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Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title Paper No 5: Personality Theories

Module No and Title Module No 9: Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud Part-II

Module Tag PSY_P5_M9

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes

2. Introduction

3. Anxiety

4. Ego Defense Mechanisms

5. The Psychosexual Stages of Development

6. Summary

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories

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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to

 Understand how anxiety is produced and the different kinds of anxiety

 Learn how the ego deals with the anxiety and employs various defense mechanisms.
 Learn about the psychosexual stages of development proposed by Freud.

2. Introduction

Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Freud based on his clinical observations and in depth studies was convinced that intra-psychic
events played an important role in motivating behavior. The psychoanalytic approach to
personality assumes that a dynamic interplay of inner forces often conflict with each other and
shape the personality of the individual. There is a focus on the unconscious determinants of
behavior. Freud believed that every human action has a cause and is purposeful. His theories
regarding the levels of consciousness, the structure of personality, the ego defense mechanisms
and the psychosexual stages are very much important in the discussion of personality; how the
inner forces, instinctual drives and the childhood development all have an impact on the
personality of a person and its development.

3. Anxiety
Freud gives emphasis on interplay of tensions between various components of personality,
between competing drives, tensions from sources of suffering etc which lead to anxiety.
According to him, anxiety is “a felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical
sensation that warns the person against impending danger”. The unpleasantness is often vague
and hard to pinpoint, but the anxiety is always felt (Feist & Feist, 2009). It is the ego which feels
the anxiety but ego’s interaction with the id, superego and the external reality results in three
different forms of anxiety:

 Objective/realistic anxiety: (reality vs. ego) this kind of anxiety is the one which is
associated with the objective threats to our well-being. There is a generalized feeling of
anxiety which may involve possible danger. For e.g. walking alone at night in a
dangerous alleyway. The anxious feelings are justified here since there is a possibility of
adverse events happening but it is different from fear, because the feeling is not regarding
a specific object of fear. The objective anxiety arises when the ego is threatened by
objective forces in the world. The force is a function of the strength of the ego in relation
to the power or perceived power of the objective threat.

 Neurotic anxiety: (Id vs. ego) this arises when the ego is threatened by the irrational
forces of the Id. Here the source of the anxiety is from within our own personality and
hence there is no obvious escape from it. There is an apprehension about an unknown
danger, which may be triggered by some elements in the environment like occurrence of
certain events or presence of certain people. The person is not able to understand why

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anxiety is being triggered since it stems from the

unconscious. It is one manifestation of how powerful
instinctual energy threatens to overcome the ego.

 Moral anxiety: (superego vs. ego) here it is the irrational demands of the superego that
threaten to overcome the ego. And here also there is no escape as the threat is from within
the personality. Moral anxiety is experienced as guilt over real or imagined departures
from internalized values. The superego acts as a dictator here, chastising the person for
yielding to morally incorrect temptations.

4. Ego-defense mechanisms
As we saw, when the Ego confronts the impulse of the Id or the superego that threatens to go out
of control or when it is faced with dangers from the environment, it results in anxiety. Ego then
tries to reduce the anxiety through realistic strategies. But when these are ineffective it resorts to
certain unconscious mental operations that deny or distort the reality. The anxiety would become
intolerable if the ego can not resort to these defensive behaviors. These behaviors serve the
function of protecting the ego against the pain of the anxiety (Feist & Feist, 2009).

The employment of defense mechanisms is adaptive and normal. But when resorted to
exceedingly, it may lead to compulsive, repetitive and neurotic behavior. According to Freud’s
conception of expending the psychic energy, the employment of defense mechanisms also
requires utilization of energy. This leaves lesser energy for the id to satisfy its impulses (Feist &
Feist, 2009). Thereby fulfilling the ego’s purpose of avoiding dealing with the irrational impulses
and defending itself against the anxiety that accompanies them. Freud initially identified certain
principal defense mechanisms including repression, displacement, reaction formation, regression,
projection, sublimation, introjections and fixation. Later his daughter Anna expanded his work in
the area and identified further mechanisms. These are the various psychoanalytic Ego-defense
mechanisms:

 Repression: it is the most basic of all defense mechanisms. It is an active defense process
in which the Ego pushes away the anxiety-arousing impulses into the unconscious mind.
For e.g. developing amnesia about a childhood sexual abuse episode that has been
repressed.

Often feelings and thoughts are so strongly repressed that they remain in the unconscious
throughout the life. Repression may be complete or partial. In partial repression, the
impulse may express itself in a disguised manner.

