SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY

ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHO-SOCIAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION____________________________________________________________
The complexity of human development invites the creation of multiple perspectives and theories, some
global and grand in nature addressing principles that apply to every domain of development where others are
more domain specific.
Child development theories focus on explaining how children change and grow over the course of
childhood. Such theories center on various aspects of development including social, emotional, and cognitive
growth.
The study of human development is a rich and varied subject. We all have personal experience with
development, but it is sometimes difficult to understand how and why people grow, learn, and act as they do.
Why do children behave in certain ways? Is their behavior related to their age, family relationships, or individual
temperaments? Developmental psychologists strive to answer such questions as well as to understand, explain,
and predict behaviors that occur throughout the lifespan. In order to understand human development, a number
of different theories of child development have arisen to explain various aspects of human growth.
This module will briefly describe the three theories on human development: Sigmund Freud’s
Psychoanalytic theory, Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory. Each theory can serve as a lens through which to
view human development and to guide practice decisions. It is useful to consider the implication that each theory
presents to further understand our learners and aid future teachers in doing intervention and prevention programs.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES____________________________________________

At the end of the module the students are expected to:
1. Explain Freud’s views about child and adolescent development
2. Draw implications of Freud’s theory to education
3. Explain the Eight (8) stages of Erikson’s Psycho-Social Theory of Development
4. Formulate ways on how Erickson’s theory can be useful for you as future educator/teacher.

DISCUSSION_______________________________________________________________
SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY

“The ego is not master in its own house”

Freud’s views about human development are more than a century old. He can be considered the most well-
known psychologist because of his very interesting theory about the unconscious and also about sexual
development. His theory is one of the most influential in psychology. His theory sparked the ideas in the brilliant
minds of other theorists and thus became the starting point of many other theories.

FREUD’S STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

Freud is the most popular and most controversial psychologist that studies the development of personality.
His theory of psychosexual development includes five stages.
According to him, a person goes through the sequence of these five stages and along the way there are
needs to be met. Whether these needs are met or not, determines whether the person will develop a healthy
personality or not.
The theory identifies specific erogenous zones for each stage of development. These are specific “pleasure
areas” that become focal points for the particular stage. If needs are not met along the area, a fixation occurs. As
an adult, the person will now manifest behaviors related to this erogenous zones.

1. Oral stage (birth to 18 months).

 The erogenous zone is the mouth. During the oral stage, the child is focused on oral pleasures (sucking).
Too much or too little satisfaction can lead to Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is shown in an increased
focus on oral activities. This type of personality may be oral receptive, which is, have a stronger tendency to
smoke, drink alcohol, overeat, or oral aggressive, that is, with a tendency to bite his or her nails, or curse
words or even gossip. As a result, these persons may become too dependent on others, easily fooled, and lack
leadership traits. On the other hand, they may also fight these tendencies and become pessimistic and
aggressive in relating with people.

2. Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years)

The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is the anus. The child finds satisfaction in eliminating and
retaining feces. Through society’s expectations, particularly the parents, the child needs to work on toilet
training. Let us remember that between one year and a half to three years the child’s favorite word might be
“No!” Therefore, a struggle might exist in the toilet training process when the child retains feces when asked
to eliminate, or may choose to defecate when asked to hold feces for some reason. In terms of personality,
fixation during this stage can result in being anal retentive, an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and
control; or anal expulsive where the person may become messy and disorganized.

3. Phallic Stage (ages 3 to 6)

The pleasure or erogenous zone is the genitals. During the preschool age, children become interested in
what makes boys and girls different. Preschoolers will sometimes be seen fondling their genitals. Freud’s
studies led him to believe that during these stage boys develop unconscious sexual desire for their mothers.
Boys then see their father as a rival for her mother’s affection. Boys may fear that their father will punish
them for these feelings, thus, the castration anxiety. These feelings comprise what Freud called Oedipus
Complex. In Greek Mythology, Oedipus unintentionally killed his father and married his mother Jocasta.
Psychoanalysts also believed that girls may also have a similar experience, developing unconscious sexual
attraction towards their father. This is what is referred to as the Electra Complex.
According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of their father, boys
eventually decide to identify with them rather than fight them. By identifying with their father, the boys
develop masculine characteristics and identify themselves as males and repress their sexual feelings toward
their mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and
weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysis.

4. Latency Stage (age 6 to puberty)

It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed. The children’s focus is the acquisition of physical
and academic skills. Boys usually relate more with boys and girls with girls during this stage.

