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Developmental Theory: Workshop 3 - Freudian Theory

Don Finkel and Thad Curtz ( curtzt@elwha.evergreen.edu)

Divide into groups of four.

Part I (55 minutes)

1. (5 minutes)
Kissing is included as part of sexual activity by a majority of people in our culture. Yet kissing has nothing to do with reproduction. In fact, if you think about it, kissing is a pretty bizarre form of behavior. So why do humans kiss?

2. (3 minutes)
What does the phenomenon of kissing tell us about human sexuality?

3. (7 minutes)
If a person had sex by kissing continuously and never doing anything else, Freud would call this a perversion. Why? What is the Freudian definition of a perversion? (Please try to distinguish between the words "perverse" and "immoral" or "wrong." Freud was not concerned with the morality of the kinds of sexual activity that society called perversions, but with their significance.)

4. (5 minutes)
If a person got nauseous every time he sucked anything, Freud would call this a neurotic symptom. How is this fundamentally different from the perversion in 3? What is the Freudian definition of a neurotic symptom?

5. (10 minutes)
Explain the meaning of the two related terms "fixation" and "regression."

6. (8 minutes)
What are the roles of fixation and regression in the development of a perversion?

7. (7 minutes)
What are the roles of fixation and regression in the development of a neurotic symptom?

8. (5 minutes)
What process, in the courses of their development, distinguishes a perversion from a neurotic symptom?

9. (5 minutes)
If two people were interested in changing a piece of their behavior, and in one of them it was a symptom and in the other of them it was a perversion, which of them would you think would find the task easier? Why?

Part II (40 minutes)

1. (10 minutes)
Consider an emotionally charged experience from early childhood, the memory of which gets repressed by a person. List as many things as you can about the nature, qualities, and effects of this repressed memory throughout the rest of the person's life.

2. (15 minutes)
Go through your list and see which of the items on it have direct consequences on adult behavior. Explain these consequences for each of the pertinent items.

3. (5 minutes)
Why might one say that repression always fails?

4. (5 minutes)
From Piaget's point of view, one might consider repression to be an adaptive response to the environment or a maladaptive response to the environment. Which do you think it is? Agree, and then explain your reason.

5. (5 minutes)
Consider the opposite case from the conclusion you arrived at in the last question. There is a good case to be made for it, too. Try to determine in what sense repression might be adaptive or maladaptive, choosing the opposite of what you chose in 4.

BREAK - 15 minutes

Part III (65 minutes)

1. (5 minutes)
What is the difference from Freud's point of view between the terms "genital" and "sexual"? Explain what each term means.

2. (10 minutes)
What does Freud mean by claiming that infants and children have sexual motivations? Try to give as many examples as you can of things you believe real children actually do which manifest sexual motivation.

3. (20 minutes)
One particular form of this sexual motivation, and one stage in its development, is what Freud calls the Oedipus complex. In a brief summary of this complex in another work (The Question of Lay Analysis, p. 44), Freud's hypothesis breaks down into the four following steps:

1. Children under six are particularly attracted to a parent of the opposite sex.

2. This attraction is a sexual attraction.

3. The child seeks sexual satisfaction--"so far, that is, as the child's powers of imagination allow."

4. The child, as a consequence of this attraction, regards the same sex parent as a disturbing rival.

For each of these steps, explain what you think Freud means, and supply some plausible examples from child behavior that you think would illustrate the claim.

4. (15 minutes)
Since the Oedipus complex gets repressed, the conclusions you reached about repression in Part II above will apply to it. Read over those conclusions with the Oedipus complex in mind. Then describe how you think the Oedipus complex would be manifested in adult behavior (as many ways as possible) as a result of its being repressed.

5. (15 minutes)
If a person were to become consciously aware of this emotional complex in himself (i.e., to lift the repression), what effects do you think that would have on his behavior or life?