It all started with Freud

Freud created crude theories that jump started research and observations into human development. 

Ego psychology: He also did observations in regards to the personality as it is formed by the ego, id, and superego.

Ego –part of personality that acts as a moderator between superego and id; intermediary between person and outside world. Governed by reality and acceptable ways of fulfilling urges according to societal rules.

Id – instinctual and primal part of personality. Lead by urges to fulfill desires which would lead to satisfaction.

Superego – basically the conscience of a person – creates satisfaction if the societal rules have been followed; creates guilt if they have not.

Freud called the conflict between the 3 parts of the personality the unconscious conflict and it would lead people to develop defense mechanisms to help alleviate the anxiety that the conflict was creating. 7 common defense mechanisms are:

Regression – person acts or thinks the way they did when they were younger or less mature; happens when a person will not acknowledge to himself what he is thinking, feeling, or wanting to do.

Denial – person will not believe that a situation or event is true

Rationalization – used to make up reason to defend beliefs, feelings, or actions that are contrary to societal rules

Projection – person tells himself that their own thoughts and feelings are really someone else’s

Displacement – person’s feelings or opinions about something are unjustifiably associated with something else

Sublimation – involves taking a feeling or behavior that is contrary to societal rules and changing it to fit those rules

Psychosexual Development: He focused on the basic drive of people for achieving pleasant sensual feelings. This is not just related to sex but to a range of satisfying physical feelings. The drive to satisfy those feelings is the libido (Id). He focused his observations into 5 stages of psychosexual development.

1)      Oral Phase – Infants feel satisfaction in exploring their world through the 5 senses, including taste. Satisfaction is also brought to them through sucking on a nipple or bottle b/c it gives them food & nourishment.

2)      Anal Phase – Child’s activities are mainly focused on giving and withholding – especially in toilet training where they must hold onto waste and release it in an acceptable societal form – in a bathroom. Infants feel satisfaction after completing a bowel movement

3)      Phallic Phase – starts in infancy and progresses through early childhood.

a.       Oedipus complex - States that boys become attracted to their mother and feel competition toward their fathers. Child becomes afraid b/c father is stronger and bigger so they choose other females to focus on.

b.      Electra complex – affects girls who become jealous of the attention their father gives their mother

4)      Latency phase – erotic drives and urges are not strong; they are dormant

5)      Puberty or Genital Stage – hormones become activated and create urges as the body matures. Adolescents are taught to focus their energy on opposite sex friends and not their parents. Acceptable sexual behavior is taught to adolescents through societal rules. This stage continues throughout their life and ppl develop satisfaction by achieving their life goals.

Erikson probably took on the part of Freud theory that states that if resolution of one stage is not obtained, the person may become ‘fixated’ or stuck at that stage of development leading to lack of resolution in each stage thereafter.

References:
Zastrow, C.H. & Kirst-Ashman, K.K. (2004). Understanding Human Behavior. Thomson Learning, Inc., Belmont, CA. p. 88-91.