Psychoanalytic theory of development

Freud’s theory that development, which proceeds in discrete stages, is determined

largely by biologically based drives shaped by encounters with the environment and through

the interaction of three components of personality- the id, ego, and superego.

Sigmund Freud He said that the mind was controlled by three

parts the id, ego, and superego.- Id- Operates the pleasure principle.- Ego- The rational controlling part of the

personality.- Superego- internalizes parental or societal

values, morals, and roles.

Id Ego Super Ego

Oedipus/Electra ComplexOedipus Complex- A period of time in which a

boy is sexually attracted to his mother.Electra Complex- A period of time in which a

girl is sexually attracted to her father.

Freud’s Developmental stagesAge Stage of Development

0-1 Oral- Focus on eating and taking things into the

mouth.

1-3 Anal. Emphasis on toilet training; first experience

with discipline and authority.

3-6 Phallic. Increase in sexual urges leads to Oedipus

complex in males.

6-12 Latency. Sexual urges repressed; emphasis on

education and the beginnings of concern for

others.

12-20 Genital. Altruistic love joins selfish love; need for

reproduction of species underlies adoption of adult

responsibilities.

Defence MechanismsIn psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective

methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Rationalization- An excuse we come up with in order to explain failure, loss, error, or bad behaviour. Ex. I didn’t get the job I wanted because the person who got hired is related to the manager.

Displacement- Taking our anger/frustration out on someone else because of an earlier situation. Ex. A friend makes fun of you in front of someone you are trying to impress, you later take your frustration out on your parents.

Defence mechanisms cont.Repression- Pushing unpleasant

thoughts/urges into our subconscious minds. Is a problem as can resurface as sarcasm, physical problem, etc. Ex. Man finds mother’s traits annoying however puts them into his subconscious mind, where he is later sarcastic to is wife who carries the same traits.

Projection- Seeing negative traits in other people that we carry but can not admit to. Ex. Someone who drives you crazy may have personality traits you have been trying to hide.

Dominated by his Id at the beginning but starts to attain his ego side later on.

Dominated by Superego

Start with a ego however let the superego take over them.

Dominated by Superego

ALFRED ADLERAlthough Adler one of Freud’s colleagues

agreed with many of his perspectives he also developed his own theories.

He felt that people’s lives are governed by the need to overcome inferiority in the conscious mind, which was unlike Freud’s belief of the importance of unconscious motives.

Carl JungJung divides the psyche into 3 parts:

Ego: the conscious mindPersonal Unconscious: includes anything

which is not presently conscious, but can be. Differs from Freud’s theory because it

doesn’t include instincts.Example: Both memories that are easily

brought to mind and those that have been suppressed.

Carl JungCollective Unconscious: the ‘reservoir’ of our

experiences as species or a kind of knowledge that we are all born with.

Unconscious mind contains both personal experiences and common cultural experiences which are called the “collective unconscious”.

Although we all possess a collective consciousness, we can never be directly conscious of it.

It influences our experiences and behaviours; especially one’s related to emotion.

Carl JungExample of Experiences that show the

effects of the collective unconscious: Déjà vu (the feeling that you have been there

before)Love at first sightThe immediate recognition of certain symbolsNear death experienceThese examples could be understood as a

sudden conjunction of our outer reality and the inner reality of the collective consciousness.

PsychosocialA theory of development that says that

children develop through a series of stages largely through accomplishing tasks that involve them in interaction

with their social environment.

EricksonErickson believed that the development of self

does not end with the child or adolescent stage.

He explained that there are many stages of life he referred to as the “psychological stages.”

Each stage has different tasks or challenges that are key to forming social relationships.

Failure to meet the requirements of one stage can prevent an individual from succeeding in the next stage.

Age Period( Years) Stage of Development0-1 Infancy

Task: To develop basic trust in oneself and others.

Risk: Mistrust of others and lack of self-confidence.

1-3 Early ChildhoodTask: To learn self-control and

establish autonomy.Risk: Shame and doubt about one’s

own capabilities.

3-6 Play AgeTask: To develop initiative in

mastering environment.Risk: Feelings of guilt over aggressiveness and daring.

6-12 School AgeTask: To develop industry.

Risk: Feelings of inferiority over real or imagined failure to master

tasks.

12-20 AdolescenceTask: To achieve sense of identity.Risk: Role confusion over who and what the individual wants to be.

Age Period (Years) Stage of Development20-30 Young Adulthood

Task: To achieve intimacy with others.

Risk: Shaky identity may lead to avoidance of others and isolation.

30-65 AdulthoodTask: To express oneself through

generatively .Risk: Inability to create children,

ideas, or products may lead to stagnation.

65+ Mature AgeTask: To achieve sense of integrity.

