Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

ANSWER : -Based on Freud’s belief of sexual desire as the driving force behind human development– 

Driven by three psychic structures Id-Basis is pleasure principle Superego-Basis of conscience (restricts 

the id) Ego-Basis of reality (mediator of the id and superego)

Who is Freud?

ANSWER : Freud (1856-1939) aka Father of Psychoanalysis was a Viennese MD. People developed mental 

health issues and personal issues based upon a traumatic childhood event

What were Freuds Psychosexual stages?

ANSWER : Infancy/ oral Todlerhood/Anal Earlychildhod/Phallic Middle Childhood/ Latency Adolescence/ 

Genital

Main Features of Infancy/Oral Stage

ANSWER : Sexual sensations centered on the mouth; pleasure derived from sucking, chewing, biting

Main Features of Toddlerhood/Anal stage

ANSWER : Sexual sensations centered on the anus; high interest in feces; pleasure derived from 

elimination

Main Features of Earlyhood/ Phalic stage

ANSWER : Sexual sensations move to genitals; sexual desire for other sex- parent and fear of same- sex 

parent

Main features of Middle childhood/ Latency

ANSWER : Sexual desires repressed; focus on developing social and cognitive skills

Main features of Adolesence/ Genital stage

ANSWER : Reemergence of sexual desire, now directed outside the family

Failure to complete any of these stages results in?

ANSWER : a fixation that would impact his/her development.

psychoanalysis

ANSWER : Freudian psychology which stresses importance of sex, childhood determinism and 

unconscious thinking

the unconscious

ANSWER : thoughts and wishes you are not aware of which influence conscious thoughts and behavior

repression

ANSWER : unconsciously pushing thoughts and wishes into the unconscious and keeping them there

sublimation

ANSWER : redirecting sexual and aggressive energy into social approved activity

libido

ANSWER : sexual energy/sexual drive

psychosexual growth stages

ANSWER : stages of sexual development that a human being normally goes through

oral stage

ANSWER : sex drive gratified through sucking

anal stage

ANSWER : sex drive gratified through elimination

phallic stage

ANSWER : sex drive gratified through masturbation

latency

ANSWER : when you repress your Oedipus feelings, your sex drive is dormant

genital stage

ANSWER : sex drive gratified in an adult way

Oedipus complex

ANSWER : a group of largely unconscious thoughts and feelings connected with two leading wishes: to 

sexually posses the parent of the opposite sex, and to destroy the parent of the same sex

anxiety

ANSWER : a vague fear of what might happen next

castration anxiety

ANSWER : the child’s vague fear that his penis could be cut off

fixation

ANSWER : remaining at an early stage of childhood development

regression

ANSWER : returning to an early stage of childhood

technique of free association

ANSWER : getting a patient to talk without thinking in order to reveal the unconscious

neurotic

ANSWER : mild mental illness characterized by extreme anxiety, depression and compulsive behavior

Freudian slip

ANSWER : slip of the tongue that reveals unconscious wish

manifest content of dreams

ANSWER : dream images you are aware of and can remember

latent content

ANSWER : underlying wishes that give rise to the dream images

infantile dream

ANSWER : fulfill conscious innocent wishes

adult dream

ANSWER : fulfill repressed, unconscious, forbidden sexual and aggressive wishes

dream symbols

ANSWER : unconscious metaphors

wish

ANSWER : energy that pushes you to do something

nostalgia

ANSWER : a yearning for the past

id

ANSWER : innate animal nature with sexual and aggressive drives

ego

ANSWER : conscious, rational problem solving part of the personality

superego

ANSWER : moral part of personality that condemns some behavior as sinful

projection

ANSWER : to put your own forbidden thoughts onto other people

reaction-formation

ANSWER : doing the opposite of what an individual originally wanted to do

sublimation

ANSWER : redirecting sexual repressive energy into socially approved activity