Freud is called anal retentive. The child can already control the functionality of his body, as well as the environment, let go and hold it. Reality begins to relate to pleasure, and the ego becomes a method of controlling relationships with the environment. The child tests the world around him, examining it for satisfaction of desires.
When fixed in this phase, a person can become stubborn, stubborn, mean, economical, he may have a love of collecting and accumulating. The second option is the tendency to resist, stubbornness, as well as pronounced negativity. Sometimes fixation becomes the cause of pleasure from punishment. At the same time, sex drive is distorted. As a rule, enuresis is observed.
Phallic phase: features
It is at this stage of psychosexual development according to Z. Freud that for the first time an incestuous interest is formed in a child. The boy has an unconscious sexual desire for the woman who gave birth to him, and at the same time a desire is born to get rid of the father in whom the opponent is seen. With a positive version of the Oedipus complex, the attitude towards the father is twofold, hostility accompanies admiration for the strength of the individual, which accompanies the tender attraction for the main woman in the life of the child. However, it is limited by the prohibitions established by public life, and the interaction is strictly regulated by the rules, which affects the tactile aspect, affection, sleep nearby. The complex is resolved through the rejection of attraction, increasing the correlation of himself and his father.
According to Z. Freud, an important role is played by the tribal human memory, preserved from primitive times, at this stage of psychosexual development. When resolving, the complex gives the child a Super-Self, a structure whose characteristics are determined by how quickly and efficiently the complex was resolved. The superego includes norms, rules of society, ideals and limitations. In the negative version, the child feels hatred towards the woman, loves his father, and in the future this may cause manifestation of same-sex attraction. If the Oedipus complex is weak, the Super-I is also formed weak, which may pursue the period of growing up. The Oedipus complex often persists for a long time in women, since they do not have a fear of the castration procedure.
Adolescence: features
In accordance with the division of the stage of psychosexual development according to Freud, at this time there is a stage when the balance of the forces of the psyche is disturbed, which leads to consequences that vary significantly in severity. A rollback to the previous steps is possible, when a teenager is not able to cope with the pressure of the internal aspects of the personality. Some refuse to eat, which shows a regression to the oral step. A similar disorder will indicate the desire to smoke, drink alcohol, eat too much. Too strong an addiction to order or its complete disregard, untidiness can talk about a rollback to the anal stage.
Adolescents, as can be seen from the doctrine of the stages of psychosexual development according to Freud, are characterized by cruelty, aggressive behavior, including aggression directed at themselves, which can cause a suicidal attempt. In addition, in this period, disorders of the emotional background and an increased tendency to anxiety are especially frequent. The psychoanalyst singled out asceticism, intellectualism, and denial of sexual attraction as ways of protecting oneself through a manner of behavior. In our time, escapism is widespread, in which a teenager plunges into the world of virtuality, dreams and fantasies, for which he is ready to resort to drugs and other stimulants.
Violations and Progress
According to the division at the stage of psychosexual development according to Freud, the stage called genital may be accompanied by some violations, as a result of which the personality is formed narcissistic, homosexual. Feminism is inherent for the fairer sex, men have a statement of career values in the first place, as well as activities in society instead of striving for a family. In addition, such people prefer representatives of their gender. But with the narcissistic version, a person becomes a pronounced individualist, narcissistic and incapable of close, high-quality interaction with other participants in society.
It is worth noting: the division at the stage of psychosexual development according to Freud made it possible to understand exactly how strongly the family and the social environment influence personality formation. The importance of communication with other people, the importance of the childhood period, including the earliest stages, for the formation and formation of a full-fledged person is shown.
Freud continued to develop the idea, focusing on the theory of a two-factor paradigm, as well as recognizing the importance of the activity of a growing person in the framework of personal determination. Similar theories along with him were promoted by Ma-Ler, Winnicott. It is impossible not to mention the importance of Jung's contribution, which examined the problems of a mature personality, Adler, on the basis of whose teachings a humanistic approach to the education of the younger generation was formed.
About the author of the idea: successes and theories of Freud
Sigmund Freud is rightfully considered one of the most famous psychoanalysts, psychologists, who have ever existed in our world. , , . , .
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Presumably, the relationship between the scientist and his follower has deteriorated due to differences in the assessment of libido. Many also point to Sabina Shpilreyn, a Jewess from Russia who chose Jung as a psychotherapist. The woman not only received treatment, but also got in touch with her doctor and talked about fantasies in letters to Freud. It was in them that she wrote about a possible son who was supposed to be born from Jung and save humanity, since she would embody the dignity of both Aryans and Jews. At the end of 1911, she joined the Vienna Society of Psychoanalysts as part of a meeting that became the moment of the exclusion of Adler and several other people from this organization. This story became the basis of the theory of love transfer, formulated by Freud later.
Step by step
Not only Freud was engaged in the development of a system that would combine the characteristics of libido and psychosomatic disorders. Many of his followers worked on the formation and development of such a theory, including his daughter. Anna devoted her life to the laws of personality formation of the younger generation and established: sexual development corresponds to the establishment of aggressive personality. So, the oral stage is accompanied by bites, the anal - by sadism, the phallic - by arrogance, and the teenage - by disocial phenomena.
At each stage, there is a certain conflict of instinct and external restrictions associated with the social structure. The child develops irregularly, the process cannot be gradual, there is regular waste backward and progress substantially forward. Conditionally, Freud described this as a step back two steps forward. This allows you to gradually socialize: pleasures give way to real conditions. Internal principles require seeking pleasure, but desires can be satisfied only through external power, with the mother playing the key role. Her love, tastes, mood, hostility - all this to an impressive extent determines the development of the child, and the most beloved child develops most quickly.
Will the process end?
It is impossible to call a child mature if his desires dominate his personality, and the outside world decides whether to satisfy them or refuse them - be it father, mother, outsiders. The principle of pleasure requires getting what you want, regardless of the price you have to pay for it. This can lead to a tendency to behave antisocially. If the actions are due to reality, attention is paid to the requirements of the outside world, a person can become an adult. To do this, he must learn to analyze, make decisions and evaluate intentions. At the same time, following reality as a fundamental principle of behavior, a person may not meet the requirements of society.
Freud spoke of asociality in a child, developing under the influence of normal aspects of life during adulthood - jealousy, selfish goals, greed. Some protective mechanisms are inherent in the human psyche, due to which the aspirations most condemned by society are not recognized, while others are transformed into the opposite directed to another object, projected onto another person. Socialization becomes a long and difficult process, but its successful passage allows you to get involved in society.