Perhaps Freud’s most influential piece of work in the field of psychology
is his theory that divided the mind into the three
fundamental components of the psyche, known as the id, the ego and of course the superego. This piece of
Freud’s work asserts that the three components of the mind have to compete and opposing
desires. Freud’s work argues that the ego is reality-based, the id is rather hedonistic
in nature, and the superego is moral and ethical in nature. Freud
argues the development of the strong ego is necessary to keep
the id and superego from disregarding reality and consequence to satisfy its
own needs. These three fundamental components of the psyche are essential to understand when reviewing some
of Freud’s more controversial theories.
Although
his Penis Envy theory is quite controversial, Freud’s theory of Psychosexual Development
is perhaps his most renowned and disputed theory (Argosy
Lectures, 2014). Freud argument in his theory Psychosexual
Development asserts that personality development happens through
a series of childhood stages he has named oral, anal, phallic, the latent period,
and the genital stage (Argosy Lectures, 2014).
Freud’s theory asserts during this development period the pleasure-seeking
energies of the id are
concentrated on certain erogenous areas and fulfilling these needs and
passing through the next stage is essential to healthy development (Argosy Lectures, 2014). Admittedly controversial and historically disputed
the work of Sigmund Freud’s on psychosexual development was the first of many
theories developed with a focus on understanding the phases of development contained
within a human lifespan(Argosy Lectures, 2014). Because of Freud’s contribution to psychosexual development
has opened the door for many new and contrasting theories to develop,
regardless of its accuracy, it has further expanded our insight into human
development considerably.
Life and sociocultural factors that significantly
contributed to his conclusions were the era in which he was lived, the state of
social affairs and human rights during this time, the social class and ethnicity
in which he was born to, his own personality, personal experiences and direct social
influences during his life such as his parents, two half brothers, a nephew,
his wife and children (IEP, 2014). Although born in Frieberg, Moravia in 1856 by the end of 1860 Freud’s family relocated
to Vienna (IEP, 2014). Consequently,
it was in Vienna where he founded the first Viennese School’ of Psychoanalysis, the psychoanalysis
movement and where many other subsequent developments in this field
arose (IEP, 2014). Other notable influences on
his work directly was Jean
Charcot for his use of hypnotism and Josef Breuer for his knowledge of the
healing power found in cathartic release through talking therapy (IEP, 2014).
People disagree with the findings of Freud for a
seemingly never-ending list of reasons. Many use the argument that his study methodology
was unreliable and his subject sample too limited in scope, resultantly his
results are unfalsifiable (Moffat, 2006). Others have indicated
he discredited the evidence, even falsified and destroyed data (Moffat,
2006). Another popular
argument against Freud was that his work was sexually discriminatory or bias in
nature (Cherry, 2013). Donna Stewart, M.D., a professor and chair of
women’s health at the University Health Network, asserted this his worked
lacked inadequate insight into women’s desires. Although Freud’s view expresses
a socially appropriate view for the time, his view that a women’s thoughts and
actions are “dominated by their sexual reproductive functions” is a view that
is largely bias, inaccurate and likely based on Freud’s own opposition to the
women’s emancipation movement (Lehmann, p. 9).
Not surprisingly, despite all the controversy surrounding Freud’s
works his famously coined terms “ego”, “Freudian slip” and “penis envy” as well
as other theories often are still referred to in general psychology and popular
culture every day (Argosy Lectures, 2014). Interestingly, there are a number of concepts
that are based in Freudian theory that at first glance to not appear to have anything
related to Freudian theory. This is because Freud’s work inspired many great
conversations and debates that resulted in new theories and schools of thought being
developed, thus expanding the scope of our understanding into human personality
development and human behavior through our life span in many ways. An example of this expansion of knowledge is the behaviorism theory.
Although behaviorism is a theory that seems
so far way from Freudian theory it has arisen as a result of expanding ideas
that are partly based on psychoanalytic assumptions about human behavior
(Argosy Lectures, 2014).
References
Cherry, K. (2013). Freud & Women: Freud's Perspective on
Women. About Psychology. Retrieved
from http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/freud_women.htm
Lehmann, C. (2001). Women psychiatrists still battle Freud’s
view of sexes. Psychiatric News, 36(14), American
Psychiatric Association, p. 9.
Moffat,
L. (2006). Acknowledge Freud’s Mistakes.
Worker’s Liberty. Retrieved from http://www.workersliberty.org/node/6472
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2014) Sigmund Freud.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved
from http://www.iep.utm.edu/freud/
