Theoretical Perspectives

What are the 3 hypothetical parts of the personality according to Freud?

Id: Newborns are governed by the id, which is the pleasure principle (seek immediate satisfaction of their needs and desires)

Ego: Represents reason, and operates under the reality principle. The ego’s aim is to find a realistic way to gratify the id that are acceptable to the superego (develops around 1 years old)

Superego: Includes the conscience and incorporates socially approved social norms into the child’s value system. The superego is very demanding, and if the standards are not met then the child may feel guilty or anxious.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

View of human development as shaped by unconscious forces that motivate human behaviour.

Psychosexual Development

In Freudian theory, it is an unvarying sequence of stages of childhood personality development in which gratification shifts from the mouth, to the anus, and then to the genitals. 

What is the Oedipus (males) /Electra (females) Complex? 

Boys develops a sexual attachment to their mothers and girls to their fathers, and they have aggressive urges towards the same-sex parent, whom they see as a rival.