This is an article describing Freud’s theories, including the divisions of the mind, the five stages of development and the five defense mechanisms
Freud’s theory of the divisions of the mind is the idea of three different ways of thinking through the unconscious and conscious that all interact, that include the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.
The Id is comprised of instinctual drives people are born with. It runs on the pleasure principle, and does not distinguish between reality and fantasy. The Id is described as the devil and it lies in the unconscious.
Ones Ego develops from the Id, it understands reality and logic and is often called the mediator between the Id and the Superego. The Ego represents the self and the conscious.
One’s Superego is described as the angel, it lies in the precociousness and is made up of internalization of society’s moral standards and feelings of guilt.
Freud also has a theory of five stages of psychosexual development, which people all go through during their lifetime, some get stuck in a certain stage which he calls being fixated.
From birth until age one is the oral stage. In the oral stage one’s mouth is associated with sexual pleasure, if one is fixated it will lead to oral activities such as smoking, and being dependent and needy.
The second stage is the anal stage from age one to three. The anus is associated with pleasure, and toilet training if done incorrectly can lead to one being fixated and cause problems in behavior in adulthood this can affect how generous or stingy a person can be in life and relationships.
The phallic stage from age three to five is the third stage. The focus is pleasure from the genitals. It involves the Oedipus and Electra complex. The Electra complex consists of the idea that girls are jealous of guys based on the fact a girl does not posses a penis. Oedipus complex is based on the thought that girls fall in love with men similar to their fathers, and boys fall in love with women that remind them of their mothers. Being fixated in this stage could lead to excessive masculinity, and need for attention or domination.
The fourth stage in the psychosexual stages of development, is called the latency stage. It spans from age five to puberty. During this stage sexual desire is repressed, and friend ships emerge. This continues into building social ability.
The last stage is called the genital stage, it is from puberty onwards. Sexual feelings are now directed towards others and fixated adults are stuck in earlier stages. Many more people are stuck in earlier stages without even being aware of it.
(source:http://cartoonsmix.com/)
The other part of Freud’s theory is five defense mechanisms people use every day which are unconscious mental processes that come from the Ego in order to reduce anxiety.
- The first one is called sublimation, it is to displace activities that are valued by society.
- Displacement,, which is the redirecting of shameful thoughts to more appropriate things.
- Projection is reducing anxiety by attributing unacceptable impulses to someone else.
- Rationalization is when a person tries to reason away anxiety producing thoughts.
- The last defense mechanism is regression, to retreat to a mode of behavior characteristic of an earlier stage of development.
Thanks so much for reading, stop by my page if you are into Philosophy, Culture, Art, Communication and Music,
-Brado
@brado