FREUD THEORY OF PERSONALITY:-

Freud offered dynamic and psychosocial explanations for human behavior.

He conceptualized what we call the psychosexual stages of development.
Freud believed that there are specific stages in which an individual has a
specific need, and if needs are left unfulfilled or overstimulated, according
to Freud there are dramatic effects on an individual's behavior. Freud's
explanation of these developmental stages provided early psychosocial
explanations for an individual's deviance or abnormal behavior. Freud
outlined five stages of development: the oral stage, the anal stage, the
phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage.

Most people have heard of Sigmund Freud. Most also know about the
Oedipus complex. However, there was a lot more to Freud than just that
particular complex (which, actually, is frequently misunderstood).
Freud had a series of stages that he called "Psycho-sexual development."
Each stage concentrates on a particular part of the anatomy, and each has
implications for adult life.

Stage 1, from 0 - 2 years, is the oral phase. At this age, babies learn about
the world by putting things in their mouths. They see toys or cookies or
anything, and the first thing they'll do is put it in their mouth. If a person
becomes fixated (stays in) at this stage, s/he will exhibit oral behaviors as
an adult, like smoking, compulsive eating, etc.

Stage 2, from 2 - 4 years, is the anal phase. This is when children are
beginning to potty train, and become aware of this part of their anatomy.
There's a lot of focus on it because of toilet training, and a child (who
doesn't cooperate) can react one of two ways: anal retentive, or anal
expulsive. The anal retentive child refuses to use the toilet at all, because
he cannot go where he pleases. As an adult the anal retentive person is
fussy, meticulous, overly organized, and sometimes anti-social. The anal
expulsive child reacts violently, by soiling his pants or other areas, in
protest against using the toilet. He proves he will put his feces anywhere he
likes. The anal expulsive adult is brash, unorganized, and often
unconcerned with others' feelings.

Stage 3, from 4 - 6 years, is the first genital stage. At this age, children
become aware of their genitals and frequently masturbate. How they react
depends on how their parents react, should they catch them in the act. If
their parents are upset, they may find the genitals dirty and shameful. If
their parents ignore the behavior, it may or may not have consequences.

During stages 2 and 3, the Oedipus and Electra complexes occur. The
Oedipus complex is easily described as "when a young boy wants to kill his
father and marry his mother," and it is so named after the Greek myth,
Oedipus Rex. However, the complex is not so literal.

A young boy, according to Freud, idolizes his mother and therefore feels a
type of attraction to her. He is jealous of the attention she gives his father;
he wants all the attention for himself. He must get over his resentment of
his father, and learn to emulate him instead, in order to get past this
complex. He must also begin to see his mother in a more human light.

Most people can recognize young children going through an "idolizing"

stage with the parent they are least like (the opposite-sex parent), and even
being jealous of the attention the same-sex parent gives him/her. Others
might disagree and say this occurs because the opposite-sex parent is a
novelty, and jealousy occurs because children are very self-centered at a
young age. Regardless; Freud saw it as a sexual focus.

Stage 4, from 6 - 12 years, is what Freud called the 'latency period.' He

thought no psychosexual development occurred during this time.

Stage 5, from 12 - 18 years, is the second genital phase. This is when

puberty is occurring and children reach sexual maturity. Their early
attempts at sexuality will guide their adult behavior. Children that are
shunned may grow up to be isolated, or to behave wantonly. Children that
are exposed to healthy sexuality will grow up as functional, whole adults.

Freud thought that all development was complete by the time a person
reached adulthood, and that any tendencies the person had from their early
years would always show through. Psychologists today disagree with this
approach to development; they believe that it continues throughout life.

Freud claimed that such a fixation at one particular stage can cause bad
habits or problems in an individual's adult life. There are many examples of
this.

For example if a person is orally fixated (according to Freud, the are stuck
in the oral stage of development), a person may bite their nails, chew on
pens. Freud also blamed smoking on fixation at the oral stage. On the
other hand, if an infant does not receive adequate oral gratification, the
individual may be prone to excessive eating or drinking in adult life. Many
psychotherapists who are advocates of this theory blame many sexual
disorders such as fetishes and pedophiles on being fixated at the genital
stage. According to this theory , there is a delicate of balance that must be
met at each stage. If an individual a strict anal stage and had a tough toilet
training, Freud said that individual was more likely to be obsessively neat
in adulthood. This is where the expression "anal-retentive" comes from
when describing someone that is excessively neat and orderly. On the
other hand if the child had a not so strict toilet training experience, Freud
claimed it was more likely that the individual would grow up to be a creative
adult. In general each stage of development places demands on an
individual and arouses conflicts that must be resolved. One of the most
important conflicts occurs during the phallic stage when the pleasures of
self-stimulation pave the way for what is called the Oedipus complex.
Oedipus, according to Greek mythology, unknowingly killed his father and
married his mother. According to Freud, each young boy symbolically
relives the Oedipus drama. He has incestuous cravings for his mother and
views his father as a hated rival. Even though the father is considered a
rival, the boy also fears his father. Freud suggested that the boy feels
castration anxiety and as a result repressed his sexual desire for his
mother . Eventually if all goes well, the boy identifies with the father and
comes to have harmless affection for the mother. The Electra complex is
the female counterpart. It is based on the view that each girl wants to
possess her father and replace her mother. For either sex, resolution of this
conflict is considered essential if a young adult is to develop. In a
historical perspective, Freudian psychoanalysis can be seen as one of the
first systematic, psychodynamic approaches to show how human
psychological processes can result in mental disorders. He demonstrated
that certain abnormal mental phenomena occur during the attempt to cope
with difficult problems. He also developed techniques such as free
association and dream analysis for becoming acquainted with conscious
and unconscious aspects of personality. These techniques are still widely
used in therapy to treat a number of mental disorders. Freud's
psychodynamic perspective has come under attack by several critics. An
important criticism to Freud's stages of development is that no scientific
data supports any of the stages. This theory has also been criticized for its
overemphasis on sex drive, and also for failing to consider motives toward
personal growth and fulfillment. Regardless of how correct it is, Freud's
theory of development paved the way for other psychologists to develop
theories on how a child develops. It led scientists to take a further look into
the developmental processes of human behaviors. It also led to the start of
theories that describe the abnormal behaviors of individuals.