Do you think personality is determined by nature, nurture, or both?
PSY 201 Discussion Freud’s Theory

Do you think personality is determined by nature, nurture, or both? Support your viewpoint with examples from scholarly research finding as well as your own experience.

Do you believe there are gender differences in Personality? If so, do you believe they are determined by nature, nurture, or both? Support your viewpoint with examples from scholarly research finding as well as your own experience.

DQ2 Freud’s Theory

Describe Freud’s theory of Personality Development. Do you think Freud’s theory of Personality Development is still relevant today? Why or why not?

Freud’s developmental theory on psychosexual development was among the first attempts to bring psychology under the same scientific structure and methodology of medicine. This unification was accomplished by first defining normative human sexual development. Freud organized psychosexual maturation into 5 distinct phases. Each stage symbolizes the concentration of the libido or instincts on a different area of the body (i.e., erogenous zones). In order to mature into a well-functioning adult, one must progress sequentially through each of the aforementioned psychosexual stages. When libidinal drives are repressed or unable to be appropriately discharged, the child is left wanting and unsatisfied. Freud identified this dissatisfaction as fixation. Fixation at any stage would produce anxiety, persisting into adulthood as neurosis. This dynamic formed the foundational bedrock for Freud’s psychoanalytic sexual drive theory.[1]

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Issues of Concern
The primary tenet of Freudian psychosocial development revolves around the causal relationship between sexual conflict and the subsequent precipitant psychoneurosis. This principle has incited controversy since its inception. Opponents to Freud have argued that neuroses can develop independently without the need of a psychosexual impetus.[2]

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PSY 201 Discussion Freud’s Theory
PSY 201 Discussion Freud’s Theory

Experimenter bias is another common critique of Freud. Friedman and Downey, in their paper “Biology and the Oedipus Complex,” explore the likelihood that the Oedipal Complex is just mistaken evolutionary-based “play behavior” that manifests through competition.[3]

Despite these areas of concern, psychoanalysis remains influential in contemporary mental health care.

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Clinical Significance
Each of the five stages of Freudian psychosexual development theory is associated with a corresponding age range, erogenous body part, and clinical consequence of fixation.

Stage I: 0-1 year, oral, mouth: Oral desire is the center of pleasure for the newborn baby. The earliest attachment of a baby is to the one that provides gratification to his oral needs, usually his mother. If the optimal amount of stimulation is not available, libidinal energy fixates on the oral mode of gratification, resulting in subsequent latent aggressive or passive tendencies.

Stage II: 1-3 years old, anal, bowel, and bladder: Toilet training is an especially sensitive task during this period. The parents’ desire for adequate performance shifts the libidinal energy from the oral to the anal area. The child faces increased chances to be reprimanded, to feel inadequate, and an increased ability to perceive a negative evaluation from a caretaker if he fails to perform appropriately. Fixation at this stage can manifest in anal retentiveness (incessant orderliness) or anal expulsiveness (whimsical disorganization).