Psychodynamic Perspective

The approach
stating that behavior is motivated by inner forces,
memories, and conflicts that are generally beyond
people’s awareness and control

The inner forces, which may stem from one’s
childhood, continually influence behavior throughout the life span.

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Unconscious forces reflected in personality and behavior
• Unconscious forces present in every person, but are buried because of their troubling nature
• Freud believed unconscious was responsible for everyday behavior

Aspects of the Personality:

id:

raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality that is present at birth. It represents primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses. The id operates according to the
pleasure principle, in which the goal is to maximize satisfaction and reduce tension

ego:

rational and reasonable; acts as a buffer between the real world outside of us and the primitive id; operates on the
reality principle, in which instinctual energy is restrained in order to maintain the safety of the individual
and help integrate the person into society

superego:

represents a person’s conscience, incorporating distinctions between right and wrong. It begins to develop around age 5 or 6 and is learned from an individual’s parents, teachers, and other significant figures

Psychosexual Development

Children pass through a series of stages in which pleasure, or gratification, is focused on a particular biological function and body part. If children are unable to gratify themselves sufficiently during a particular stage, or conversely, if they receive too much gratification, fixation may occur.

fixation:

behavior reflecting an earlier stage of development due to an unresolved conflict. For instance,
fixation at the oral stage might produce an adult who is unusually absorbed in oral activities—
eating, talking, or chewing gum

Stages of Psychosexual Development

• Oral (Birth to 12-18 months)
• Anal (12-18 months to 3 years)
• Phallic (3 to 5-6 years)
• Latency (5-6 years to adolescence)
• Genital (adolescence to adulthood)

Erik Erikson

Our interactions with other people, with society and culture, both challenge and shape our personalities

Psychosocial Development:

changes
in our interactions with and understandings of one another as well as in our knowledge and
understanding of ourselves as members of society

developmental change occurs throughout our lives in eight distinct stages; stages emerge in a fixed pattern and are similar for all peo-
ple; each stage presents a crisis or conflict that the individual must resolve; no crisis is ever fully resolved, making life increasingly complicated, but the individual must at least address the crisis of each stage sufficiently to deal with demands made during the next stage of development; unlike Freud, Erikson suggested that growth and change continue throughout the life span.

Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• Initiative vs. Guilt
• Industry vs. Inferiority
• Identity vs. Role Diffusion
• Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Ego-integrity vs. Despair