Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology of 97 Oral Stage- The first stage is the oral stage, which occurs during infancy. Infants gain primary satisfaction from taking in food and from sucking on a breast, thumb, or some other object. Freud proposed that either excessive gratification or frustration of oral needs can result in fixation on oral themes of self-indulgence or dependency as an adult. Anal Stage- In the second and third years of life, children enter the anal stage, and pleasure becomes focused on the process of elimination. According to Freud, harsh toilet training can produce compulsions, overemphasis on cleanliness, obsessive concerns with orderliness, and insistence on rigid rules and rituals. Phallic Stage- The most controversial of Freud’s stages is the phallic stage, which begins at 4 to 5 years of age. This is the time when children begin to derive pleasure from their sexual organs. Freud believed that during this stage of early sexual awakenings, the male child experiences erotic feelings toward his mother and views the father as a rival. This conflictual situation involving love for the mother and hostility toward the father is called the Oedipus complex. Girls, meanwhile, discover that they lack a penis, blame the mother for their lack of what Freud considered the more desirable sex organ, and wish to bear their father’s child as a substitute for the penis they lack. The female counterpart of the Oedipus complex was termed the Electra complex. Freud believed that the phallic stage is a major milestone in the development of gender identity. Latency Stage- As the phallic stage draws to a close at about 6 years of age, children enter the latency stage, during which sexuality becomes dormant for about six years Genital Stage- Sexuality normally reemerges in adolescence as the beginning of a lifelong genital stage, in which erotic impulses find direct expression in sexual relationships. Jungian Theory- Analytical Psychology is Jung’s term for his theory and practice of psychology. He coined the term to distinguish it from Freud’s form of psychotherapy, which Freud called psychoanalysis. The phrase most commonly used today to describe Jung’s model of therapeutic practice is Jungian analysis. Whichever term is used, for Jung, psychoanalysis is ideally an attempt to bring conscious and unconscious elements of the psyche into balance. Jung expanded Freud’s notion of the unconscious in unique directions. He believed that humans possess not only a personal unconscious based on their life experiences, but also a collective unconscious that consists of memories accumulated throughout the entire history of the human race. These memories are represented by archetypes, inherited tendencies to interpret experiences in certain ways. Object Relations- Focuses on the images or mental representations that people form of themselves and other people, as a result of early experiences with caregivers. Whether realistic or distorted, these internal representations of important adults become the lenses, or working models, through which later social interactions are viewed, and these relational themes exert an unconscious influence on a person’s relationships throughout life. © 2015 Achieve Page 68