Freuds concepts and their value for contemporary psychology

Freuds suppositions and their pry for coeval psychologySigmund Freud (1856-1939) is considerably cognize as the founder of psychoanal retentiveysis in psychiatry and is vox populi of by many as a key figure in psychology. throughout his work Freud came up with numerous images and theories, many of which electrostatic ca enjoyment a lot of debate amongst psychologists.In this essay I will demonstrate some of Freuds key apprehensions including study of disposition, disposition buildings and defence mechanisms. After which I will attempt to task their signifi endurece in modern psychology and conclude whether or non I believe Freuds concepts be of value to contemporary psychology and if we should continue to look into his work.One key concept moderni exitd by Freud is the development of disposition. He came up with fin manifest stages, known as the psychosexual stage, to describe how our personalities develop from birth to almost 18 years of age. He places particu lar emphasis on the development of sexual drives and how this shapes our personalities. Furthermore, each stage has a region, known as the sensitive z wholeness, where the libidinal energy is focused. The five stages are Oral stage (birth one(a) year old), in this stage Freud (1901) suggests that events around feeding are the central point of pleasure for the infant, the erogenous zone includes the lips, mouth and tongue (Maltby, mean solar day and Macaskill 2007).Anal stage (1year -2 years), Freud believed that bowel movement gives the baby sensual pleasure, withal at this stage the child is rewarded for bladder and bowel control (Maltby et al., 2007). The anal region becomes the new erogenous zone.Phallic stage (3 years -5 years), at this stage the child starts to mount physiologically and the libidinal energy is transferred to venereal region (new erogenous zone). At this stage gratification is gained from masturbation (Maltby et al., 2007). Freud thought that girls exper ienced what he cal take penis envy as they become aware(p) that boys take a shit penises and the do not. In addition, boys become sexually aware of their dumbfound and start to view their father as a sexual oppose (and experience castration anxiety fear of losing their penis), this is known as the Oedipal coordination compound. response quantify stage (5 years -12 years) can be seen as a resting occlusive of the psychosexual stage. Social interactions are most important in this stage, children develop friendships with same sexed peers, as well as, identifying with the same sexed kick upstairs (Maltby et al., 2007) resulting in lovingisation of gender roles.Genital stage (12 years +) as this stage puberty begins, which reawakens the libidinal energy, resulting in a more mature sexual attachment, in normal development the main sexual objects are members of the opposite sex (Maltby et al., 2007).Freud also developed the persuasion of personality structures. He identifies th ree personality structures that develop in e very person, these are the ID (present from birth), egotism and superEGO (these two form later on in development). The ID is the primitive, pleasure pursuance part of the personality, it strives for immediate gratification (i.e. I want X and I want it now). The EGO plays an important role as the mediator and is the rational panorama of our personalities (i.e. You will find a panache to flap X, just be patient). Finally the superEGO is the moral, guilt driven side of the personality which then becomes our conscience (i.e. You cant have X because its wrong).And finally I will talk about defence mechanisms, a well-known concept developed by Freud. Defence mechanisms can be described as the minds way of protecting itself from unacceptable or painful thoughts, as well as, conflict from the three personality structures. Freud mentions eleven defence mechanisms Repression, denial, projection, reaction formation, rationalisation, metempsyc hosis reaction, phobic avoidance, displacement, regression, isolation and undoing.The two most known defences are repression the idea that we push undesirable thoughts, feelings and impulses from our conscious mind into our unconscious in prescribe to shield ourselves from pain and protect our self-esteem. In other words Freud precept repression as the Ego and superEGOs way of supressing the ID. Denial is simply when we refuse to take care certain situations or realities as we do not find them acceptable. Cramer (1991) states that the boundaries in the midst of these two defence mechanisms are often hard to distinguish mingled with (cited in Baumeister, Dale and Sommer Freudian Defence mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology 1998).The next part of the essay will aim to assess the value of some of Freuds work in contemporary psychology.The concept of personality development is solely based on how libidinal instincts shape us. Maltby, twenty-four hours an d Macaskill (2007), state that Freud does not meet the parsimony criteria in his explanation of the motivational rear end of demeanour, Freud implies that sexual and aggressive instincts are the only motivators of human being deportment (Maltby et al., 2007). The psychosexual stages, do not fully explain human behaviour as they are highly reductionist and ignore the complexity of the human mind, as well