Continuous Sexual Trajectory Essay

In the beginning of its development the libido (all erotic tendencies, all capacity for love) in each individual is directed towards the self…It is only until later that, in association with the chief natural functions, the libido flows over and beyond the ego towards objects outside the self, and it is not until then are we able to recognize the libidinal trends as such and distinguish them for the ego-instincts. (Freud, "One of the Difficulties to Psycho-Analysis," 3)

The unconscious mind houses the preconscious, a small section that houses material that is non-threatening, and easily brought to mind. But deeper in the unconscious mind are the instinctual drives, the wishes, desires, demands, and needs that are kept hidden from out conscious selves because of the conflicts and pain they would cause if they were brought to bear every day. Psychoanalytic personality theory tells us that the personality consists of three separate, but forever intermingling elements, id, ego, and superego. The id section of a personality is by far the largest, the only section that we are born with, and the section that contains the unconscious thoughts, it is raw, unorganized, and from the time of birth it tries to reduce tension caused by our primary drives. The ego, a section that develops soon after birth, balances the instinctual desires of the id and the realities of the outside world. Last of course is the superego, the final personality structure that is developed in childhood, and represent the rights and wrongs of society, contained within the superego is the conscience, the part of us that prevents us from behaving in a morally deplorable way and is responsible for guilt. Psychoanalytic personality theory is not without its virtues; Freud’s proposed five psychosexual stages – oral, anal, phallic-oedipal, latency and genital – are all supported in life.

Freud’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.

Freud primarily subscribed to the idea that there are two energies that drive human behavior. These two energies are sex – the pleasure principle and aggression. The human mind is comprised of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Within the realms of the mind, the human personality is controlled by the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is driven by the pleasure principle. The superego is the instinctual moral good, which aims to please the ego ideal, or the magnified moral values. The ego interacts with both the id and the superego and aims to please both components (Connors).

. Freud’s commitment to the theory of “Psycho-Sexual” development of the person stems from his own childhood memories. He was born into a family that lived in a small space, with his half-brothers that look like adults and a father that looked like a grandfather. At a very young age he would record his dreams that exposed his fantasies. I believe he was confused about sex growing up that he is confused about his feelings about sex. His commitment to his theory was to decipher what was appropriate for the different stages of life. In order for Freud to make his feelings seem “normal”, he opened up peoples’ minds about the thought of a person and their sexual accumulation.

Freud believed during this stage all needs are satisfied orally or through the mouth; for example, eating and drinking. The anal stage takes place during the second year of life. During this stage the battle between control and letting go begins. The phallic stage takes place during the third and fifth years of life. During this stage a child develops a fixation with the genitals. Freud’s psychosexual stages focus on developmental changes in the first 5 years of life and transformation of the id.

This research paper will compare and contrast two of the most influencial psychologists who helped shape the way we understand the development of the human mind; Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. The paper will focus on the similarities and differences between Freud’s Psycho-sexual theory, and Erikson’s psychosocial theory. Freud was one of the very first influencial psychologists who changed the way we study humans. Erikson recognized Freud’s contributions, and although he felt Freud misjudged some important dimensions of human development, he was still influenced by Freud, which caused some similarities in their theories.

Psychoanalytical theory of development originated from Sigmund Freud. This is considered the theory that created the foundation for which the other four theories developed (Polan E. & Taylor D.). Freud’s theory is based on the idea that development which occurs in the first six years of life occurs in three stages which are oral, anal phallic stage and are sexual pleasure centered. The oral stage pertains to the stimulation of the mouth which can be obtained through sucking during infancy. The anal stage pertains to the stimulation of the anus which can relate to the awareness of using the bathroom through potty training during early childhood ages of development. The phallic stage pertains to the

He said child development is described as a series of 'psychosexual stages. Freud outlined these stages as oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Each stage involves the satisfaction of a libidinal desire and can later play a role in adult personality. If a child does not successfully complete a stage, Freud suggested that he or she would develop a fixation that would later influence adult personality and behavior.

Freud argued that an individual’s instinctual drive was sexually orientated. In the same way that “hunger seeks nutrition,

Freud created five stages of psychosexual development that includes the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital phases. The oral stage begins at birth and lasts until approximately age one. Throughout the first phase, Freud believed that, the sex instinct was centered on the mouth. Often infants derive pleasure from oral activities such as chewing, sucking, biting, or feeding activities. Moreover, Freud thought that if a child was weaned off the mother’s breast too early their adult personality characteristics might crave close contact and become an overly dependent spouse

From a Freudian perspective human development is based on psychosexual theory. From a psychosexual perspective maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). Ultimately, Freud believed that sex was the most important instinct and any mental disturbance revolved around sexual conflicts that were suppressed from childhood. Furthermore, Freud believed that parents permitting too much or too little gratification of sexual needs led

In the textbook, the authors discuss Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in which, according to Freud, individuals acted out their desires and behaviors in response to a mental system made up of the ego, superego, and id (Cervone & Pervin, 2013). The ego seeks reality. On one hand the ego wants to meet the desires of the id, but at the same time the ego also wants to satisfy the demands of the superego. The superego controls the moral and social acceptable aspects of an individual’s behavior. The id is the part of the system that functions under the pleasure principle. Simply put, the id wants to achieve pleasure and it wants to avoid pain. Individuals entered states were they would seek to relive tension and to achieve pleasure. These states are called instincts or drives.

This contributed to Freud’s idea of ‘object-choice’ and ‘homosexuality in children’ suggesting that most children have homosexual tendencies as they are only acquainted with one kind of genital organ. Freud intimates that because little Hans had a widdler, and gave so much importance to it, he chose to have this ‘familiar feature’ as his sexual object. It is also important to note that in his future development he demonstrated ‘an energetic masculinity with traits of polygamy; he knew how to vary his behaviour, too, with his varying feminine objects—audaciously aggressive in one case, languishing and bashful in another. His affection had moved from his mother on to other objects of love, but at a time when there was a scarcity of these it returned to her.’

At the age of 40 in 1896, Sigmund Freud introduced the world to a new term- psychoanalysis (Gay 1). Psychoanalysis is a method of treating patients with different nervous problems by involving them in dialogues which provide the physician with insight into the individual’s psyche. These dialogues provided the basis for Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which “attempts to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges” (Weiten 363). Part of this theory involves the structure of the mind. This is a concept that touches