Essay on The Psychoanalytic Perspective on Infant Development

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was the first to develop a theory of human development with a focus on unconscious processes and instincts. Freud believed unconscious conflicts in early childhood can determine who a person will be in adulthood. He also believed that the mind contains three parts known as the id, ego, and superego, which govern a person’s judgment (Frank, 2013). The id, which Freud believed to be present at birth, is viewed as the childlike part of the unconscious. It is pleasure seeking and represents a person’s wants, instincts, and drives. The ego, which is both conscious and unconscious, is the adult part of a person’s mind as well as the compromising component between the id and the supergo. It serves as a†¦show more content†¦During the latency stage of development, a person’s energy is sublimated into activities such as school, sports, and friendships. Finally, in the genital stage the person reaches adolescence and sexual energy is focused onto others, and it is at this stage that all prior conflicts may once again arise (Maheshwari, 2013). Freud’s theory of the unconscious sparked an interest in a man named Carl Jung. He followed Freud to America, but later began his own theories on the mind. Carl Jung was another major traditional psychoanalyst. Jung’s theory of the unconscious differs slightly than that of Freud’s in that he divided the unconscious into two parts; the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious contains all of a person’s unconscious thoughts, ideas, and memories, including those that have been repressed. Jung believed the collective unconscious contains an innate knowledge about ways of reacting that have been inherited by human ancestry in what he called archetypes (Cherry, n.d.). Studies that support Jung’s theory found that there are a variety of emotions which correspond to every infant and are relevant to all cultures. Accordingly, a well-known Jungian analyst named Anthony Stevens found that attachment in infancy is proof of archetypes by the way this characteristic can be seen across the world and all cultures (p. 235). However, critics of Jung’s theory argue that the emerging f ield of epigenetics puts aShow MoreRelatedSigmund Freud And Erik Erikson1110 Words   |  5 PagesThe psychoanalytic perspective was predominantly attained by parents of children with emotional problems 70- 80 decades ago. The discontinuous psychosexual and psychosocial theory takes place in stages in one course moving through drives that are biological along with societal expectations (Berk, 2013). The contributions to this perspective include both Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. Freud examined psychosexual theory and how those first childhood years of drives shape the personality. 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