The process of repression is result of socialization. No society permits a complete and

uninhibited expression of sex and aggression. When children are punished for sexual or
hostile behaviors, they learn to be anxious whenever they experience these impulses
(Feist & Feist, 2009). Although this anxiety rarely leads to a complete repression of the
drives, it often results in partial repression.

According to Freud, several things might happen to the impulses once they are repressed
into the unconscious. The first is that they remain there, unchanged. The second is that
they could force their way into the conscious in an altered form. In this case the repressed

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content would be very powerful and the person

experiences more anxiety than they can handle. The
third and most common possibility is that they are expressed in displaced or disguised
forms. This disguise must be clever enough to deceive the go. Feist and Feist give the
example of sexual impotency in a man troubled by sexual guilt, for repressed drives
being expressed as physical symptoms. The impotency prevents the man from having to
deal with the guilt and anxiety that results when he pursues his impulses. Repressed
material may be revealed through dreams, slips of tongues etc, and the purpose of
psychoanalysis is to understand the meaning of this unconscious content and overcome
the anxiety that results from it.

 Denial: refusing to acknowledge the anxiety-arousing aspects of the environment. The

denial may involve either the emotions associated with an event or the event itself. Denial
is a defense mechanism employed in the face of intense anxiety or when the person is
overwhelmed by the threatening reality. It is re-construing the meaning of the event so
that the threat is gone (Carver & Scheier, 1996).
E.g. a patient diagnosed with cancer refuses to believe that he has cancer and totally
negating such a possibility.
Denial although helps relieve the ego about the anxiety arousing situation, it can be
counterproductive when the threat posed by the reality is imminent and the ego refuses to
take proactive measures. A real example of this is the fact that denial contributed to the
inability of many victims of the Nazi persecution to flee when they still had time.

 Displacement: redirecting the repressed emotions onto an object less dangerous than the
initial one which aroused the emotion. The redirection may be onto not only a single
object alone but a variety of people or object such that the original impulse is disguised or
concealed.
For e.g. taking out your anger towards your boss onto your kids back home. It may also
be displaced onto your spouse, at other drivers as you drive home, at the government
policies and what not!

Freud used the term displacement in several ways. He used it to refer to the replacement
of one neurotic symptom for another; like the compulsive urge to masturbate may be
replaced by the compulsive urge to wash hands. i.e. there is a displacement of libido from
one activity to another. Displacement may occur in dreams where the expression is
displaced from the latent content to the manifest content. For e.g. a girl who has a sibling
rivalry with her younger sister and has aggressive impulses against her dreaming that she
is tearing up a doll, the latent meaning of which is her sister. Here the displacement of the
impulse from the sister to the doll.

 Projection: repressing an unacceptable impulse and attributing it to others. Simply put, it

is seeing in others the unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s
own unconscious.
For example, a man may consistently interpret the actions of older women towards him
as attempted seductions. Consciously, the thought of having sex with older women may
be intensely repugnant to him, but buried in his unconscious is a strong erotic attraction
to these women ( Feist & Feist, 2009).

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Paranoia is an extreme form of projection. It is

characterized by powerful delusions of jealousy and
persecution. According to Freud paranoia results from repressed homosexual feelings
toward the persecutor. When homosexual impulses become too powerful, persecuted
paranoiacs defend themselves by reversing these feelings and then projecting then onto
their original object.

 Rationalization: conjuring up socially acceptable but false explanations for an anxiety-

arousing behavior that has already occurred. In other words, the person reduces the
anxiety by finding a rational excuse for a behavior that was really done for unacceptable
reasons.
E.g. a girl explaining that she finished an entire cake because otherwise it would have
gone bad.
Rationalization seems very common in people’s responses to success and failures (Carver
& Scheier, 1996). It helps maintain one’s self esteem. I you don’t get into a medical
school, you may convince yourself that you really didn’t want to be a doctor anyway.

 Reaction-formation: it involves the repression of an impulse and releasing its psychic

energy in an exaggerated expression of the opposite behavior. The resulting behavior is
often obsessive and compulsive in nature.
For e.g. a mother with feelings of resentment towards her child becoming over-protective
or pampering the child excessively. It is against the notions of the society that a mother
harbor bitterness towards her own child. It would produce too much of anxiety in the
mother and hence it is repressed and due to the intensity of the issue and the guilt felt by
the mother, the reactive behavior takes the opposite pole. She expresses her ‘fondness’ of
the child overly to deceive herself. Her overt behavior may include spending
extravagantly on the child and boast about the child to others.

