Developmental psychology.pdf

Personality 401
Figure 15.4
Imitation versus Identification.
According to Freud, imitation is
simply copying someone. In
identification there is more depth, for
another person's ways of thinking
and behaving are incorporated.
The normally developing child handles the Oedipus-Electra problem by shifting
his or her outlook. In this process, called identification, the child adopts the manner,
attitudes, and interests of the like-sexed parent, thus attempting to win the love and
respect of the other parent. The identification process, which recurs in adolescence, is
assumed to be particularly important for developing an appropriate sex role in later
life (Friend, 1980). But if these early sexual concerns become significant problems, the
symptoms may be reflected later (Figure 15.4).
Later Stages The next stage is characterized by the apparent absence of sexual
interests. They are still present, claimed Freud, but he called this period the latency
stage because these interests are submerged. This stage, from age six to the onset of
adolescence, may be a cultural artifact, however. In certain societies, there is no decrease
in sexual interests in late childhood.
With the beginning of adolescence, the genital stage appears, which involves
a reawakening of sexual interests and the search for other people to provide sexual
satisfaction. The individual becomes other-oriented, as well as self-oriented, seeking
to combine self-concerns with those of other people. Insofar as the earlier conflicts have
been adequately resolved, the individual settles into the task of establishing mature
relationships with other people, a stage that lasts throughout the adult years.
Unconscious Motivation
The early stages can have a lasting influence, Freud emphasized, because unresolved
problems do not disappear. They only seem to disappear, being dismissed to the realm
of the unconscious through repression. As we saw in earlier discussions, this outcome,
called unconscious motivation, takes place in three steps. These include (1) an early
conflict; (2) the process of repression, which is basically a mechanism of forgetting;
and (3) the reappearance of the conflict later in some symbolic form, as it partly escapes
the influence of repression. On this basis early conflicts can become important
determinants of adult personality, as we shall speculate in Jenny's case. This concept
of unconscious motivation is the cornerstone of psychoanalysis and has been highly
influential throughout psychology (Shevrin & Dickman, 1980).