Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality is summarized as follows: (1) The theory focuses on unconscious drives and how early childhood experiences influence personality development through psychosexual stages including oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. (2) The structure of personality consists of the id, ego, and superego, which develop from the psychosexual stages. (3) Freud proposed defense mechanisms like denial, repression, and rationalization that the ego uses to reduce anxiety arising from unconscious conflicts.

1. “
⬢ SIGMUND FREUD’S
PSYCHODYNAMIC
THEORY OF
PERSONALITY
A GROUP PRESENTATION ON ……

2. LEARNING OBJECTS….
⬢ A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE THEORY
⬢ LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
⬢ STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY
⬢ EGO DEFENCE MECHANISM
⬢ STAGES OF PERSONALITY DEVLOPMENT
⬢ CRITICISMS OF PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES

3. The Psychodynamic
Perspective
Psychodynamic theories
focus on the psychological
drives and forces within
individuals that explain human
behavior and personality.
The theories originate from
Sigmund Freud's
psychoanalysis,
which focused on the
unconscious mind as the
source of psychological
distress and dysfunction.

4. The Evolution of Psychodynamic
Theory
The psychodynamic
perspective has evolved considerably
since Freud's time, encompassing all
the theories in psychology that see human
functioning based upon the interaction of
conscious and unconscious drives and
forces within the person, and between the
different structures of the personality

5. LEVELS OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
According to Sigmund Freud

6. We can
view consciousn
ess as three
distinct levels:
the conscious,
the
subconscious
(or
preconscious),
and the
unconscious

7. STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

8. ID
⬢ The id is the
impulsive (and
unconscious)
part of our
psyche which
responds
directly and
immediately to
basic urges,
needs, and
desires

9. EGO
⬢ Ego, in psychoanalytic
theory, that portion of the
human personality which is
experienced as the “self” or
“I” and is in contact with the
external world through
perception.

10. SUPER EGO
⬢ The superego i
s the ethical
component of
the personality
and provides
the moral
standards by
which
the ego operat
es

11. EGO DEFENCE
MECHANISMS

12. DENIAL
Denial is a type of defense mechanism that involves
ignoring the reality of the situation in order to avoid
anxiety

13. Repression
“pushing”
threatening or
conflicting
events or
situations out of
conscious
memory

14. RATIONAZATION
⬢ making up
acceptable
excuses for
unacceptabl
e behavior

15. “
⬢ PROJECTION
placing one’s
own
unacceptable
thoughts onto
others, as if the
thoughts
belonged to them
and not to
oneself.

16. Reaction Formation:
forming an emotional
reaction or attitude
that is the opposite of
one’s threatening or
unacceptable actual
thoughts.

17. “
⬢ DISPLACEMENT:
expressing feelings that would be threatening if
directed at the real target onto a less threatening
substitute target.

18. falling back on childlike patterns as a way of
coping with stressful situations.

19. IDENTIFICATION:
⬢ trying to
become like
someone else
to deal with
one’s anxiety

20. Compensation (substitution):
Trying to make
up for areas in
which a lack is
perceived by
becoming
superior in
some other
area

21. Sublimation
Turning socially unacceptable urges into
socially acceptable behavior

22. Psychosexual Stages of Development:
1. ORAL STAGE
2. ANAL STAGE
3. PHALLIC STAGE
4. LATENCY STAGE
5. GENITAL STAGE
HOW HE REACHED TO THE ABOVE STRATA?
• Freud believed that personality gets well established during childhood, largely before
the age of five years.
• Each stage has unique conflicts
• Child’s needs in a particular stage are gratified too much or frustrated too much, Fixation.
• Based on sex drive which included all pleasurable experiences in different organs.
• The kind of experience the individual has during each stage of development decides whether the person will
be fixated at that stage or move on to the next stage of development.
Specific Stage + Fixation> Affects to personality> Relation with growing up> Hypo & Hyper Maturity
A fixation is an obsessive drive that may or may not
be acted on involving an object, concept, or person