Risk: Doubts and unfulfilled desires may lead to despair.

Cognitive social learning theoryCognitive learning theory says that children

learn not only through conditioning by through imitating others as well.

“Sesame Street”

Piaget TheoryTwo complementary cognitive processes play

a role in the development of the child.First, children use what they have already

learned in the world, as the framework for the absorption of new experiences.

Secondly, children modify the framework in order to accommodate the new knowledge gained from their environments.

PsychoanalysisA process whereby patients discuss their

background, feelings and experiences with a trained therapist.

KAREN HORNEYShe felt that conflicts develop as a result of feeling

unsafe, unloved, or undervalued.She felt that those who experienced love and worth

as

a child would develop positive aspects of personality, whereas those who do not will develop defence mechanisms to protect themselves.

She disagreed with Freud’s view that women are inferior to men. She proposed that men are in fact

inferior to women as they can have babies.

FunctionalismThe belief that mental characteristics develop

to allow people to survive and adapt.

William JamesWas impressed with how people adapted their

behaviour to the needs of their surroundings. He also believed that mental characteristics

developed and adapted enabling individuals to survive and solve problems.

Through his studies he was able to examine society and how the development of children, education, and society could be improved.

He also made observations on the behavioural differences of men and women.

Behaviourism A theory that explains that theories of

behaviour must be based on observations of actual behaviour, rather than speculation

about motives or unobservable behaviour.

What do you associate with?Food?Exams?Home?

Pavlov Conditioning When studying dogs digestion he stumbled upon the

phenomenon of “psychic reflexes”.He noticed that the dogs not only salivated when they

could visually see the meat, but also before the meat was in their vision.

He decided to further test this discovery with a bell experiment, he wanted to see whether the dogs would associate a bell with food, and in turn salivate before the food was even in their vision.

The experiment went as Pavlov expected and the dogs did begin to salivate at the sound of the bell.

This theory made people realize the importance of cognitive processes (thoughts, perceptions, expectations) on an organisms capacity for learning.

Skinner WatsonWondered if Pavlov’s principles of stimulus and

response could explain more complex behaviour.He noted that most behaviour takes place

voluntarily before being triggered by outside events. Ex. Waving your hand to call a cab and it stops.

Skinner put a rat in a cage with a bar that when pushed dispersed a food pellet. When the rat realized that this was how they could attain their food they began to press the bar whenever they needed a food pellet. This is called operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning affects our life in many ways as we now realize that positive reinforcement is crucial in achieving desired behaviour.

STRUCTURALISM

The observation of the inner workings of the mind by conducting experiments on sensation, perception, and attention.

William WundtStudied psychology with inquires into

language, art, social customs, laws, and morals.

He is said to have developed the basis of psychology, however his theories are rarely used today.

Zimbardo ExperimentPhilip Zimbardo studied how roles affect

behaviour, by setting up a mock prison.In the prison volunteers played the roles of the

prisoners and the guards.As the days progressed in the prison the

individuals began to believe that they were actually prisoners or guards and started to take their roles seriously.

After 6 days they had to cut the study short as this study was beginning to hurt the boys both mentally and physically.

This shows how people conform to the roles given to them by individuals or society.

HarlowPsychologists Mary and Harry Harlow originally isolated

monkeys in order to produce disease free specimens.While the monkeys were confined, they were beginning to

show side effects such as staring into space, rocking back and forth, going into rages when people approached. Some of the mother monkeys would even attack their young or ignore them completely.

They decided to test these side effects further by raising the moneys with a surrogate mother who was either wire or cloth.

They realized the monkeys spent most of their time with the cuddling with the soft monkey and just being near the wire monkey long enough to feed.

Later they brought in loud noises and mechanical monsters into the monkey cages. The monkeys raised by the cloth mother would run to her to gain courage and then investigate the problem, whereas the monkeys raised by the wire monkey cringed with fear in the corner.

Harlow’s experiments are important as they show the importance of expressing emotions. They also show how human babies need to be raised in a warm and loving environment in order to gain emotional stability.

STANLEY MILGRAMThe goal of his experiments were to test the power

of conformity. In his experiment, a researcher dressed in a white

lab coat, instructed a subject to “teach” pairs of words to a “learner” who was seated out of sight of the “teacher”.

Whenever the learner made a mistake he was to receive an electric shock, the severity of the shocks were to increase with every mistake.

The interesting part was that the learner was not actually receiving the shocks, but the teacher did not know that. The learner acted as though he was receiving the up to 450 volts of electricity.

Milligram found that most of the teachers would administer shocks right up to the most severe level.

This experiment shows how ordinary people, under certain circumstances can be known to cause harm to others.

Comparisons have been made to the Nazi soldiers of the Holocaust.