# data[].attributes.headline
Center for Disease Control and Prevention

# data[].attributes.subject
Center for Disease Control and Prevention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Home - Child Welfare Information Gateway

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teenagers and social problems occur everyday in high schools across the country. The teen years present a number of social challenges.

Understanding Teenagers and Social Problems

Teenagers gain an increasing amount of independence from their parents as they enter middle and high school. Unlike the early years, kids in this age group often look to friends instead of parents for guidance. The pressure to fit in and be part of the "cool crowd" clouds the judgment of vulnerable kids.

Bullying

Bullying frequently occurs in the halls of high schools. It ranges from easily identifiable fist-fights to subtle, emotional attacks to the victim.

Types of Bullying

Bullying takes on several forms including:

Physical threats and violence

Verbal attacks and abuse

Cyber bullying

Physical bullying is often the first thing that typically comes to mind. Yet verbal attacks affect the victim in many of the same ways. Bullying may lead to other social problems, such as low self-esteem and making poor choices.

Effects

The type of bullying may vary, but the effects follow a common pattern in teens. The victims often struggle with acceptance after suffering at the hands of a bully. The victim may experience:

Fear and withdrawal from normal activities where they may encounter the bully

Anxiety and depression

Stress

Poor self-esteem

Headaches, stomach ailments and other physical problems

Peer Pressure

On a daily basis, teens influence their peers on everything from clothes to illegal activities. Why do they allow themselves to be swayed by peers? Fitting in and avoiding taunts is a major factor. No one wants to be left out. Kids who are curious about a certain behavior may decide to try, particularly if they think everyone else is doing it. Drinking or smoking at a party is a good example. A teen may decide to satisfy his curiosity if all of the other party guests are consuming alcohol.

Effects

Peer pressure results in poor decisions made by teens. A child who is on the fence about engaging in risky behaviors often goes along with the crowd to fit in, abandoning his own better judgment. Even teens who have refused to participate in a given activity in the past may eventually give in under peer pressure. Negative choices that routinely occur to fit in include:

Gossiping

Leaving others out of the group or making fun of them

Bullying other teens, either physically or verbally

Skipping school

Stealing

Engaging in sexual activity

Breaking curfew and disrespecting parents

Consuming alcohol or drugs

Positive Peer Pressure

While peer pressure is usually associated with negative behaviors, it is worth noting that some peer pressure results in positive outcomes. Teens have the power to use peer pressure positively by encouraging peers to make better decisions. For example, one teen might encourage a friend to avoid participating in risky behaviors or stand up for a bullying victim, thus pressuring the bully to stop.

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the value a person places on herself and how she views herself. A teen with low self-esteem feels inadequate and may feel uncomfortable with her appearance. She may feel left out or less worthy than peers that are deemed prettier, skinnier or more popular. Influences on self-esteem come from a variety of sources. Body changes during puberty, slender models in the media, bullying and the home life of the child play a role in its development.

Effects

Self-esteem is developed over the course of one's life based on the experiences and it influences a person in many ways. High self-esteem allows the individual to maintain a healthy attitude toward life. Low self-esteem may cause an individual to hold back and miss experiences. A teen's level of confidence is also related. Poor self-esteem can lead to depression in some people.

Improving Self-Esteem

Improving self-esteem requires the realization that it comes from within and only you can improve how you see yourself. There are many ways for teens to improve self-esteem once they realize it is a personal process. Ideas include:

Identify the difference between things that can and cannot be changed

Set goals for the things that can be changed, using smaller steps to achieve the overall goal

Make a list of positive characteristics and achievements instead of only focusing on the negatives

Push negative thoughts aside when they begin to creep in

Participate in activities that bring joy or a sense of accomplishment

Seek help from an adult

Help from Adults

Parents, teachers or other adults in a teen's life serve as a support system. Understanding teenagers and social problems is important for adult role models. A rumor at school or feeling left out may seem like an insignificant problem to an adult who is struggling to make ends meet or dealing with a difficult relationship. Yet these problems are very real to the kids who deal with them. Offering empathy and understanding creates a supportive environment for teens. Ways to help teens include:

Encourage open communication

Watch for changes in personality or behaviors

Create a strong network in the community between parents, teachers and community leaders