5. Genital Stage (puberty onwards)

The fifth stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once
again awakened. In the earlier stages, adolescents focus their sexual urges towards the opposite sex peers,
with the pleasure centered on the genitals.

FREUD’S PERSONALITY COMPONENTS

Freud described the personality structures as having three components, the id, the ego and the superego.
For each person, the first to emerge is the id, followed by the ego, and the last to develop is the superego.
 1. The Id
Freud says that a child is born with the id. The id plays a vital role in one’s personality because as
a baby, it works so that the baby’s essential needs are met. The id operates on the pleasure principle.
It focuses on immediate gratification or satisfaction of its needs. So whatever feels good now is what
it will pursue with no consideration for the reality, logicality or practicality of the situation.
For example, a baby is hungry. His or her id wants food or milk so the baby will cry. When the
child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or
just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met.
Nothing else matters to the id except the satisfaction of its own needs. It is not oriented towards
considering reality nor the needs of others. When the id wants something, it wants it now and it wants
it fast.

2. The Ego
As the baby turns into a toddler and then into a preschooler, he/she relates more with the
environment, the ego slowly begins to emerge. The ego operates using the reality principle. It is aware
that others also have needs to be met. It is practical because it knows that being impulsive or selfish
can result to negative consequences later, so it reasons and considers the best response to situations.
As such, it is the deciding agent of the personality. Although it functions to help the id meet its needs,
it always takes into account the reality of the situation.

3. The Superego
Near the end of the preschool years, or the end of the phallic stage, the superego develops. The
superego embodies a person’s moral aspect. This develops from what the parents, teachers and other
persons who exert influence impart to be good or moral. The superego is likened to conscience because
it exerts influence on what one considers right and wrong.

THE THREE COMPONENTS AND PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT

Freud said that a well-adjusted person is one who has strong ego, who can help satisfy the needs of the id
without going against the superego while maintaining the person’s sense of what is logical, practical and real. Of
course, it is not easy for the ego to do all that and strike a balance.
If the id exerts too much power over the ego, the person becomes too impulsive and pleasure-seeking
behavior takes over one’s life. On the opposite direction, one may find the superego so strong that the ego is
overpowered. The person becomes so harsh and judgmental to himself and others’ action. The person’s best effort
to be good may still fall short of the superego’s expectation.
The ability of the learner to be well-adjusted is largely influenced by how the learner was brought up. His
experiences about how his parents met his needs, the extent to which he was allowed to do the things he wanted
to so, and also how he was taught about right and wrong, all figures to the type of personality and consequent
adjustment that a person will make. Freud believed that the personality of an individual is formed early during
the childhood years.

TOPOGRAPHICAL MODEL OF THE MIND

Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, whereby he described the features of
the mind’s structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.
1. Conscious
Freud (1915) described the conscious mind, which consists of all the mental processes of which we are
aware, and this is seen as the tip of the iceberg. For example, you may be feeling thirsty at this moment and decide
to get a drink.
2. Preconscious/ Subconscious
The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not currently aware of, but which can
easily be brought to consciousness (1924). It exists just below the level of consciousness, before the unconscious
mind. The preconscious is like a mental waiting room, in which thoughts remain until they ‘succeed in attracting
the eye of the conscious’ (Freud, 1924, p. 306).
This is what we mean in our everyday usage of the word available memory. For example, you are presently
not thinking about your mobile telephone number, but now it is mentioned you can recall it with ease. Mild
emotional experiences may be in the preconscious but sometimes traumatic and powerful negative emotions are
repressed and hence not available in the preconscious.

3. Unconscious
The unconscious mind comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that
influence judgments, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002). According to Freud the unconscious mind is the
primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot
see.
Our feelings, motives and decisions are actually powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and stored
in the unconscious. Freud applied these three systems to his structure of the personality, or psyche – the id, ego
and superego. Here the id is regarded as entirely unconscious whilst the ego and superego have conscious,
preconscious, and unconscious aspects. The unconscious contains all sorts of significant and disturbing material
which we need to keep out of awareness because they are too threatening to acknowledge fully.
 The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulse kept at bay and
mediated by the preconscious area. For example, Freud found that some events and desires were often too
frightening or painful for his patients to acknowledge, and believed such information was locked away in the
unconscious mind. This can happen through the process of repression.
The unconscious mind contains our biologically based instincts (eros and hanatos) for the primitive urges
for sex and aggression. Freud argued that our primitive urges often do not reach consciousness because they are
unacceptable to our rational, conscious selves.
People use a range of defense mechanisms (such as repression) to avoid knowing what their unconscious
motives and feelings are.
Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of Freudian theory
is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect. Indeed, the goal
of psychoanalysis is to reveal the use of such defense mechanisms and thus make the unconscious conscious.
Freud believed that the influences of the unconscious reveal themselves in a variety of ways,
including dreams, and in slips of the tongue, now popularly known as ‘Freudian slips’. Freud gave an example of
such a slip when a British Member of Parliament referred to a colleague with whom he was irritated as ‘the
honorable member from Hell’ instead of from Hull.

