{"id":145,"date":"2014-09-18T05:21:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T05:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/lifespandevelopment1x1\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=145"},"modified":"2016-03-16T18:15:51","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T18:15:51","slug":"freuds-psychodynamic-theory","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/chapter\/freuds-psychodynamic-theory\/","title":{"raw":"Psychodynamic Theory","rendered":"Psychodynamic Theory"},"content":{"raw":"[caption id=\"attachment_562\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"293\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1496\/2014\/09\/18052126\/Freud.jpeg\"><img class=\"wp-image-562 \" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1496\/2014\/09\/18052126\/Freud.jpeg\" alt=\"Freud photograph. He has a stern look on his face, a short, white beard, and a cigar in his hand.\" width=\"293\" height=\"293\" \/><\/a> Sigmund Freud.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWe begin with the often controversial figure, Sigmund Freud.\u00a0Freud has been a very influential figure in the area of development; his view of development and psychopathology dominated the field of psychiatry until the growth of behaviorism in the 1950s.\u00a0His assumptions that personality forms during the first few years of life and that the ways in which parents or other caregivers interact with children have a long-lasting impact on children\u2019s emotional states have guided parents, educators, clinicians, and policy-makers for many years.\u00a0We have only recently begun to recognize that early childhood experiences do not always result in certain personality traits or emotional states.\u00a0There is a growing body of literature addressing resiliency in children who come from harsh backgrounds and yet develop without damaging emotional scars (O'Grady and Metz, 1987).\u00a0Freud has stimulated an enormous amount of research and generated many ideas.\u00a0Agreeing with Freud\u2019s theory in its entirety is hardly necessary for appreciating the contribution he has made to the field of development.\r\n<h2>Background<\/h2>\r\nSigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a Viennese M. D. who was trained in neurology and asked to work with patients suffering from hysteria, a conditioned marked my uncontrollable emotional outbursts, fears and anxiety that had puzzled physicians for centuries.\u00a0He was also asked to work with women who suffered from physical symptoms and forms of paralysis which had no organic causes.\u00a0During that time, many people believed that certain individuals were genetically inferior and thus more susceptible to mental illness.\u00a0Women were thought to be genetically inferior and thus prone to illnesses such as hysteria (which had previously been attributed to a detached womb which was traveling around in the body).\r\n\r\nHowever, after World War I, many soldiers came home with problems similar to hysteria.\u00a0This called into questions the idea of genetic inferiority as a cause of mental illness.\u00a0\u00a0Freud began working with hysterical patients and discovered that when they began to talk about some of their life experiences, particularly those that took place in early childhood, their symptoms disappeared.\u00a0This led him to suggest the first purely psychological explanation for physical problems and mental illness.\u00a0What he proposed was that unconscious motives and desires, fears and anxieties drive our actions.\u00a0When upsetting memories or thoughts begin to find their way into our consciousness, we develop defenses to shield us from these painful realities.\u00a0These <strong>defense mechanisms<\/strong> include denying a reality, repressing or pushing away painful thoughts, rationalization or finding a seemingly logical explanation for circumstances, projecting or attributing our feelings to someone else, or outwardly opposing something we inwardly desire (called reaction formation).\u00a0Freud believed that many mental illnesses are a result of a person\u2019s inability to accept reality.\u00a0<strong>Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behavior<\/strong>.\u00a0In our natural state, we are biological beings.\u00a0We are driven primarily by instincts.\u00a0During childhood, however, we begin to become social beings as we learn how to manage our instincts and transform them into socially acceptable behaviors.\u00a0The type of parenting the child receives has a very power impact on the child\u2019s personality development.\u00a0We will explore this idea further in our discussion of psychosexual development.\r\n<h2>Theory of the Mind<\/h2>\r\nFreud believed that most of our mental processes, motivations and desires are outside of our awareness.\u00a0Our consciousness, that of which we are aware, represents only the tip of the iceberg that comprises our mental state.\u00a0The preconscious represents that which can easily be called into the conscious mind.\u00a0During development, our motivations and desires are gradually pushed into the unconscious because raw desires are often unacceptable in society.\r\n<h2>Theory of the Self<\/h2>\r\nAs adults, our personality or self consists of three main parts: the <strong>id<\/strong>, the <strong>ego<\/strong> and the <strong>superego<\/strong>.\u00a0The ID is the part of the self with which we are born.\u00a0It consists of the biologically-driven self and includes our instincts and drives.