What shoulder do kids listen to?

A study of Freud and his ideas on the subconscious

By Nick W.

Sigmund Freud May 6, 1856-Sep. 23 1939 Sigismund Schlomo Freud

was born in Austria to Jakob and Amalie Freud

His parents were Galician Jews

Freud started off studying law but got into the medical faculty at the University of Vienna

Studying under Prof. Karl Claus, Freud’s first papers were about the biology of eels

Cont. While in medical school, Freud

discovered Brucke’s theory of psychodynamics

Using this theory, he applied it to the mind and the subconscious and created a whole new field of psychology, psychoanalysis

Also he happened to found the ideas of defense mechanism, psychosexual development and dream analysis

He would have one daughter named Anna who would continue her father’s work and expand on it.

Freud’s theory on Psychosexual development

According to Freud, a person’s character is developed through their sexual experiences.

He goes on to say that man goes through 5 stages of development and if each stage is not completed in a certain way a person’s character will be highly affected

Oral Stage The oral stage starts from the

time the child is born and last till he is about 1.

In this stage the child begins to explore the world around him and gains pleasure through the mouth.

Also during this time, the child learns about whether or not its needs will be met and how

If they aren’t met the child may turn into a person who trust no one, but if they are overly met they will be greedy and demanding

Anal stage This starts around 1 and last to

about 3 In this stage, the child gains

pleasure through his bowel movements and also holding back these movements

If a child is taught to not hold them he will become a messy adult, and if he is told to hold them in for too long he will become obsessed with order or “anal”

Also in this stage, Freud claims the super ego begins to make its appearance

Phallic Stage This stage begins around 3

and last to mid childhood. In this stage, the child begins

to gain pleasure through his genitals and begins to have as Freud claims the Oedipus complex and later his daughter would add the Electra complex

This is the stage where the child’s superego truly begins to form and when the child begins to learn what is right and wrong

Latency Stage This stage begins about

mid childhood and last till puberty

In this stage the child looses interest in the sexual word and begins to focus more on schools and same sex relationships

This is about the time children begin to mention cooties and how the opposite sex is gross

Genital stage The last stage begins as

puberty hits and is the reemergence of the sexual desire of the child.

This is where children begin to want opposite sex relationships and try to break away from their past and start their own life.

They begin to explore their desires and what makes them who they are

And depending on how they reacted to the previous stage, their character will be defined by how they act

Freud’s idea of the subconscious The main portion of my project was Freud’s

idea of the subconscious as its relates to behavior and discussion making.

According to Freud, the mind is broken up into two parts the subconscious and the conscious, and the subconscious is broken up into two parts: the super ego and the id.

Conscious and subconscious The conscious mind is the

mind that we know of. It is the thinking mind that we have control over and that we are aware of. According to Freud, it can also be called the ego.

The subconscious mind is the larger portion of the mind and is the hidden part of our mind. It is the part that we cannot control and is the part that controls what we truly think, want and desire. It’s a collection of our experiences and lessons that we have learned and secretly out away for later use

The Id

The Id is the primal part of the mind. It is the part of our mind that dwells on pleasure and violence. It is the part that is animalistic and is like the devil of sorts

The Super ego The super ego is the part

of the subconscious that is the rule maker. Freud describes it as a father like figure that is an authority over what a child does. It is the exact opposite of the Id and it’s rival. So it could be seen as perhaps an angel.

My project

To see whether or not kids listen to their “angel”/Super ego or their “devil”/Id. And if they take the time to have a mental conversation when figuring out what they should do.

Hypothesis My hypothesis is that the children will be more

inclined to listen to their Id then to their super ego since most kids nowadays are seen as more focused on themselves then the rules

I also believe that males will be more inclined to listen to their Id then to their super ego over females

Finally I believe that their will be no true thought put into discussions but they will be rash and quick

Procedure I went to Holy Family one afternoon and was given

8 kids, 4 girls and 4 boys. The kids were about 12-13 since I wanted to test

their sexual relationship needs I had a one on one interview with each kid, with

only one adult in the room to monitor us. I had laid out an arrangement of food and then

began to ask the kids a series of question. The set of questions were to their views on violence, nourishment, justice, leisure time, and how they valued time with both friends, family and the opposite sex.

Type of Questions My first question was to ask the kids if they were

hungry, in front of me I had a wide variety of snacks for them to choose from, which ranged from candy to veggies

The following questions were like, “If a bully came up behind you, would you run, fight or go for help?” also “if you had the chance to go out with your crush or stay at home with your family which would you do?”

Chichi

/13

Jessica/12

Keith/

12

Jackie/13

Matt/13

Jacob/13

Jenna/13

Zack/13

Q1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A I,2s N/A N/A

Q2 S,4s I,4s I,5s I,2s S,4s I,3s S,15s I,3s

Q3 I,10s I,5s S,15s I,2s S,4s I,3s I,2s I,5s

Q4 S,4s I,4s S,5s I,30s S,4s S,5s S,15s I,5s

Q5 S,4s S,5s S,5s S,4s S,5s S,10s S,3s S,5s

Q6 S,5s I,5s S,5s S,4s S,5s S,30s I.4s I,5s

Q7 S,5s I,5s S,5s S,4s S,5s S,4s S,5s S,5s

Q8 S,4s I,5s S,5s I,5s S,7s S,5s I,6s I,4s

Q9 S,5s S,5s S,5s S,5s I,6s S,15s S,6s S,5s

Q10 S,4s I,9s S,10s S,5s S,5s I.5s S.5s S,5s

What this all means?

What it means is that I was totally wrong.

I had 6 kids who listened to their Super Ego and 2 kids who listened to their Id

Sex didn’t really play a role in this since I had one boy and one girl who fell for the Id.

Also I was wrong since several of the children spent some time thinking and considering their choice.

What I could have done better Since I went to Holy Family my kids

were probably a little better then most, it would have been better if I had perhaps tested kids from public school

If I had tested more kids I might have gotten a better response and also if I had tested younger kids as well.

If I had asked more questions and gone more in-depth with the kids

The reason I mentioned Freud’s development stages was to explain the latency and the gential. I believe most of the kids were still in the latency phase and so that would hinder some of my answers

Note to everyone, if you are going to bring food and expect kids to eat it, make sure you come before lunch…oye.