Republic of the Philippines
CEBU NORMAL UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE STUDIES
Osmena Boulevard, Cebu City
Child and Adolescent Psychology
GC 4012
GILBERT D. MIRA
MAGC
Sat. 3:00 – 6:00 PM
MS. MESHEL B. BALIJON, RGC, MA
Instructor
Psychoanalytic Theories
Sigmund Freud
Introduction
Psychoanalytic theory refers to the definition and dynamics of personality development. This
theory originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. Through his clinical work with patients
suffering from mental illness, Freud came to believe that childhood experiences and unconscious
desires influenced behavior. Based on his observations, he developed a theory that described
development in terms of a series of psychosexual stages. According to Freud, conflicts that occur
during each of these stages can have a lifelong influence on personality and behavior. His study
then included recognizing childhood events that could potentially lead to the mental functioning of
adults.
S t r u c t u r a l T h e o r y – Tripartite theory postulated the existence of the id, ego, and
superego.
Id
The id is the first structure to develop. It contains all the drives that people have. These
are the drives for pleasure. If humans have instincts, this is where they are. The id wants
its wishes immediately and directly fulfilled. The id is governed by the pleasure
principle, which suggests that all processes operate to achieve the maximum amount of
pleasure. Also, the id is almost completely unconscious and no awareness of reality.
Ego
The ego is the second structure to develop. It mediates among id, superego and reality.
The ego tries to reconcile the wishes of the id, and the moral attitudes of the superego.
That reconciliation may entail that the ego postpone the immediate gratification
demanded by the id for later, and greater, gratification. The ego is in touch with reality,
and provides reality testing, which is thinking about what the best course of action is to
attain goals of the id and superego. The ego operates on reality principle, which suggests
that the person gets as much satisfaction from the world as possible. It monitors the
quality of interpersonal relations. The ego defends against anxiety and reacts to protect
the individual from any stressors and anxiety by distorting reality. Finally, the ego is the
conscious mind.
Ego Defense Mechanisms
Freud suggested there were habits of thought that people use to protect their minds from anxiety.
Some of the important defense mechanisms are:
Repression: keeps anxiety arousing thoughts out of consciousness. Repression may be
voluntary or involuntary. There is clinical evidence for repression in cases of multiple
personality disorder, where one persona does not have access to another persona. Some
suggestions have been made that multiple personalities develop because a person
experiences bad events and deals with those events by creating another persona that has
not suffered them.
Also, post-traumatic disorders, such a shell-shock, suggest that person have experiences
that they have not completely thought out, and would prefer not to completely think out.
So, those experiences are repressed, or pushed out of the person's consciousness.
Identification: occurs when the person symbolically represents himself with (in) another
person. The person then models his behavior on that other person's behavior.
Projection: a person attributes his own threatening or worrisome traits/impulses to
another person, so as to ignore or overlook those traits/impulses in him.
Rationalization: attribute to oneself a noble motive for an action rather than the real
motive that is not so noble. I gave money to the charity because I am a generous person,
rather than thinking I gave money to the charity, because they will list my name as one of
the donors, and I will get a tax deduction for my contribution.
Superego
The superego is the third structure to develop. It contains all of the moral lessons the
person has learned in his life. The superego is driven by morality principle. This is the
internalized voice of authority. Freud suggested that usually the moral lessons a person
has in their superego were learned from their parents, although as the person gets older
the lessons may be learned from others as well. Self-criticism and self-punishment are
based on moral values, while self-praise is based on ego ideal. Our conscience is in the
superego. This is also where we have a notion of what our ideal person is. Most functions
are unconscious.
Libido Theory
Libido was Freud's word for psychic and sexual energy.
Libido theory assumes that biological “needs” (drives) fuel behavior.
The aim of behavior is to gratify the drive.
Drives are either sexual or aggressive in nature.
The libido theory explains that the sexual instinct plays an etiological role in the neuroses
and that sexual stimulation exerts a predominant force (which is called libido) on mental
activity throughout life.
The discharge of libido is experienced as pleasure.
T o p o g r a p h i c a l T h e o r y - explains three regions of mental functioning or systems of
the mind exist as defined by their relationship to conscious thought:
The Conscious Mind
This level of mind refers to the segment of mental activity and content that is
directly available to immediate perception. It includes everything that we are
aware of. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk
about rationally.
The Preconscious Mind
It refers to mental content and processes that are not conscious but can be readily
accessed by the direction of attention. Preconscious mind is the ordinary memory,
which is not always part of consciousness but can be recovered easily at any time
and brought into our awareness.
The Unconscious Mind
It is a portion of the mind of which a person is not aware. Unconscious mind is a
reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our conscious
awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or
unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud, the
unconscious continues to influence our behavior and experience, even though we
are unaware of these underlying influences.
Freud believes the unconscious also contains laws of transformation, this being
the principles that govern the processes of repression and sublimation. In other
words, the unconscious has the ability to make the relation between childhood
memories and adult behavior intelligible. Freud distinguishes repression from
sublimation - the rechanneling of drives toward a socially acceptable end.
Psychoanalytic theory of the conscious and unconscious mind is often explained using an iceberg metaphor.
Conscious awareness is the tip of the iceberg, while the unconscious is represented by the ice hidden below the
surface of the water.
Image by historicair
Theory of Narcissism
Narcissism refers to excessive love or admiration of oneself or self-love.
The term also refers to the erotic pleasure derived from contemplation or admiration of
one's own body or self, especially as a fixation on or a regression to an infantile stage of
development.
Which emerge in normal human development.
Primary narcissism refers to a state in which the desire and energy that drives one’s
instinct to survive.
Secondary narcissism occurs when the libido withdraws from objects outside the self,
above all the mother, producing a relationship to social reality that includes the potential
for megalomania.
Problems in the transition from one to the other can lead to pathological narcissistic
disorders in adulthood.
Insights:
Freudian theories emphasized the importance of childhood and the unconscious mind. He
believed that adult problems can be traced to unresolved conflicts from certain phases of
childhood and adolescence. He also explained the defense mechanisms and why every individual
reacts differently. However, the theory overemphasizes the role of sexuality in human
psychological development. It focused on pathology and it is gender biased and homophobic.
Freud failed to include evidence of the impact of the environment on the individual.
References:
Books:
Plotnic, Rod. Introduction to Psychology, McGraw-Hill 2000
Laplanche, J. & Pontalis, J. B. (1974). The Language of Psycho-Analysis, Edited by W.
W. Norton & Company,
Parke, Ross D., et. al. Child Psychology A Contemporary Viewpoint. Singapore.
McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2009
Internet:
http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/freud_stage.htm
Freud S.(1914). On narcissism: An introduction. SE, 14: 67-102.
http://www.questia.com/library/psychology/child-and-adolescent-psychology/
childpsychology
Image:http://allpsych.com/images/iceberg.gif