\u00a0It is the part of us that wants\u00a0immediate gratification.\u00a0Later in life, it comes to house our deepest, often unacceptable desires such as sex and aggression.\u00a0It operates under the pleasure principle which means that the criteria for determining whether something is good or bad is whether it feels good or bad. An infant is all ID.The ego is the part of the self that develops as we learn that there are limits on what is acceptable to do and that often, we must wait to have our needs satisfied.\u00a0This part of the self is realistic and reasonable.\u00a0It knows how to make compromises.\u00a0It operates under the reality principle or the recognition that sometimes need gratification must be postponed for practical reasons.\u00a0It acts as a mediator between the Id and the Superego and is viewed as the healthiest part of the self.\r\n\r\nDefense mechanisms emerge to help a person distort reality so that the truth is less painful.\u00a0Defense mechanisms include repression which means to push the painful thoughts out of consciousness (in other words, think about something else).\u00a0Denial is basically not accepting the truth or lying to the self.\u00a0Thoughts such as \u201cit won\u2019t happen to me\u201d or \u201cyou\u2019re not leaving\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with alcohol\u201d are examples.\u00a0Regression refers to going back to a time when the world felt like a safer place, perhaps reverting to one\u2019s childhood.\u00a0This is less common than the first two defense mechanisms.\u00a0Sublimation involves transforming unacceptable urges into more socially acceptable behaviors.\u00a0For example, a teenager who experiences strong sexual urges uses exercise to redirect those urges into more socially acceptable behavior.\u00a0Displacement involves taking out frustrations on to a safer target.\u00a0A person who is angry at a boss may take out their frustration at others when driving home or at a spouse upon arrival.\u00a0Projection is a defense mechanism in which a person attributes their unacceptable thoughts onto others.\u00a0If someone is frightened, for example, he or she accuses someone else of being afraid.\u00a0Finally, reaction formation is a defense mechanism in which a person outwardly opposes something they inwardly desire, but that they find unacceptable.\u00a0An example of this might be homophobia or a strong hatred and fear of homosexuality.\u00a0This is a partial listing of defense mechanisms suggested by Freud.\u00a0If the ego is strong, the individual is realistic and accepting of reality and remains more logical, objective, and reasonable.\u00a0Building ego strength is a major goal of psychoanalysis (Freudian psychotherapy).\u00a0So for Freud, having a big ego is a good thing because it does not refer to being arrogant, it refers to being able to accept reality.\r\n\r\nThe superego is the part of the self that develops as we learn the rules, standards, and values of society.\u00a0This part of the self takes into account the moral guidelines that are a part of our culture.\u00a0It is a rule-governed part of the self that operates under a sense of guilt (guilt is a social emotion-it is a feeling that others think less of you or believe you to be wrong).\u00a0If a person violates the superego, he or she feels guilty.\u00a0The superego is useful but can be too strong; in this case, a person might feel overly anxious and guilty about circumstances over which they had no control.\u00a0Such a person may experience high levels of stress and inhibition that keeps them from living well.\u00a0The id is inborn, but the ego and superego develop during the course of our early interactions with others.\u00a0These interactions occur against a backdrop of learning to resolve early biological and social challenges and play a key role in our personality development.\r\n<h2>Psychosexual Stages<\/h2>\r\nFreud\u2019s psychosexual stages of development are presented below.\u00a0At any of these stages, the child might become \u201cstuck\u201d or fixated if a caregiver either overly indulges or neglects the child\u2019s needs.\u00a0A fixated adult will continue to try and resolve this later in life.\u00a0Examples of fixation are given after the presentation of each stage.\r\n\r\nFor about the first year of life, the infant is in the <strong>oral stage<\/strong> of psychosexual development.\u00a0The infant meets needs primarily through oral gratification.\u00a0A baby wishes to suck or chew on any object that comes close to the mouth. Babies explore the world through the mouth and find comfort and stimulation as well.\u00a0Psychologically, the infant is all Id. The infant seeks immediate gratification of needs such as comfort, warmth, food, and stimulation.\u00a0If the caregiver meets oral needs consistently, the child will move away from this stage and progress further.\u00a0However, if the caregiver is inconsistent or neglectful, the person may stay stuck in the oral stage.\u00a0As an adult, the person might not feel good unless involved in some oral activity such as eating, drinking, smoking, nail-biting, or compulsive talking.\u00a0These actions bring comfort and security when the person feels insecure, afraid, or bored.\r\n\r\nDuring the <strong>anal stage<\/strong> which coincides with toddlerhood or mobility and potty-training, the child is taught that some urges must be contained and some actions postponed.\u00a0There are rules about certain functions and when and where they are to be carried out.\u00a0The child is learning a sense of self-control.