Assess the merits and limitations of the ideas Sigmund Freud

        Freud’s psychosexual theory states that children go through each stage of development in a sequence.  Each stage has a different sensitive/pleasure zone from which the child seeks pleasure.  Children must pass through these stages successfully in order to develop into mentally healthy individuals.  Over-indulgence or not enough indulgence at each stage can cause fixations to that particular stage and adult personality traits will reflect upon this. A key point in these stages is the focus on biological drives and different areas of satisfaction and gratification.  During these stages, how the child is treated by others is very important.

        The first stage of development, known as the Oral stage, happens around one/two years of age.  During the Oral stage the mouth is the source of pleasure and satisfaction is achieved through sucking and putting objects in the mouth.  Too much or too less indulgence at this stage can cause fixations in later life such as smoking and biting nails.

        The next stage occurs around two/three years of age. This is the Anal stage.  At this stage the child is concerned with personal cleanliness and control is learnt.  This coincides with when potty training takes place, and the child learns for itself when and where it is appropriate to expel faeces.  Over indulgence at this stage can cause a messy personality later in life, the opposite could produce a neat and tidy individual – otherwise referred to as an anally fixated individual.

        The final stage of development is called the Phallic stage and occurs between three/six years of age.  This is quite a complex stage as it is where the child encounters the Oedipus/Electra complex and identifies with the father/mother as a result.  The source of pleasure is the genitals, and this is when the child begins to show curiosity about their own body parts, and notice what they have and don’t have in comparison to others.  The resolution of these complexes is important so that the Superego can be developed and by identifying with the mother/father the child takes on the relevant roles.  Fixations at this stage can include depression and sexual perversion.

        The Oedipus complex is experienced by boys and begins when he feels a desire for the mother because she is the primary source of satisfaction and gratification.  The boy notices the bond between the mother and the father and becomes jealous of this because the father has all the attention of the mother.  This causes the boy to become jealous of the father and he begins to hate him.  The boy also lives in fear of the father in case he finds out his true feelings about the mother.  This fear is called castration anxiety – the boy thinks he will be castrated by the father if he was to find out.  Therefore he is scared of the punishment he may get.  The resolution of the complex only happens when the boy identifies with the father, takes on his roles and behaves more like him.  This solves the complex because the boy thinks that the father will not find out about his feelings for the mother and so will not punish him, and he also thinks that the mother will like him as he is behaving more like the father.

        Girls encounter the Electra complex, although the principles are the same there is role reversal.  For the girl the mother is the object of jealousy.  As mentioned before this is the stage where the child focuses on the genitals and notices what she has compared to others.  The Electra complex starts when the girl realises she doesn’t have a penis and thinks she has been castrated.  She begins to experience penis envy and blames the mother for her not having a penis because she believes the mother has allowed this to happen to her.  Eventually the girl replaces the desire for a penis with the wish to have a baby and the love object in this situation is the father because the girl believes he will give her a baby.

        During the time these accounts were written there was greater emphasis on boys as girls were seen as irrelevant, therefore the Electra complex is not as clear.  Freud stated that that at the end of the Electra complex the girl has to give up the father as a love object and go back to the mother so that she can identify with her.  But the reason for the girl identifying with the mother is less clear than the boys’ reason for identifying with the father.  As this process of identification develops the superego, Freud believed that the stronger the reason/motive for identification, the stronger the identification, therefore a better developed superego.  According to Freud boys had a stronger reason to identify with the father, therefore girls have less developed superegos.  

        After discussing Freud’s theory we can see that there is a lot to come to terms with.  Freud’s theory had a huge impact and was very influential, but was also strongly criticised.  Our first opinion may be that the theory is a bit bizarre; the ideas seem too “incredible” to believe.  Although Freud produced some very influential work as such as his “Three Essays On The Theory Of Sexuality” and his book called “The Interpretation Of Dreams”, his work has many controversial issues surrounding it, as I will now discuss.  This brings me on to the limitations of the theory.  

Freud’s theory was based on only a few patients from one culture.  Therefore there is the issue of generalising from a small number of studies.  Can it be applied to all individuals?  His evidence was drawn from “clinical observations which have limitations such as use of small samples, representatives (are the patients used representative of the rest of the population?) and lack of control over causation.  Circumstances will be different in different cultures and therefore a wider study could bring about different results and opinions.  The issue of cultural bias would imply that the theory is not universal in terms of culture and time periods.

