2 contributions made by Freud to psychology

The final stage is the phallic stage lasting from about 3 to 5. The erogenous zone is the genitals.

Later after much criticism of the strict age limit Freud added the latent stage and the genital stage. The latent stage is the focus on studies and intellect and the genital stage is the development of mature adult sexual feelings due to mature love being possible. Fixation might occur in one of these stages which leads to unconscious preoccupation with one of the psychosexual stages. Frustration or over gratification within one of these stages means that the adult can suffer from anxieties.

The young boy also goes through the'Oedipus complex'. Later Freud devised the 'Electra complex' for girls but he was never content with this conclusion.

Freud states that males gender is determined via the succession of the his progress within the Oedipus complex.

During the Oedipus complex the male develops unconscious sexual feeling toward his mother. He finds rivalry with his father which leads to fantasies of exiling his father and taking his place with his mother. The boy then generates hostile feelings due to an anxiety of castration for his feeling toward his mother. Also during this stage the boy realises that girls have been castrated already. To cope with this castration anxiety the boy develops defence mechanisms of identification. The boy then identifies with his father and adopts his fathers attitudes and moral beliefs.

Another main contribution by Freud is the suggestion that the personality is made up of the theoretical constructs of the mind. These are the 'id', 'ego' and the 'super ego'.

The id is present at birth and is the centre of out instinct. The id is unconscious and is based on the pleasure principle, in that it seeks immediate gratification and the avoidance of pain. Its driving mechanism is the psychic energy, the libido.

The ego develops in childhood out of the id. The ego is based on the reality principle meaning that the ego is aware that not all behaviours are acceptable so it makes a balance of which id impulses will be satisfied, and how. It also displays the super ego which are the values and the moral of the child. The id and the super ego are often in opposition.

The dynamics of personality are based on this conflict originating in the id fuelled by the libido. The way in which these conflicts are resolved is a key factor to the way people develop.

However the way in which Freud attained these theories are suspect. Freud used a method called case studies meaning that Freud had to interpret the information presented by the cases which introduces the problem of researcher bias so their is no empirical evidence. Freud was also too narrow in his description of gender development in that their is too much emphasis on family influence with the nuclear family in mind not considering peers or non-nuclear families. Their is evidence to show that gender development occurs at a much earlier age than the Oedipus and the Electra complex also the existence of the Oedipus and Electra complex has been questioned.

Although Freud's work has been criticised he is still a key figure in psychology developing psychodynamics and this work has led to many applications such as psychoanalysis which enables psychologist to use therapy to solve people's problems or anxieties by regressing to the patients childhood resolving any mal-developed stages etc.