\u00a0The ego is being developed.\u00a0 If the caregiver is extremely controlling about potty training (stands over the child waiting for the smallest indication that the child might need to go to the potty and immediately scoops the child up and places him on the potty chair, for example), the child may grow up fearing losing control.\u00a0He may becoming fixated in this stage or \u201canal retentive\u201d-fearful of letting go.\u00a0Such a person might be extremely neat and clean, organized, reliable, and controlling of others.\u00a0If the caregiver neglects to teach the child to control urges, he may grow up to be \u201canal expulsive\u201d or an adult who is messy, irresponsible, and disorganized.\r\n\r\nThe <strong>Phallic stage<\/strong> occurs during the preschool years (ages 3-5) when the child has a new biological challenge to face. Freud believed that the child becomes sexually attracted to his or her opposite sexed parent. Boys experience the \"Oedipal Complex\" in which they become sexually attracted to their mothers but realize that Father is in the way. He is much more powerful. For awhile, the boy fears that if he pursues his mother, father may castrate him (castration anxiety). So rather than risking losing his penis, he gives up his affections for his mother and instead learns to become more like his father, imitating his actions and mannerisms and thereby learns the role of males in his society. From this experience, the boy learns a sense of masculinity. He also learns what society thinks he should do and experiences guilt if he does not comply. In this way, the superego develops. If he does not resolve this successfully, he may become a \"phallic male\" or a man who constantly tries to prove his masculinity (about which he is insecure) by seducing women and beating up men!\u00a0A little girl experiences the \"Electra Complex\" in which she develops an attraction for her father but realizes that she cannot compete with mother and so gives up that affection and learns to become more like her mother. This is not without some regret, however. Freud believed that the girl feels inferior because she does not have a penis (experiences \"penis envy\"). But she must resign herself to the fact that she is female and\u00a0will just have to learn her inferior role in society as a female. \u00a0However, if she does not resolve this conflict successfully, she may have a weak sense of femininity and grow up to be a \"castrating female\" who tries to compete with men in the workplace or in other areas of life.\r\n\r\nDuring middle childhood (6-11), the child enters the <strong>latent stage<\/strong> focusing his or her attention outside the family and toward friendships. The biological drives are temporarily quieted (latent) and the child can direct attention to a larger world of friends. If the child is able to make friends, he or she will gain a sense of confidence. If not, the child may continue to be a loner or shy away from others, even as an adult.\r\n\r\nThe final stage of psychosexual development is referred to as the <strong>genital stage<\/strong>.\u00a0From adolescence throughout adulthood a person is preoccupied with sex and reproduction.\u00a0\u00a0The adolescent experiences rising hormone levels and the sex drive and hunger drives become very strong. Ideally, the adolescent will rely on the ego to help think logically through these urges without taking actions that might be damaging. An adolescent might learn to redirect their sexual urges into safer activity such as running, for example. Quieting the Id with the Superego can lead to feeling overly self-conscious and guilty about these urges.\u00a0Hopefully, it is the ego that is strengthened during this stage and the adolescent uses reason to manage urges.\r\n<h2>Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud\u2019s Theory<\/h2>\r\nFreud\u2019s theory has been heavily criticized for several reasons.\u00a0One is that it is very difficult to test scientifically.\u00a0How can parenting in infancy be traced to personality in adulthood?\u00a0Are there other variables that might better explain development?\u00a0The theory is also considered to be sexist in suggesting that women who do not accept an inferior position in society are somehow psychologically flawed.\u00a0Freud focuses on the darker side of human nature and suggests that much of what determines our actions is unknown to us.\u00a0So why do we study Freud?\u00a0As mentioned above, despite the criticisms, Freud\u2019s assumptions about the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our psychological selves have found their way into child development, education, and parenting practices.\u00a0Freud\u2019s theory has heuristic value in providing a framework from which elaborate and modify subsequent theories of development.\u00a0Many later theories, particularly behaviorism and humanism, were challenges to Freud\u2019s views.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_562\" style=\"width: 303px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1496\/2014\/09\/18052126\/Freud.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-562\" class=\"wp-image-562\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1496\/2014\/09\/18052126\/Freud.jpeg\" alt=\"Freud photograph. He has a stern look on his face, a short, white beard, and a cigar in his hand.\" width=\"293\" height=\"293\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-562\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sigmund Freud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>We begin with the often controversial figure, Sigmund Freud.