Encourage participation in structured activities

Seek professional help when needed

The normal stresses of everyday life for a teen often revolve around social issues. Improving self-esteem and teaching kids how to handle social problems helps them become self-reliant, happy individuals.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teenagers and Social Problems | LoveToKnow

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teenagers and social problems occur everyday in high schools across the country. The teen years present a number of social challenges. Teenagers gain an increasing amount of independence from their parents as they enter middle and high school. Unlike the early years, kids in this age group often look to friends instead of parents for guidance.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NIDA.NIH.GOV | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NIDA's mission is to advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health. NIDA is one of the National Institutes of Health.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Nancy Willard
Most educators working with middle and high school students are aware of the explosive involvement of youth on social networking sites. Few are prepared to deal with it. Internet safety expert Nancy Willard discusses the risks and benefits of such sites and offers schools a comprehensive approach to addressing student Internet access. Included: Advice for parents and teachers; online guidelines for students.
Educators working with middle and high school students likely are aware of the explosive interest and involvement of youth in such online sites as MySpace, Xanga, Facebook, Live Journal, and the like.

These and similar sites are a new phenomenon called "online social networking." In online social networking environments, youth register and establish profiles that provide personal information and photos. Then, they make connections or links with other members who share interests or connections -- so-called "friends." Members engage in a variety of forms of communication and information sharing, which can include personal Web pages, blogs, and discussion groups.

Problems are associated with these social networking sites, but the sites themselves generally are not the problem. Review the sites and look at the User Agreements or "Terms." These sites do seek to prohibit harmful activities. But with hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- of registered members, the sites cannot be expected to engage in effective "babysitting."

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Social networking sites are very attractive environments for teens, as well as for adults. Such sites present opportunities for self-expression and friendship building. Youth "play time" in such environments can build skills that will be a foundation for career success in the 21st century. Many teens are safely and responsibly engaged in such communities.

Legitimate concerns do exist about youth involvement on these sites, however. Those concerns are grounded in three basic factors: 1) The sites are attracting many teens, some of whom are not making good choices. 2) Many parents are not paying attention to what their children are posting on the sites. 3) Sexual predators -- and likely other dangerous strangers -- are attracted to places where teens are not making good choices and adults are not paying attention.

Some teens are engaging in unsafe or irresponsible activities that include:

Unsafe disclosure of personal information -- providing potentially dangerous or damaging personal information. Many teens appear to have no understanding that what they post in those communities is public, potentially permanent, and accessible by anyone in the world.

Addiction -- spending an excessive amount of time online, resulting in lack of healthy engagement in major areas of life.

Risky sexual behavior -- becoming seduced by a sexual predator or child pornographer, posting sexually suggestive material or self-producing child pornography, or making connections with other teens for sexual "hook-ups."

Cyberbullying -- being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material online or through a cell phone, or by engaging in other cruel actions.

Dangerous communities -- at-risk youth making connections with other at-risk youth or adults to discuss and share information, which can result in a shared belief in the appropriateness of potentially very harmful activities.

WHAT SCHOOLS SHOULD DO

Is it appropriate for students to be participating in commercial social networking sites while at school? Probably not. It is advisable that schools seek to limit all non-educational, entertainment use of the Internet -- including social networking activities -- through the district Internet system.

Can and should schools block access to the sites? Well, they can try.

When the Internet first came into schools, the primary concern was youth access to pornography. Filtering software was promoted as the tool to effectively deal with that concern. Current concerns deal more with what students are posting, as well as how and with whom they are communicating. Do a search on the terms "bypass Internet filter" and you will see how easy it is for youth to find information on ways to get around the school filter.

Youth are unlikely to try to get around the school filter to access pornography because it would be pretty obvious -- even from a distance -- what they are looking at. Many youth are highly addicted to involvement in these social networking sites, however, and are willing to take the risk to use a proxy to access those sites, when it is far less likely that their access will be detected.

Should schools be concerned about off-campus Internet activities? Yes. Involvement in those communities might negatively impact student wellbeing and the quality of the school environment. Students might post material on the sites that harms other students, provides clues or direct threats about suicidal or violent intentions, or provides indications of hate group or gang involvement, or drug sales and use.