23. • MOUTH, FIRST
PLEASURE
SEEKING CENTRE
• TO REDUCE
HUNGER
ORAL STAGE
FIRST 18
MONTHS
ABOUT:
1. INSTINCTS FOCUSSED ONLY TO MOUTH AS EROGENOUS ZONE
2. ONLY GRATIFICATION BY RECEIVING FOOD
3. TO UNDERSTAND THE FIRST MOTIVE, HUNGER
4. WEANING AS PRIMARY CONFLICT
CONFLICT AND REASONS:
1. CONFLICT ARISES OVER WEANING.
[Weaning: taking mother breasts away from the child, and providing a medium
to feed, e.g: a cup]
2. WEANING TOO SOON OR TOO LATE__-__TOO LITTLE OR TOO MUCH
SATISFACTION
3. ACTIVITIES AND PRESONALITY TRAITS BASED ON ORALLY FIXATED
PERSONALITY… examples and discussion.
1

24. 18-36
months
• URINATION-
DEFECATION
• TOILET-TRAINING.
ANAL STAGE
ABOUT:
1. EROGENOUS ZONE: ANUS
2. PLEASURE FROM WITHOLDING AND RELEASING FECES AT WILL.
CONFLICT AND REASONS:
1. TOILET TRAINING IN A PARTICULAR WAY AND TIME
2. EGO ARISES
3. DEVELOPMENT OF ANAL EXPULSIVE AND ANAL RETENTIVE
PERSONALITY
2

25. 3-6
YEARS
• DIFFERENTIATE
BETWEEN SEXES
• SEXUAL
CURIOSITY AND
MASTURBATION
PHALLIC STAGE
ABOUT:
1. Not a form of adult sexuality.
2. Parents become the focus of drive energy.
3. Dynamics in genders differ.
Result of Phallic Stage Development:
1. Homosexuality
2. Authority problems
3. Rejection of appropriate gender roles
4. Men can exhibit excessive ambition and
vanity.
5. Poor identification may lead to recklessness
or even immorality.
Points to ponder on:
• Oedipus Complex: Mother - Desire __ Father - Rivalry & jealousy > Fear of
castration
• Electra Complex: Mother - Identification __ Father – Desire > Penis Envy
3

26. ABOUT:
1. Latency phase as one of relative stability
2. The energy the child previously put into the Oedipal problem
can be used for developing the self
3. The superego becomes organized and principled
4. The child learns to adapt to reality
5. The concept of ‘infantile amnesia’
Result of Latency Stage Development:
Freud suggests that the repressed drives may be redirected
into other activities,
such as the formation of friendships, or hobbies.
3-7
yrs to
8-13
yrs
• No new organization
of sexuality
develops
• Period between
stages
LATENCY STAGE
4

27. 12+ AND
ABOVE
• Continues until
development
stops
• Adulthood
starts
GENITAL PHASE
ABOUT:
1. Represents the major portion of life.
2. Basic task for the individual is the detachment from the
parents.
3. The focus is on the genitals, and the energy is
expressed with adult sexuality.
4. Formation of love relationships and families
Result of Latency Stage Development:
If too much libidinal energy is taken up in the first three
stages, the individual cannot reach maturity, cannot shift the
focus from their own body, their own parents and their
immediate needs to larger responsibilities involving others.
5

28. There are basically four major criticisms against this theory:
1) focused almost entirely on male development with little mention of female psychosexual
development.
2) The theory is difficult to test scientifically.
3) Future predictions are too vague. How can we know that a current behavior
was caused specifically by a childhood experience?
4) Freud’s theory is based upon case studies and not empirical research
Evaluation of Freud’s psychosexual
development theory--

29. “
FROM
• DIPAYAN PAUL
• EVAN BOSE
• MEHFUZ ANSARY
• PANKAJ MAHATO