        Freud’s understanding of hysteria was that it was physical symptoms without a cause; he thought there was an active mind that interpreted events.  But there is evidence that hysteria does have physical causes.

        The theory has also been criticised in terms of putting too much emphasis on sex.  The theory implies that almost all behaviour is linked to sexual drives and wanting to either repress or satisfy these dives, but it raises the question of whether any other forces play a part and why everything is based on se drive.  Although this was the initial response, it was later discovered that this isn’t what Freud meant and he was actually talking about internal energy not sex drive when referring to libido.  But it still raises questions such as can a child so young be thinking about sex and sexual attraction already?

        The theory has no solid/concrete evidence and there is no physical proof to say that all of this goes on in our minds.  It is difficult to obtain proof of it because it is said to go on all in the unconscious mind and Freud himself said that this was unavailable and always hidden from the conscious mind.  As we all may know, it is easier to believe or come to terms with something when we can see the proof for it, but with Freud’s theory this isn’t the case.  But it could also be argued that just because there isn’t any proof for it it doesn’t happen/exist.  There isn’t anything to prove/disprove the theory.

        There are also issues with the accounts of psychosexual development.  According to Freud children will go through these stages sequentially at certain ages.  But this doesn’t allow for flexibility or variation.  Some children may go through them at different ages in different ways.  Although some people have accepted this theory of psychosexual development, they don’t believe that the theory is universal or that it is essential to develop into a mentally healthy adult.

        Freud believed that we all use defence mechanisms in order to protect our conscious mind from anxiety provoking thoughts, but how can we test what defence mechanisms are being used, if any?

        Freud believed that to achieve full psychological health, anything that hindered development during childhood would have to be brought to consciousness and tackled by coming to terms with the issues.  Based on this Freud developed his psychoanalysis technique which was used as a means of revealing repressed traumas.  It involves sessions using different techniques, such as analysing a patient’s dreams, the use of hypnosis, free association – saying whatever comes to mind when a situation or word is said.  The main aim of the sessions is to bring the unconscious into consciousness so that underlying traumas can be discovered.  But the use of these trials was limited and so the effectiveness of psychotherapy is unknown as the trials produced inconclusive results.

        There is also criticism that the theories were based on studies of adult patients but the theory itself is about childhood experiences, it is retrospective.  The case study on “little Hans” was his only study on a child patient but Freud had already developed and written about his theories when Hans was studied so again it is retrospective and biased.  Hans’ behaviour could also be explained in other ways so it isn’t really supportive of the theory.

        Even with much criticism the theory does have some positive aspects.  It has generated much thought and research and psychoanalysis is still used today.  

        Freud’s theory is not reductionist as is the behavioural theory which determines human behaviour in terms of operant and classical conditioning and ignores the existence of human mind and conscience.  Freud’s theory was an attempt to explain the unconscious and this hadn’t been done before.        

        From everyday examples we can see that there may be some support in this theory, for example we may all be able to name situations where we have (unconsciously at the time) used defence mechanisms.  The idea of the unconscious mind revealing itself can be seen in examples of dreams and tip of the tongue memories.  Freud believed that these were clues about the unconscious memory we have, dreams reveal it in symbols because the true content of what is hidden would be too disturbing and cause anxiety.  Although this may not be evidence for the theory because it depends on how we understand these concepts and whether we believe Freud’s theory.  

        My personal opinion of the theory is that it is very interesting and makes you want to read further.  The fact that the unconscious mind, personality traits and childhood experiences are discussed in so much detail from a different aspect makes the theory so much more intriguing.  It isn’t as basic as Skinner’s theory and considers other factors rather than just putting everything down to learnt behaviour.  Although I find the theory hard to believe because of lack of concrete evidence, I don’t see this as a limitation of the theory but actually see it as a positive point, because it leaves the ideas open to further research and thought.  I also see it as a positive point because it leaves an individual’s mind open to personal interpretation of the theory.  Every individual will have a different understanding of it because of our own different life experiences; therefore we can all apply it to different situations and contexts.  It leaves us with the puzzle of wanting to explore our minds further in order to understand ourselves and our behaviour, as this is said to be the biggest mystery to everyone – understanding our own mind and behaviour.