Psychodynamic Theory Flashcards
What did Freud believe?
Children are born with a libido (sexual urge)
What did Freud say during childhood?
That there are a number of stages which the child seeks pleasure form a different object.
What do we need to do to be psychologically healthy?
Successfully compete each stage
What happens if a stage isn’t competed successfully?
Mental abnormality
Person becomes fixated
What are the psychosexual stages?
Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital
The oral stage
0-1 years
The mouth is the main focus of pleasure
Child enjoys tasting/sucking
Mothers breast is the object of desire
How is successful completion demonstrated in the oral stage?
By weaning/eating independently
What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the oral stage?
Oral aggressive personality - hostile and verbally abusive
Nail biting
Needy, sensitive to rejection
Smoking
The anal stage
1-3 years
Defecation is the main source of pleasure
How is successful completion shown in the anal stage?
Potty training
What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the anal stage?
Stingy
Compulsive seeking of order and tidiness
Stubborn
Perfectionist
The phallic stage
3-5 years
Main form of pleasure is the genital area
Oedipus complex
Electra complex
Who proposed the Oedipus complex?
Freud
When does the Oedipus complex happen?
Around age 3/4
What happens in the Oedipus complex?
The boy begins for desire the mother and wants compete attention from her.
The father will be the rival
What does the Oedipus complex create for the boy?
Anxiety and repressed fear that the father will castrate him
How is the Oedipus complex eventually resolved?
By boys identification with father, a superego is formed
Who proposed the Electra complex?
Carl Jung (Freud’s student)
When does the Electra complex happen?
During phallic stage
What happens during the Electra complex?
The girl desires her father, she realises she doesn’t have a penis.
What does a girl desiring her father lead to?
Development of penis envy and desire to be a boy.
How is the Electra complex resolved?
Girl repressing the desire for father and substituting the wish for a penis with a wish for a baby.
What has Freud claimed?
Girls blamed mothers for castrated stage which creates tension
Why are the feelings of a girls desire for a penis repressed?
To remove tension. The girl identifies with the mother and internalises her gender identity so it becomes her own.