 Regression: responding to the situation by retreating to a mode of behavior characteristic

to earlier stages of development. This is almost always a temporary behavior, exhibited
during times of anxiety or stress. When faced with such a situation the ego invests the
libido in familiar and secure patterns of behavior, or objects.
E.g. a student asks his professor to raise his grades and when refused throws a temper
tantrum.
An extreme manifestation of regression is when the person coils into a fetal position,
indicating the intensity of the anxiety felt.

 Sublimation: repressing impulses and releasing them in a substitutive socially acceptable

or even admired behavior. “Sublimation is the repression of the genital aim of eros by
substituting a cultural or social aim. The sublimated aim is expressed most obviously in
creative cultural accomplishment such as art, music, and literature and more subtly it is
part of all human relationships and all social pursuits” (Feist& Feist, 2009).
E.g. a man with severe hostile impulses becomes an investigative reporter who ruins
political careers of people. In this example, the man is able to combine sublimation and
the direct expression of his hostile impulses in a balanced manner. He can pursue his
impulses but do it in a socially accepted way.

 Intellectualization: repressing the emotion concerned with an upsetting event and

dealing with the situation as an intellectually interesting event. There is a tendency to

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think about the threats or events in cold, analytical and

detached terms, thereby helping the person to
dissociate his thoughts from the feelings involved (Carver & Scheier, 1996).
For e.g. a boy upon being dumped by his girlfriend remarking about the unpredictability
of relationships these days.

 Fixation: this is a mechanism that is much involved in the psychosexual development of

children. According to Freud fixation is the permanent attachment of the libido onto an
earlier and more primitive stage of development. Like in regression, where the person
goes back to previous levels of development, fixation is also a tendency to remain at
lower levels. The difference is that fixation more or less a permanent investment of
libido. When the prospect of growing up and advancing to the next level of development
is stressful and anxiety arousing, the ego may resort to remain at the present and more
comfortable stage. An example would be that of a grown up individual who has a nail
biting habit, which may be due to his or her fixation at the oral stage.

 Introjection or identification: increasing feelings of worth by identifying self with

another person or institution, often of illustrious standing. It can be said that this defense
mechanism is opposite to that of projection. Here the person adopts positive or perceived
positive attributes of another person. Basically it is an impersonation of another’s ego.
For e.g. teenagers adopting the mannerisms and lifestyles of favorite movie stars.
Feist and Feist say “such an introjection gives the adolescent an inflated sense of slef
worth and keeps feelings of inferiority to a minimum. People introject characteristics that
they see as valuable and that will permit them to feel better about themselves (2009).
Freud saw the resolution of the Oedipus complex in the phallic stage of psychosexual
development in children as the prototype of introjections. Here the child introjects the
values, morals and standards of conduct of the parent.

5. The psychosexual stages of development

Freud believed that adult personality traits are powerfully influenced by experiences in the first
years of life. In fact he believed that personality is largely determined by the age of five. He
proposed a series of five psychosexual stages, during each of which the Id’s pleasure seeking
tendencies are focused on different areas of the body and on activities concerned with these
erogenous zones. They are called the ‘psychosexual’ stages since at each stage the libido is
discharged through the particular erogenous zone. Deprivation or over-indulgence in each stage
can lead to fixation, a state of arrested psychosexual development which turns out as personality
defects in adulthood. This is reflected in a predominance or attitudes and interests that
characterize the stage at which fixation has occurred (Carver & Scheier, 1996). If fixation is due
to deprivation, the needs of the person are unmet and the person can’t advance until they are
satisfied. If it is due to overindulgence, the person is much too comfortable at that particular stage
that he or she is reluctant to move on.

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stage duration Erogenous Fixation due to Fixation due to over-

zone/activity deprivation indulgence
oral Birth to Mouth; Pessimism, mistrust Excessive dependence,
about 12-18 sucking, self indulgence, oral
months taking in food, aggression
biting
anal 2 to 3 years Anus; Obsession with Undisciplined,
expelling and cleanliness, excessive lavishness,
withholding orderliness, rigidity disorderliness,
and punctuality, sloppiness.
stinginess,
obstinacy.
phallic 3 to 5 years Genitals; - Vanity, recklessness,
fondling sexual deviancy,
difficulty with
authority figures.
latency 6 to 12 - - -
years
genital Adolescence Genitals; - -
onwards mature sexual
intimacy
Table. 1

 The Oral Stage:

It extends from birth to about 18 months of age. During this time, much of the infants’
interaction with the external world occurs through the mouth and libidinal gratification is
focused in this area. It is the source of tension reduction and pleasurable sensations
(Carver & Scheier, 1996). The oral stage has two substages:

The sexual aim of early oral activity is to incorporate or receive into one’s body the
object-choice which is the nipple. During this oral receptive phase, infants feel no
ambivalence towards the pleasurable object and their needs are usually satisfied with
minimum anxiety. As they grow older, however, they are far more likely to experience
feelings of frustration as a result of less frequent feedings and eventual weaning (Feist &
Feist, 2009). The traits that develop at this stage include a general sense of optimism
versus pessimism, trust versus mistrust and dependency on others. These relate to the fact
that infants at this age are particularly helpless and dependent on their caregivers.

