Reflection #12 EDF2085

Samantha Clarke
Reflection #12 EDF2085

The founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud attempted to explain the forces behind what we do and the reason why we do them. In his quest he came up with what he calls the two main drives that inspire all our thoughts, emotion and behavior. These are the sex and aggression with the more formal term added to them Eros and Thanatos in other words life and death. According to Freud sex signify the means by which we preserve our blood line and aggression is a means by protecting or fighting off harm as a means of surviving. These he continues is not merely the sexual act and the act of aggression but under one heading is the force that push us to survive, procreate and prevent others from harming or elimination their existence. Am I driven to get a college degree because I want to be attracted to the opposite sex? I don’t think so. But according to Freud we do this for the purpose of attracting the opposite sex hence the drive behind this is a sex drive.

Even though there are some controversies towards Freud’s theory of psychosexual development most of his concept have been proven to be true. Like the Id stage were the child is inconsiderate to other and more concern with wanting what it needs now. This really describes that early stage and the fact that everything is about the pleasure of the mouth. I can remember with my daughter, during that stage she was more concerned with putting stuff into her mouth. If she needed food she would cry and not only that everything that comes her way she would put in her mouth. This Freud relate to as the oral stage, where the child finds gratification in satisfying the mouth.

According to Freud, the sexual pleasure drive on the individual psyche determines their personality. He continues to say that these are as a result of a certain body part, these are the mouth referred to as the erogenous zones, the anus and the genital area. These three stages seem to proceed in stages, as one stage has to be solved in order to progress to the next stage. These stages also determine and individuals personality. Most of Freud’s theory sound a little of but seems logical in a sense. I believe it’s a structural way to analyze personality.