CAS PS 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Phallic Stage, Genital Stage, Latency Stage
1 May 2018
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PERSONALITY
Psychodynamic Theory:
• Unconscious forces – wishes, desires, hidden memories – determine behavior
o Freud: believed that the problems were psychogenic: caused by psychological
rather than physical factors
• He believed that our conscious awareness was only a small fraction of our mental activity
and that most mental processes are unconscious
• Level of awareness:
o Conscious: Thoughts we are aware of
o Preconscious: Content that is not currently in awareness but that could be brought
to awareness
o Unconscious: Contains material that the mind cannot easily retrieve
• Proposes that hidden memories, wishes, desires and motives are often in conflict,
producing psychological discomfort. To protect us, these forces and conflicts are made
inaccessible; sometimes this info leaks into consciousness
• Personality consists of 3 interacting structures that vary in their access to consciousness
o Superego: Internalized societal and parental standards of conduct
o Ego: Tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the superego
o Id: Completely submerged in the unconscious; operates according to the pleasure
principle, which is powered by libido (sex drive)
• Conflicts between the id and superego lead to anxiety. The ego then copes through
various defense mechanisms
• Psychosexual development: become fixated at certain stages
o Oral: Birth – 18 months
▪ Seek pleasure through the mouth
o Anal: 2-3 years
▪ Learning to control the bowels leads to a focus on the anus (control)
o Phallic stage: 3-5 years
▪ Focus is on the genitals; Oedipus complex
o Latency stage: Children suppress libidinal urges
o Genital stage: Adolescence/adulthood
▪ Libidinal urges focused on the capacities to reproduce and contribute to
society
• Psychodynamic theory is poor example of a theory because not testable
• Social norms: Internalized societal and parental standards of conduct
• Executive control: Tries to satisfy the wishes of drive while being responsive to the
social norms
• Drive: Completely submerged in the unconscious; operates according to the pleasure
principle, which is powered by libido
• Conflicts between drive and the social norms lead to anxiety. Executive control
sometimes copes through various defense mechanisms
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