The next part of the oral stage is the oral sadistic phase and it begins with teething. The
sexual pleasure now comes from biting and chewing. According to Carver & Scheier “the
adult personality traits arising during this phase can be traced to this newly acquired

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ability. This phase is thought to determine who is

verbally aggressive in later life and who tends to use
“biting” sarcasm in conversation” (1996).
Generally, adults who are orally fixated are likely to be preoccupied with food and drink,
likely to reduce tension through activities centered around the mouth like biting nails or
smoking, and when angry engage in verbal aggression.
 The Anal Stage:
This stage begins from 18 months and continues into the third year. The anus is the
erogenous zone and sexual pleasure is derived from the stimulation that occurs when the
child defecates. In the early anal phase, as toilet training begins, children often behave
aggressively towards parents for frustrating them with restraints. They are no longer
allowed to relieve themselves whenever and wherever they wish and the introduction of
discipline may trigger the aggression.

In the late anal stage children often develop a friendly interest in their excreta, and may
present it to their parents as a valued prize. If they are chastised for this behavior children
may adopt an anal retentive habit; they may attempt to withhold feces. The anal retentive
personality is characterized by rigidity and excessive orderliness. The traits of the adult
anal retentive is sometimes referred to as the anal triad: stinginess, obstinacy and
orderliness. If the child is punished and ridiculed they may react in another manner too.
They may adopt a pattern of rebellion and develop anal expulsive habits, excreting
forcefully when the parents least want it. The adult anal expulsive personality is
characterized by sloppiness, excessive lavishness and general disorderliness. On the other
hand if the child is appreciated for his or her effort in being disciplined, then it is likely
that he or she will grow into a generous and magnanimous adult.
 The Phallic Stage:
The stage lasts from three to five years of age. During this period the erogenous zone is
the genital organ. According to Freud this is the time when most children begin to
masturbate for the first time, as they become aware of the sensory pleasure that arises
from genital manipulation. Just as their experiences with weaning and toilet training had
implications in the development of the adult personality, the children’s experiences with
the suppression of masturbation also has implications. But Freud focuses more on the
resolution of the Oedipus complex as the major determinant of adult personality at this
stage.

At first the sexual pleasure is totally derived from self stimulation but gradually the libido
begins to shift towards the opposite sex parent, as boys develop an interest in their
mothers and girls develop an interest in their fathers. At the same time the child becomes
hostile towards the same sex parent because of the perceived competition between them
over the affection of the other parent (Carver & Scheier, 1996).

The Oedipus complex: this is the term Freud used to denote the unconscious desire of
the male child to sexually possess the mother. There is a jealousy, hostility and hatred
towards the father whom the child perceives as being more loved by the mother.
Sometimes, the jealousy may be so extreme that he may want the father out of the family
or even dead. These feelings induce strong feelings of guilt and also the fear that the
physically greater father will castrate him. Freud called this castration anxiety. Boys
eventually bury their impulses out of the castration anxiety and the complex is usually
resolved by identification with the father. The process of identification serves multiple

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purposes. Being like his father makes his father seem

less likely to harm him, thereby reducing his castration
anxiety. And by identifying with the desirable aspects of the father, the boy reduces his
ambivalence towards him. The process of identification thus paves way for the
development of the superego as the boy introjects his father’s values (Carver & Scheier,
1996). Thereafter normal psychosexual development takes place. If the complex is left
unresolved the boy may become mother-fixated and abnormality like neurosis, pedophilia
or homosexuality may occur in adult life.

The female Oedipus complex (sometimes known as the Electra complex): this is the
counterpart of the Oedipus in girl children. And according to Freud they have a sexual
desire for the father and experience what is termed as penis envy. Upon discovering their
lack of penis they abandon their love for the mother and blame her for this condition. The
girl’s attention is drawn to her father because he does have a penis, the symbol of power.
Ultimately she desires that she bear her father’s child as a substitute for the penis. The
complex is resolved when the girl gives up masturbation, surrenders her desire for the
father and identifies with her mother. But the identification helps in an indirect manner;
by becoming more like her mother, she gains vicarious access to her father. And just as in
irresolution of the male Oedipus, unsuccessful resolution here may result in the girl being
father-fixated.

