Assumptions

• Assumptions

  1. Influence of Childhood experiences
  2. The unconscious mind
  3. The Tripartite personality
• Influence of Childhood experiences

  • Theories state that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality
  • Traumatic events that occur in childhood may be repressed and can remain in the unconcious mind + cause problems as an adult
• Influence of Childhood experiences

  • Libido = sexual or psychic energy
  • Fixation = obsession
• Influence of Childhood experiences

  Stages of psychosexual development:

  • Oral
  • Anal
  • Phallic
  • Latency
  • Genital
• Oral


  Pleasure centre - satisfy from eating, sucking

  • Focus - Breastfeeding
  • Fixations - smoking, nail biting
• Anal

  • Pleasure centre - satisfy + interest from anal
  • Focus - potty training
  • Fixations - Anally retentive (obsess) + Anally expulsive (sloppy)
• Phallic

  • Pleasure centre -genitals are satisfy
  • Focus - Oedipus (b) + Electra (g) complex
  • Fixations - no fixations = problems with sexuality
• Latency

  • Pleasure centre = B + G spending little time with T
  • Focus = Libido calms down
  • Fixations = no fixations = x pleasure
• Genital

  • Pleasure centre - main source sexual pleasure - intercourse
  • Focus - Explore sexuality
  • Fixations - Well developed adult personality
• The Unconscious mind

  • Contains info that the concious mind finds uncomfortable - repressed by defence mechanisms to protect us
  • Conscious = what we are currently thinking + feeling
  • Preconscious = Things we aren't currently thinking about but could be aware of it if we thought about them e.g = memories
  • Unconcious = Irrational + ruled by pleasure seeking. Inaccessible e.g - fears, violent motives, shameful experiences, unacceptable sexual desires, immoral urges
• Tripartite personality

  • Freud proposed that our personalities consist of 3 distinct parts
  • If you ever feel like you are being pulled in two directions it is because of conflict between different parts of personality - each parts want different things
• Tripartite personality

  • ID - Present from birth = Contains our primitive desires for sex + death. It demands immediate gratification
  • EGO - Mediator = Between ID + reality. Trying to get what the ID wants but in a socially acceptable way
  • SUPEREGO - Conscience = Punishes us with guilt when we transgress rule of society + pushes us to do good
• Influence of Childhood experiences - ASD

  • The "refrigerator mother theory" specifically links the absence of warm, supportive interactions during critical periods of early development to characteristics of ASD
  • Children with ASD may fail to develop typical social and communication skills due to ‘emotional neglect and coldness’ from caregivers
  • This theory underscores the significance of emotional responsiveness and nurturing & the influence of childhood experiences in development of ASD.
• The Unconscious Mind - Criminal

  • Freud's idea of the unconscious, where inner drives reside, helps explain criminality
  • Early life experiences influence adult development, leading to a weak, deviant, or overly strong superego, which can result in psychopathy & criminal actions
  • The superego, representing moral standards, operates partly in the conscious mind but is influenced by unconscious processes & affects criminal behaviour
• The Tripartite Personality - Criminal

  • According to Blackburn (1993), a weak, deviant, or overly strong superego, being learned moral standards from early life experiences, can lead to criminal actions
  • Individuals with an underdeveloped or deficient superego, may struggle to distinguish right from wrong or internalise societal norms.