\u00a0Freud has been a very influential figure in the area of development; his view of development and psychopathology dominated the field of psychiatry until the growth of behaviorism in the 1950s.\u00a0His assumptions that personality forms during the first few years of life and that the ways in which parents or other caregivers interact with children have a long-lasting impact on children\u2019s emotional states have guided parents, educators, clinicians, and policy-makers for many years.\u00a0We have only recently begun to recognize that early childhood experiences do not always result in certain personality traits or emotional states.\u00a0There is a growing body of literature addressing resiliency in children who come from harsh backgrounds and yet develop without damaging emotional scars (O&#8217;Grady and Metz, 1987).\u00a0Freud has stimulated an enormous amount of research and generated many ideas.\u00a0Agreeing with Freud\u2019s theory in its entirety is hardly necessary for appreciating the contribution he has made to the field of development.<\/p>\n<h2>Background<\/h2>\n<p>Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a Viennese M. D. who was trained in neurology and asked to work with patients suffering from hysteria, a conditioned marked my uncontrollable emotional outbursts, fears and anxiety that had puzzled physicians for centuries.\u00a0He was also asked to work with women who suffered from physical symptoms and forms of paralysis which had no organic causes.\u00a0During that time, many people believed that certain individuals were genetically inferior and thus more susceptible to mental illness.\u00a0Women were thought to be genetically inferior and thus prone to illnesses such as hysteria (which had previously been attributed to a detached womb which was traveling around in the body).<\/p>\n<p>However, after World War I, many soldiers came home with problems similar to hysteria.\u00a0This called into questions the idea of genetic inferiority as a cause of mental illness.\u00a0\u00a0Freud began working with hysterical patients and discovered that when they began to talk about some of their life experiences, particularly those that took place in early childhood, their symptoms disappeared.\u00a0This led him to suggest the first purely psychological explanation for physical problems and mental illness.\u00a0What he proposed was that unconscious motives and desires, fears and anxieties drive our actions.\u00a0When upsetting memories or thoughts begin to find their way into our consciousness, we develop defenses to shield us from these painful realities.\u00a0These <strong>defense mechanisms<\/strong> include denying a reality, repressing or pushing away painful thoughts, rationalization or finding a seemingly logical explanation for circumstances, projecting or attributing our feelings to someone else, or outwardly opposing something we inwardly desire (called reaction formation).\u00a0Freud believed that many mental illnesses are a result of a person\u2019s inability to accept reality.\u00a0<strong>Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behavior<\/strong>.\u00a0In our natural state, we are biological beings.\u00a0We are driven primarily by instincts.\u00a0During childhood, however, we begin to become social beings as we learn how to manage our instincts and transform them into socially acceptable behaviors.\u00a0The type of parenting the child receives has a very power impact on the child\u2019s personality development.\u00a0We will explore this idea further in our discussion of psychosexual development.<\/p>\n<h2>Theory of the Mind<\/h2>\n<p>Freud believed that most of our mental processes, motivations and desires are outside of our awareness.\u00a0Our consciousness, that of which we are aware, represents only the tip of the iceberg that comprises our mental state.\u00a0The preconscious represents that which can easily be called into the conscious mind.\u00a0During development, our motivations and desires are gradually pushed into the unconscious because raw desires are often unacceptable in society.<\/p>\n<h2>Theory of the Self<\/h2>\n<p>As adults, our personality or self consists of three main parts: the <strong>id<\/strong>, the <strong>ego<\/strong> and the <strong>superego<\/strong>.\u00a0The ID is the part of the self with which we are born.\u00a0It consists of the biologically-driven self and includes our instincts and drives.\u00a0It is the part of us that wants\u00a0immediate gratification.\u00a0Later in life, it comes to house our deepest, often unacceptable desires such as sex and aggression.\u00a0It operates under the pleasure principle which means that the criteria for determining whether something is good or bad is whether it feels good or bad. An infant is all ID.The ego is the part of the self that develops as we learn that there are limits on what is acceptable to do and that often, we must wait to have our needs satisfied.\u00a0This part of the self is realistic and reasonable.\u00a0It knows how to make compromises.\u00a0It operates under the reality principle or the recognition that sometimes need gratification must be postponed for practical reasons.\u00a0It acts as a mediator between the Id and the Superego and is viewed as the healthiest part of the self.<\/p>\n<p>Defense mechanisms emerge to help a person distort reality so that the truth is less painful.\u00a0Defense mechanisms include repression which means to push the painful thoughts out of consciousness (in other words, think about something else).