 The Latency Stage:

“At the close of the phallic stage, the child enters a period of relative calm, termed the
latency period. This period, from approximately the sixth year of life to the early teens, is
a time when sexual and aggressive drives become less active. The lessening of these
urges results partly from the changes within the body and partly from the emergence of
the ego and the superego in the child’s personality. Freed from the grip of impulses,
children turn their attention to other pursuits, often of an intellectual or social nature.
Thus the latency period is a time when the child’s experiences broaden, rather than a time
when new conflicts are confronted and new traits produced. As an example, parental
identifications adopted during the phallic stage may be supplemented by identifications
with other figures of authority, perhaps religious figures or teachers” (Carver & Scheier,
1996).

 The Genital Stage:

With the onset of puberty, the libidinal energy starts to focus again on the genitals. In
early adolescence, although the person experiences sexual desire, the release of the
energy is not socially sanctioned and therefore seeks release through sex related activities
like fantasizing and masturbation. As they enter into later adolescence, the individual will
enter the final stage of psychosexual development. If all the earlier stages have been gone
through successfully, the person’s libido will be available to be invested in the rightful
erogenous zone and will remain focused throughout rest of his or her life.
No approach to personality has so profoundly affected the modern view of human nature
as Freud’s dynamic perspective. His descriptions of unconscious motives and of early
childhood development have penetrated every aspect of modern life from child-rearing
practices to film and literature. Even the phrases associated with Freudian theory –
unconscious, ego, Oedipus complex, Freudian slip, free association – are embedded in the
fabric of everyday conversation.

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However a close examination of the theory raises a

number of perplexing issues and criticisms.

First, psychoanalytic concepts are vague and not operationally defined and the
hypotheses derived from them cannot be tested. Thus much of the theory is difficult to
evaluate scientifically.

Second, the theory does not reliably predict what will occur; it is applied retrospectively
– after the events have occurred. Thus the theory involves historical construction, not
scientific construction of probable actions and predictable outcomes.

Third, several of Freud’s proposals are not consistent with the findings of modern
research – for instance, his ideas about the meaning of dreams.

Fourth, the theory is based on a small number of clinical case studies which cannot be
considered as representative of human beings generally. In addition, the theory never
included observations or studies of children although it is a developmental theory.

Fifth, the theory contains so many different concepts that they can explain virtually any
behaviour in an after-the-effect manner. The vague formulations permit manipulation to
fit the evidence at hand.

Finally, there is growing concern among feminists that the Freudian perspective has an
androcentric bias (male-centered bias) and views women as vain, sensitive and
dependent on men.

However, some aspects of Freud’s theory continue to gain acceptance as they are
modified and improved through empirical scrutiny. e.g. the concepts of unconscious,
defense mechanisms and the importance of anxiety in psychological disorders have been
explored and accepted. The theory thus remains the most complex, comprehensive and
compelling view of normal and abnormal personality functioning – even when its
predictions prove wrong.

Applications

 Unconscious processes have been universally accepted; research has demonstrated that
non-conscious mental and emotional phenomena do indeed occur and affect our
behaviour.
 Freud’s conception of anxiety and defense mechanisms is widely accepted and supported
by experimental research.
 Recognition that our behaviour reflects a compromise between our wishes and our fears
accounts for many of the apparent contradictions in our behaviour.
 Freud’s method of free association opened up new database of observations that had
never been explored systematically.
 Freud’s work influenced later theorists and led to the development of the field.

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Limitations

 Psychoanalytic concepts are vague, ambiguous and difficult to define or measure

objectively.
 The theory is only applied retrospectively; involves historical construction, not scientific
construction of probable actions & predictable outcomes.
 Grave shortcomings in the empirical procedures by which Freud validated his
hypotheses. Based on a small number of clinical studies.
 Freud’s theory criticized for explaining human behaviours in terms of sexual motivation.
 Provides a mechanistic & deterministic outlook; not sufficiently humanistic.
 Andro-centric bias in the Freudian perspective.

6. Summary
 We have learned how anxiety is produced due to the interactions within the psyche and as
a result of external reality. And we studied the different kinds of anxiety.
 We learned how the ego deals with the anxiety by employing various defense
mechanisms to distort the experiences and reality.
 We also learned about the psychosexual stages of development and how the child’s
negotiation with his or her impulses at each stage determines the adult personality.
 We understood Freud’s concept of the male and female Oedipus complexes and how
resolution of these are important in attaining a psychosexual maturity as an adult.

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No 5: Personality Theories

Module No 9: Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud Part-II