4. Nonconscious
The water, may represent all that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been made
part of our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious.

ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHO-SOCIAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

“Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death”

Erik Erikson was an ego psychologist who developed one of the most popular and influential theories of
development. While his theory was impacted by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's work, Erikson's theory centered
on psychosocial development rather than psychosexual development.

The epigenetic principle

He is most famous for his work in refining and expanding Freud's theory of stages. Development, he says,
functions by the epigenetic principle. This principle says that we develop through a predetermined unfolding of
our personalities in eight stages. Our progress through each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of
success, in all the previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain time,
in a certain order, which nature, through genetics, has determined. If we interfere in the natural order of
development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower.
Each stage involves certain developmental tasks that are psychosocial in nature. Although he follows
Freudian tradition by calling them crises, they are more drawn out and less specific than that term implies. The
child in grammar school, for example, has to learn to be industrious during that period of his or her life, and that
industriousness is learned through the complex social interactions of school and family.
The various tasks are referred to by two terms. The infant's task, for example, is called "trust-mistrust."
At first, it might seem obvious that the infant must learn trust and not mistrust. But Erikson made it clear that
there it is a balance we must learn: Certainly, we need to learn mostly trust; but we also need to learn a little
mistrust, so as not to grow up to become gullible fools!
Each stage has a certain optimal time as well. It is no use trying to rush children into adulthood, as is so
common among people who are obsessed with success. You can see, for example, the damage done to many child
stars by the adult demands placed upon them. Neither is it possible to slow the pace or to try to protect our children
from the demands of life. There is a time for every purpose under heaven!
If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain virtue or psychosocial strength which will help us
through the rest of the stages of our lives. On the other hand, if we don't do so well, we may develop
maladaptations and malignancies, as well as endanger all our future development. A malignancy is the worse of
the two, and involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative aspect of the task, such as a person
who can't trust others. A maladaptation is not quite as bad and involves too much of the positive and too little of
the negative, such as a person who trusts too much.

THE EIGHT PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Stage 1-Trust vs. Mistrust

• Age- Birth to 18 months

• Conflict/ Psychosocial Crisis - Trust vs. Mistrust
• Relationship- Mother
• Strength- Hopes
• Question- Can I trust the world?
 • Key Event- Feeding
• Children are completely dependent on others
• Trust: Established when babies given adequate warmth, touching, love, and physical care- Dependable
& Reliable.
• Mistrust: Caused by inadequate or unpredictable care and by cold, indifferent, and rejecting parents-
Undependable, Unpredictable & Dangerous.

Trust and Mistrust

 If the primary caregivers can give the sense of familiarity, consistency & continuity the baby will develop
that feeling that the world is a safe place to be. People are reliable and loving.
 If the parents are inadequate & unreliable, if they reject the infant or harm it. He or she will be
apprehensive or suspicious around people.

Stage 2- Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt

• Age- 18 month to 3 years

• Conflict- Autonomy vs. Shame
• Relationship- Parents
• Strength- Will
• Question- Is it ok to be me?
• Key Event- Toilet Training
• Autonomy: Doing things for themselves such as body control & making choices. - Secure and confident
self.
• Shame: Overprotective or ridiculing parents may cause children to doubt abilities and feel shameful
about their actions- Inadequacy & self-doubt.

Autonomy vs. Shame & doubt

 The child will explore and manipulate his/her environment if the parents permitted their child.
 The parents should not discourage the child but neither should they push.
 If the parents give unrestricted freedom & no sense of limits, or if you try to help children do what they
should learn to do for themselves. You are giving them the impression that they are not good for much.
Stage 3- Initiative vs. Guilt

• Age- 3 years to 5 years

• Conflict- Initiative vs. Guilt
• Relationship- Family
• Strength- Purpose
• Question- Is it okay for me to do, move & act?
• Key Event- Independence
• Initiative: Parents reinforce via giving children freedom to play, use imagination, and ask questions-
Creative, Constructive.
• Guilt: May occur if parents criticize, prevent play, or discourage a child’s questions- Always being wrong,
failed to explore world.
• Initiative and Guilt should be balanced in order to have moral judgment.