\u00a0Denial is basically not accepting the truth or lying to the self.\u00a0Thoughts such as \u201cit won\u2019t happen to me\u201d or \u201cyou\u2019re not leaving\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with alcohol\u201d are examples.\u00a0Regression refers to going back to a time when the world felt like a safer place, perhaps reverting to one\u2019s childhood.\u00a0This is less common than the first two defense mechanisms.\u00a0Sublimation involves transforming unacceptable urges into more socially acceptable behaviors.\u00a0For example, a teenager who experiences strong sexual urges uses exercise to redirect those urges into more socially acceptable behavior.\u00a0Displacement involves taking out frustrations on to a safer target.\u00a0A person who is angry at a boss may take out their frustration at others when driving home or at a spouse upon arrival.\u00a0Projection is a defense mechanism in which a person attributes their unacceptable thoughts onto others.\u00a0If someone is frightened, for example, he or she accuses someone else of being afraid.\u00a0Finally, reaction formation is a defense mechanism in which a person outwardly opposes something they inwardly desire, but that they find unacceptable.\u00a0An example of this might be homophobia or a strong hatred and fear of homosexuality.\u00a0This is a partial listing of defense mechanisms suggested by Freud.\u00a0If the ego is strong, the individual is realistic and accepting of reality and remains more logical, objective, and reasonable.\u00a0Building ego strength is a major goal of psychoanalysis (Freudian psychotherapy).\u00a0So for Freud, having a big ego is a good thing because it does not refer to being arrogant, it refers to being able to accept reality.<\/p>\n<p>The superego is the part of the self that develops as we learn the rules, standards, and values of society.\u00a0This part of the self takes into account the moral guidelines that are a part of our culture.\u00a0It is a rule-governed part of the self that operates under a sense of guilt (guilt is a social emotion-it is a feeling that others think less of you or believe you to be wrong).\u00a0If a person violates the superego, he or she feels guilty.\u00a0The superego is useful but can be too strong; in this case, a person might feel overly anxious and guilty about circumstances over which they had no control.\u00a0Such a person may experience high levels of stress and inhibition that keeps them from living well.\u00a0The id is inborn, but the ego and superego develop during the course of our early interactions with others.\u00a0These interactions occur against a backdrop of learning to resolve early biological and social challenges and play a key role in our personality development.<\/p>\n<h2>Psychosexual Stages<\/h2>\n<p>Freud\u2019s psychosexual stages of development are presented below.\u00a0At any of these stages, the child might become \u201cstuck\u201d or fixated if a caregiver either overly indulges or neglects the child\u2019s needs.\u00a0A fixated adult will continue to try and resolve this later in life.\u00a0Examples of fixation are given after the presentation of each stage.<\/p>\n<p>For about the first year of life, the infant is in the <strong>oral stage<\/strong> of psychosexual development.\u00a0The infant meets needs primarily through oral gratification.\u00a0A baby wishes to suck or chew on any object that comes close to the mouth. Babies explore the world through the mouth and find comfort and stimulation as well.\u00a0Psychologically, the infant is all Id. The infant seeks immediate gratification of needs such as comfort, warmth, food, and stimulation.\u00a0If the caregiver meets oral needs consistently, the child will move away from this stage and progress further.\u00a0However, if the caregiver is inconsistent or neglectful, the person may stay stuck in the oral stage.\u00a0As an adult, the person might not feel good unless involved in some oral activity such as eating, drinking, smoking, nail-biting, or compulsive talking.\u00a0These actions bring comfort and security when the person feels insecure, afraid, or bored.<\/p>\n<p>During the <strong>anal stage<\/strong> which coincides with toddlerhood or mobility and potty-training, the child is taught that some urges must be contained and some actions postponed.\u00a0There are rules about certain functions and when and where they are to be carried out.\u00a0The child is learning a sense of self-control.\u00a0The ego is being developed.\u00a0 If the caregiver is extremely controlling about potty training (stands over the child waiting for the smallest indication that the child might need to go to the potty and immediately scoops the child up and places him on the potty chair, for example), the child may grow up fearing losing control.\u00a0He may becoming fixated in this stage or \u201canal retentive\u201d-fearful of letting go.\u00a0Such a person might be extremely neat and clean, organized, reliable, and controlling of others.\u00a0If the caregiver neglects to teach the child to control urges, he may grow up to be \u201canal expulsive\u201d or an adult who is messy, irresponsible, and disorganized.