as, being bias in only emphasising one aspect as the basis of all behaviour, therefore, it can be utter that they are of little value to contemporary psychology.Freud also identified problems that may occur as a result of fixation in anyone of the five psychosexual stages. He then developed treatment, known as palliate connection, which would allow the patients to resolve their emotional conflicts, which involved catharsis, where the patients discharged their emotions by mouth easyly about anything they want, leading to resolution of these issues. This method has been widel y reviewed and is still used in contemporary psychology. Greenberg (2002) concluded that emotional arousal and touch on within a supportive therapeutic relationship is the core fragment for positive change in therapy. He emphasized the cognitive aspect of catharsis and the need to understand and make sense of emotions. (Esta Powell 2007). Free association is replicable making it reliable and has many applications to contemporary psychology making it valid.Conversely, a good deal of Freuds work on the psychosexual stages was largely based on his interpretations of observations of modern children or self-reports of dreams and thoughts. Freud used Little Hans primarily to support his theory of the Oedipus complex (Jennifer Stuart 2007). Critics contend that Freuds theory is lacking in empirical evidence and relies as well heavily on therapeutic achievements, whereas others assert that even Freuds clinical info are flawed, inaccurate, and selective at best (Beystehner 1998). Thus, the validity of his work is very much in question. As these concepts, such as the psychosexual stages, cannot be operationalized and tested they are not falsifiable and are of little relevance to contemporary research.Many of Freuds theories are simple in a way that they are not comprised of many concepts, for example, his theory on personality structure consists of three clearly definable structures. In this sense his work can be said to be parsimonious and has formed a basis for further research.According to Dangleish and Power (1999) the personality structure purposed by Freud has typesetters case validity as we are all aware of anxiety and conflicts in everyday life decision making (as cited in Maltby, Day and Macaskill, Personality, exclusive Differences and intelligence 2007 34). Face validity implies that there is support for his theory on personality structures, and so this theory can be operationalized and tested to see how personalities coexist within us and data from these tests can have interoperable applications.Furthermore, Freuds work on defence mechanisms was widely accepted and leads to follow up research, such as that by Brewin and Andrews. After reviewing this area of psychology, Brewin and Andrews (1998) concluded that 20% to 60% of therapy patients who had been victims of sexual abuse in their childhood reported not being able to recall being abused for large periods of time in their lives (cited in Maltby et al., Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence 2007 36,37). This shows us that the mind does use methods, such as repression, to protect itself from indecent memories. This shows falsifiability as it is replicable and has practical applications in life which can be used and developed in contemporary psychology.Freuds work is very controversial and has provoked enormous debate, much of which has led to the development of novel ideas in psychology. Not only has his work been expand upon and developed (e.g. to better trea tment of mental patients) but many breakthroughs have been do in trying to disprove his theories. Although many of Freuds theories are inseparable and based on his interpretation of dreams and thoughts which cannot be empirically tested, he has made many valuable contributions to psychology. These include the use of defence mechanisms and the idea of personality structures, both of which have supporting evidence from contemporary psychologists, e.g. Brewin and Andrews (1998) work supports the concept of defence mechanisms. As well as this he created clinical rehearse of psychoanalysis for treating psychopathology, developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and concluded dreams are the primary insight into the unconscious mind. alone of these have had practical applications and have formed the foundation of contemporary psychology. Thus, I believe that it is potent that Freuds theories and concepts continue to be revised.ReferencingMaltby, J., Day, L Ma caskill, A. (2007). Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence (2nd Ed.). London Prentice HallBaumeister, R.F., Dale, K. Sommer, K. L. (1998). Freudian Defence mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology Reaction Formal, Projection, Displacement, Undoing, Isolation, Sublimation and Denial. Oxford Blackwell Publishing.Stuart, J. (2007). Little Hans and Freuds Self-Analysis A Biographical View of Clinical Theory in the Making, 55, (3), 799-819.Beystehner, K. M. (1998). Psychoanalysis Freuds ultra approach to human personality. Retrieved October 22, 2010, from Personality Papers Web site http//www.personalityresearch.org/ document/beystehner.htmlPowell, E. (2007). Catharsis in Psychology and Beyond A Historical overview.Visited on October 25, 2010, Web sitehttp//www.primalmatters.com/images/Catharsis%20.pdf