Initiative vs. Guilt

 A positive response to the world’s challenges, taking on responsibilities. Learning new skills, feeling
purposeful.
 Parents can encourage their child’s initiative in a way of trying out their ideas. This is the time for play
not for formal education.
 Guilt - The capacity for moral judgment

Stage 4- Industry vs. Inferiority

 • Age- 6 years to 11 years
• Conflict- Industry vs. Inferiority
• Relationship- Neighbors, School
• Strength- Competence
• Question- Can I make it in the world of people and things?
• Key Event- School
• Children's have to cope with new social and academic demands
• Industry: Occurs when child is praised for productive activities, such as painting and building- Sense of
competence
• Inferiority: Occurs if child’s efforts are regarded as messy or inadequate- Weak sense of self, Incapable
to take responsibility

Industry vs. Inferiority

 Children must “tame the imagination” & dedicate themselves to education & to learning social skills their
society requires them. Much broader social sphere at work now.
 Parents, teachers, peers & other members of the community. They all contribute.
 They must learn the feeling of success.

Stage 5- Identity vs. Role Confusion

• Age- 12 years to 18 years

• Conflict- Identity vs. Role Confusion
• Relationship- Peers, Role Model
• Strength- Fidelity
• Question- Who am I? What can I be?
• Key Event- Peer relationships
• Children learn a number of different roles.
• Identity: One’s organization of individual drives, abilities, beliefs, and experience into consistent image
of self. Who we are.
• Role Confusion: Failure to establish an individual identity separate from the family and having no peer
relationships and plans for an occupation- Ego diffusion
Ego identity vs. Role confusion
 Knowing who you are & how you fit in to the rest of the society.
 Requires that you take all you’ve learning about life & yourself & mold into a unified self-image. And
you find your community meaningful a meaningful one.
 An uncertainty about one’s place in society in the world.
 Suffer from identity crisis & this is the stage wherein they ask a question of identity. “WHO AM I?”
Stage 6-Intimacy vs. Isolation

• Age- 18 years to 40 years

• Conflict- Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Relationship- Friends, Partners
• Strength- Love
• Question- Can I love?
• Key Event- Love relationships
• Start of families
• Intimacy: Ability to care about others and to share experiences with them- Strong relationship
• Isolation: Feeling alone and uncared for in life- Loneliness

Intimacy vs. Isolation

 Ability to be close to others.
 Fear of commitment- an example of immaturity at this stage.
 A teenage relationship is more often a matter of trying to establish identity through “couple-hood.”

Stage 7- Generativity vs. Stagnation

• Age- 40 years to 65 years

• Conflict- Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Relationship- Household, Workmates
• Strength- Care
• Question- Can I make my life count?
 • Key Event- Parenting
• Primary developmental task is one of contributing to society and helping to guide future generation.
• Generativity: Interest in guiding the next generation- Social involvement, Parenting
• Stagnation: When one is only concerned with one’s own needs and comforts- Material possession,
Physical well-being, Non productive

Generativity vs. Stagnation

 Overextension of love into the future. A concern for the next generation & all future generation.
 Less “selfish”
 Self-absorption, caring for no-one. Stops to be a productive member of the society.

Stage 8-Integrity vs. Despair

• Age- 65 years to Death

• Conflict- Integrity vs. Despair
• Relationship- Mankind, My kind
• Strength- Wisdom
• Question- Is it ok to have been me?
• Key Event-Reflecting on and acceptance of one’s life
• In the last stages of life individuals look back over their lives and judge them.
• Integrity: Self-respect; developed when people have lived richly and responsibly- Feeling of wisdom and
meaning
• Despair: Occurs when previous life events are viewed with regret; experiences heartache and remorse-
Regret, Bitterness

Ego integrity vs. Despair

 Coming to terms with your life, and coming to terms with the end of life.
SUGGESTED READINGS_____________________________________________________

https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/66092_Wong_Chapter_2.pdf

https://www.andrews.edu/~rbailey/Chapter%20one/9401313658.pdf

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9780230302297_2

https://mhs.mcsd.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_21163/File/Library%20Media%20Center/theories_outlin
e.pdf

RESOURCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES___________________________________

Corpuz, B. B., Lucas, M. R. D. , Borado, H. G. L., & Lucido, P. I. (2015). Child and Adolescent
Development: Looking at Learners at Different Life Stages. Lorimar Publishing
Paris, J., Ricardo, A., Rymond, D., Johnson, A. (2018). Child Growth and Development. College of
Canyons
McLeod, S. A. (2015). Unconscious mind. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/unconscious-mind.html