Human Psychosexual Development and Defense Mechanisms
Human Psychosexual Development
Freud rejects the common conception, and that of scientists of his time, which argues that sexuality begins at puberty with the natural objective of procreation. For Freud, human psychosexual development is a process that goes through different stages or phases:
- Oral Stage: The mouth is the first area of pleasure. Kisses, caresses, and skin contact with the mother during suckling are pleasant for the baby. The psychosexual evolution of children will depend on the feelings of pleasure and security experienced in this phase.
- Anal Stage: In the second year of life, education begins in the control of the sphincters, which moves the child’s interest to the anal zone. The mechanism of retention and expulsion of stool has a strong psychological significance. There may be two reactions of the infant: retain feces and develop an obstinate character, or rebel and generate destructive traits.
- Phallic Stage (Oedipus Complex): Interest shifts to the genitals, establishing male or female psychosexual differentiation and identification with the parent. During this phase, the Oedipus complex emerges, which is the attraction to the parent of the opposite sex, whom they want to possess, and hostility or rejection toward the parent of the same sex.
- Latency Stage: Around 6 or 7 years old, a phase begins in which impulses are kept in a state of quiescence.
- Genital Stage: Occurs in puberty and sexual maturity, organizing and reaffirming the sexual identity of the man or woman.
The final organization of the individual’s personality depends on the contribution of these four phases. Freud provides a break between sex as a biological function in the service of reproduction and human sexuality.
Ego Defense Mechanisms
Ego defense mechanisms are unconscious strategies that people use to avoid, deny, or distort sources of threat or anxiety. They are also used to maintain an idealized image of oneself so that we can live peacefully.
- Emotional Isolation: Fleeing conflict by spreading ideas of defects.
- Compensation: Offsetting a real or imagined weakness by seeking to excel in another activity.
- Displacement: Unloading hostile feelings onto people or objects that did not elicit the emotions.
- Fantasy: Achieving through imagination what we cannot achieve in reality.
- Identification: The tendency to incorporate the qualities of others into oneself. It is an evolutionary necessity for children, who take on the qualities of people they admire. If the identification is positive, it provides new ideals; if exaggerated, it can be negative.
- Reaction Formation: Adopting or expressing feelings contrary to the true ones.
- Denial: Ignoring unpleasant realities rather than facing them.
- Projection: Attributing our own faults, mistakes, unacceptable thoughts, or desires to others.
- Rationalization: Justifying ideas or conduct that are feared to be unacceptable to others.
- Regression: Returning to an earlier stage of development in situations of stress or anxiety.
- Repression: Keeping painful or dangerous thoughts and feelings, which generate anxiety, out of consciousness.
- Sublimation: According to Freud, many impulses considered unacceptable by the subject are channeled into higher or “sublime” activities.
Freud postulates that human libido may evade the normal biological function of sexual reproduction; this allows us to fall in love with ideas and ideals.