Sigmund Freud
What is psychoanalysis?
What does Freud do with this?
Freud founded the basics of psychoanalysis and came up with some of the most important theories even today. A large amount of these theories have, throughout the years have found themselves impacting film and television and society as a whole. Now in a large amount of TV and film Freuds theories are shown through actions and personality traits of characters, even when the product wasn't directly influenced by freuds theories, most media productions show representations of freuds theories, specifically Id, Ego and Superego.
Freud suggested that we are all driven by a pleasure principle and as we grow, we must adjust to the reality principle; from here the Id Ego and superegos existence is suggested.
The Id is the instinctive part of the personality and is the earliest component of personality, the Id is in control of desires, if the Id had complete control over the person, they would be care only for their own satisfaction and achieving their own goals, even if this meant doing the wrong thing to achieve their goal. The ids drive is fuelled by the concept of want; if the id wants something, it doesn't care about getting it through moral or socially acceptable ways, it just cares about getting its desires. The id is often presented as the 'devil on the shoulder' in narratives.
The Super ego is the polar opposite to the id. Super ego controls our morality and is what makes us feel guilt for actions. The super ego develops as the person understands their responsibilities as a part of their society. The super ego is more worried about how society perceives them and following the rules rather than their own individual needs. The superego is presented as 'the angel on the shoulder'.
The Ego is what keeps the balance between the id and the super ego, it understands that not all desires can be fulfilled and also that sometimes its worth taking a risk. The ego decides whether its worth breaking the rules or following them and in the metaphorical angel and devil on the shoulders situation, the ego is the person in between those two.
Freud continues to suggest that a childs psychological development takes place during five psychosexual stages; oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital - all of these stages represent a fixation of sexual drive and as the child ages each one becomes a frustration and/or pleasure.
The Oral Phase lasts from birth to 1 year and is where we learn about things such as eating/ disliking certain foods. Different oral stimulations sometimes lead to oral fixations later on such as smoking.
The Anal Phase lasts from 1 to 3 years old, this is where we learn how to use the toilet and whether to give or withhold. Putting large amounts of pressure on learning this skill can result in hatred of uncleanliness.
The Phallic Phase lasts from 3 to 6 years and is when children begin to view genitals as a source of pleasure. Children also develop an awareness of the fact that each gender has differences that create jealousy, fear and conflict between attraction. From this, the the Oedipus and Electra complex. This is where the child project their sexual feelings onto their parents. This is resolved once the child adopts the characteristics of their same sex parent.
The Latency Phase lasts from 6 years to puberty and is when the majority of sexual impulses are repressed and the childs focus is switched to learning.
The Genital Phase lasts from puberty to adulthood and is where sexual experimentation happens, this often leads to living a monogamous life with a singular partner. Fixations and conflicts in earlier phases can lead to changing the way a person develops, e.g an earlier oral fixation may, in the future, lead to more pleasure in experiences such as kissing or oral sex rather than intercourse.
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