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Phallic stage<\/strong> occurs during the preschool years (ages 3-5) when the child has a new biological challenge to face. Freud believed that the child becomes sexually attracted to his or her opposite sexed parent. Boys experience the &#8220;Oedipal Complex&#8221; in which they become sexually attracted to their mothers but realize that Father is in the way. He is much more powerful. For awhile, the boy fears that if he pursues his mother, father may castrate him (castration anxiety). So rather than risking losing his penis, he gives up his affections for his mother and instead learns to become more like his father, imitating his actions and mannerisms and thereby learns the role of males in his society. From this experience, the boy learns a sense of masculinity. He also learns what society thinks he should do and experiences guilt if he does not comply. In this way, the superego develops. If he does not resolve this successfully, he may become a &#8220;phallic male&#8221; or a man who constantly tries to prove his masculinity (about which he is insecure) by seducing women and beating up men!\u00a0A little girl experiences the &#8220;Electra Complex&#8221; in which she develops an attraction for her father but realizes that she cannot compete with mother and so gives up that affection and learns to become more like her mother. This is not without some regret, however. Freud believed that the girl feels inferior because she does not have a penis (experiences &#8220;penis envy&#8221;). But she must resign herself to the fact that she is female and\u00a0will just have to learn her inferior role in society as a female. \u00a0However, if she does not resolve this conflict successfully, she may have a weak sense of femininity and grow up to be a &#8220;castrating female&#8221; who tries to compete with men in the workplace or in other areas of life.<\/p>\n<p>During middle childhood (6-11), the child enters the <strong>latent stage<\/strong> focusing his or her attention outside the family and toward friendships. The biological drives are temporarily quieted (latent) and the child can direct attention to a larger world of friends. If the child is able to make friends, he or she will gain a sense of confidence. If not, the child may continue to be a loner or shy away from others, even as an adult.<\/p>\n<p>The final stage of psychosexual development is referred to as the <strong>genital stage<\/strong>.\u00a0From adolescence throughout adulthood a person is preoccupied with sex and reproduction.\u00a0\u00a0The adolescent experiences rising hormone levels and the sex drive and hunger drives become very strong. Ideally, the adolescent will rely on the ego to help think logically through these urges without taking actions that might be damaging. An adolescent might learn to redirect their sexual urges into safer activity such as running, for example. Quieting the Id with the Superego can lead to feeling overly self-conscious and guilty about these urges.\u00a0Hopefully, it is the ego that is strengthened during this stage and the adolescent uses reason to manage urges.<\/p>\n<h2>Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud\u2019s Theory<\/h2>\n<p>Freud\u2019s theory has been heavily criticized for several reasons.\u00a0One is that it is very difficult to test scientifically.\u00a0How can parenting in infancy be traced to personality in adulthood?\u00a0Are there other variables that might better explain development?\u00a0The theory is also considered to be sexist in suggesting that women who do not accept an inferior position in society are somehow psychologically flawed.\u00a0Freud focuses on the darker side of human nature and suggests that much of what determines our actions is unknown to us.\u00a0So why do we study Freud?\u00a0As mentioned above, despite the criticisms, Freud\u2019s assumptions about the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our psychological selves have found their way into child development, education, and parenting practices.\u00a0Freud\u2019s theory has heuristic value in providing a framework from which elaborate and modify subsequent theories of development.\u00a0Many later theories, particularly behaviorism and humanism, were challenges to Freud\u2019s views.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-145\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Psyc 200 Lifespan Psychology. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Laura Overstreet. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/opencourselibrary.org\/econ-201\/\">http:\/\/opencourselibrary.org\/econ-201\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">Public domain content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Freud Image. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Max Halberstadt. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sigmund_Freud#\/media\/File:Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sigmund_Freud#\/media\/File:Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":74,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Psyc 200 Lifespan Psychology\",\"author\":\"Laura Overstreet\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/opencourselibrary.org\/econ-201\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"Freud Image\",\"author\":\"Max Halberstadt\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sigmund_Freud#\/media\/File:Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-145","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":141,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":732,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145\/revisions\/732"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/141"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-childhood-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}