This chapter delves into Freudian Classical theory psychoanalytic theory of personality and the Neo-Freudian theories. The Freudian classical theory is founded on the biological aspect of human development and places sex at the core of emotional challenges faced by individuals. Freud also offers three of cognition: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind. The latter guides all human undertakings and feelings, including the biological instincts of food and sex.
Freud also proposes a three-part personality framework consisting of Id, ego and the superego. The Id found in the unconscious mind and is the only that established by the time of birth. It perpetuates the biological instincts needed for human survival, reproduction, and pleasure. It also contains the death instincts and other aggressive motivations that adversely affect survival. The ego is founded on reality and helps the Id in its endeavor to meet various desires. It starts developing in the first year after birth. Part of it is attached to the unconscious mind directly to the Id while the other part is connected to the conscious and preconscious minds enabling one to deal with the external environment. The superego is founded on the principle of morality and this yields defense mechanisms aimed at protecting an individual from feelings of shame. These defense mechanisms include repression, regression, sublimation, displacement, projection, rationalization, and reaction formation.
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Freud further proposes the psychosexual stage theory which delves into five main stages of human development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. The phallic stage is associated with two kinds of conflicts that occur in human life for the two genders. The little boy experiences sexual attraction to his mother and fears that the father, who is a rival in this case, will castrate him once he gets to know about it. The little girl’s attraction to her father is attributed to the fact that he has a penis and she would desire to have one, what is referred to as Electra Conflict. Identification results from a child’s adoption of same-sex gender roles and is the basis for the development of the superego.
Neo-Freudian theorists, such as Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney agree with some aspects of Freud’s biological theory but are concerned with his emphasis of sex which they greatly criticize.
