The psychodynamic perspective
Freud was a psychologist who analysed the way in which humans behave and their
minds in a scientific way. He believed that the brain can be split into 3 levels, these
include the conscious, unconscious and preconscious levels. He described the
conscious as being about our thoughts and perceptions. The preconscious is the easily
accessible knowledge from our minds such as memories. Lastly, the unconscious is all
about how we have sexual desires, which are deemed as unacceptable and also about
our irrational fears, immoral urges, violent urges and selfish needs. Freud evaluated the
unconscious mind and stated that 90% of our behaviour comes from the unconscious
mind.
In theory, Freud suggests that the mind is driven by our basic biological needs and
pleasures such as sex and sleeping. Our mind has the ID which is the basic part. The
ID is something that everyone has and it is present at birth in our unconscious mind. It
includes the instincts and focuses on getting what we want and need. Then there is the
superego which is our civilised and societal part which is our reality, it is our morality
and values which are formed during socialisation, . Lastly, the ego continually tries to
balance and control the ID and the superego.
Freud presented five stages of the psychosexual development in humans. These stages
are called oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. The first stage is oral which occurs
in children in the ages of 0-1 years old. At this age children’s pleasures come from oral
fixations such as feeding, swallowing and sucking. A conflict of this may be that a child
could have been weaned too early or too late. When a child has been weaned off too
early and have fixated on this and brought it through to their teenage/adult life it can
result in them often being under satisfied, verbally hostile, pessimistic and sarcastic. In
contrast to this, if the child has been weaned off too late then they will show signs of
being gullible and naive.
The second stage is the anal stage, this will take place between the ages of 1-3. In this
stage Freud said that the source of pleasure is within the anus when holding and
excreting the faeces. In this stage it can conflict us in later life if toilet training has been
too harsh or too relaxed. If there is a fixation within this stage when toilet training has
been too harsh, Freud’s theory says that this means the child will grow up to be anal
retentive, disorganised, wasteful but more generous and creative. On the other hand,
when toilet training has been too relaxed, the child with become anal expulsive,
organised, controlling and frugal.
The phallic stage occurs between the ages of 4-5 years old. In this stage it is believed
that a child’s source of please comes from their penis or clitoris and they find pleasure
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Freud was a psychologist who analysed the way in which humans behave and their
minds in a scientific way. He believed that the brain can be split into 3 levels, these
include the conscious, unconscious and preconscious levels. He described the
conscious as being about our thoughts and perceptions. The preconscious is the easily
accessible knowledge from our minds such as memories. Lastly, the unconscious is all
about how we have sexual desires, which are deemed as unacceptable and also about
our irrational fears, immoral urges, violent urges and selfish needs. Freud evaluated the
unconscious mind and stated that 90% of our behaviour comes from the unconscious
mind.
In theory, Freud suggests that the mind is driven by our basic biological needs and
pleasures such as sex and sleeping. Our mind has the ID which is the basic part. The
ID is something that everyone has and it is present at birth in our unconscious mind. It
includes the instincts and focuses on getting what we want and need. Then there is the
superego which is our civilised and societal part which is our reality, it is our morality
and values which are formed during socialisation, . Lastly, the ego continually tries to
balance and control the ID and the superego.
Freud presented five stages of the psychosexual development in humans. These stages
are called oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. The first stage is oral which occurs
in children in the ages of 0-1 years old. At this age children’s pleasures come from oral
fixations such as feeding, swallowing and sucking. A conflict of this may be that a child
could have been weaned too early or too late. When a child has been weaned off too
early and have fixated on this and brought it through to their teenage/adult life it can
result in them often being under satisfied, verbally hostile, pessimistic and sarcastic. In
contrast to this, if the child has been weaned off too late then they will show signs of
being gullible and naive.
The second stage is the anal stage, this will take place between the ages of 1-3. In this
stage Freud said that the source of pleasure is within the anus when holding and
excreting the faeces. In this stage it can conflict us in later life if toilet training has been
too harsh or too relaxed. If there is a fixation within this stage when toilet training has
been too harsh, Freud’s theory says that this means the child will grow up to be anal
retentive, disorganised, wasteful but more generous and creative. On the other hand,
when toilet training has been too relaxed, the child with become anal expulsive,
organised, controlling and frugal.
The phallic stage occurs between the ages of 4-5 years old. In this stage it is believed
that a child’s source of please comes from their penis or clitoris and they find pleasure
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