WHAT SCHOOLS CAN DO

A comprehensive approach to addressing student Internet access is necessary. That approach requires:

1. A clear policy with a strong focus on educationally valuable use of the Internet -- no "Internet recess." The policy must be supported by curriculum and professional development, and a clear expectation for teachers that all student use of the Internet should be for high quality, well-planned instructional activities.

2. Student education about online safety and responsible use.

3. Effective technical monitoring.

4. Appropriate consequences. Schools and districts should consider a full review of Internet use management policies and practices. A needs assessment and evaluation of Internet use would provide helpful insight. Safe school personnel must be involved in that process.

All safe school personnel -- principals, counselors/psychologists, and school resource officers -- should be well informed about the sites and associated concerns. Ensuring that safe-school personnel have the ability to immediately override the school filter to visit those sites to review material in the event of a report of concern is essential.

Internet safety and responsible use is everyone's concern, but it is especially a concern for parents, because most youth Internet use occurs at home. Schools can help by providing information and guidance to parents and encouraging parental involvement in their children's online activities.

A "just say no" or "just say block" approach will not be effective in preventing youth involvement in online communities or in addressing concerns associated with them. Proactive strategies to help students gain the knowledge, skills, and motivation to make safe and responsible choices, and continued adult involvement are necessary.

Nancy E. Willard, Director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, has degrees in special education and law. She taught at-risk children, practiced computer law, and was an educational technology consultant before focusing her professional attention on issues of youth behavior when using information communication technologies. She has spent more than a decade focusing on issues of Internet use management in schools. Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Cruelty, Threats, and Distress, a professional resource for educators, has been published by the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. Information is available at Cyberbully.org. Willard also is working on a book for parents entitled Raising CyberSavvy Kids: Empowering Children and Teens to Make Safe and Responsible Choices Online (and Remaining "Hands-on" to Ensure They Do).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Most educators working with middle and high school students are aware of the explosive involvement of youth on social networking sites. Few are prepared to deal with it. Internet safety expert Nancy Willard discusses the risks and benefits of such sites and offers schools a comprehensive approach to addressing student Internet access.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Adolescence is a time for growth spurts and puberty changes. Sexual maturation may occur gradually or several signs may become visible at the same time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) - Career, Contribution

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In his work, Erikson went beyond the Freudian focus on dysfunctional behavior to pursue the ways that the normal self is able to function successfully. His unique contribution to the applications of psychoanalysis, his inclusion of the effects of society and culture on individual psychological development, led to the designation of his perspective as psychosocial.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Although many theorists are responsible for contributing to the Developmental Tasks Theory, it was Robert J. Havighurst who elaborated on this theory in the most systematic and extensive manner.

Havighurst's main assertion is that development is continuous throughout the entire lifespan, occurring in stages, where an individual moves from one stage to the next by means of successful resolution of problems or performance of developmental tasks. These tasks are typically encountered by most people in the culture where the individual belongs.

When people successfully accomplish and master these developmental tasks, they feel pride and satisfaction, and consequently earn the approval of their community or society. This success provides a sound foundation which allows them to accomplish developmental tasks that they will encounter at later stages.

Conversely, when people fail to accomplishing a developmental task, they're often unhappy and are not accorded the desired approval by society, resulting in the subsequent experience of difficulty when faced with succeeding developmental tasks.

Havighurst's Developmental Tasks Theory suggests that we are active learners who continually interact with a similarly active social environment.

Havighurst proposed a bio psychosocial model of development, wherein the developmental tasks at each stage are influenced by an individual's biology (physiological maturation and genetic makeup), his psychology (personal values and goals), as well as his sociology (specific culture to which the individual belongs).

Some developmental tasks evolve out of the biological character of humans and are therefore faced similarly by all individuals from any culture. An example of this is learning how to walk for infants. Being a skill that depends on maturation and genetically determined factors, the mechanics involved in learning how to walk are virtually the same and occur at generally the same time for children from all cultures.

Other developmental tasks that stem from biological mechanisms include learning to talk, exercising control over bodily functions, learning skills typically utilized in children's games, and coping with physiological changes related to aging, to name a few.

Havighurst pointed out the importance of sensitive periods which he considered to be the ideal teachable moments during which an individual demonstrates maturation at a level that is most conducive to learning and successfully performing the developmental tasks.

Psychological factors that emerge from the individual's maturing personality and psyche are embodied in personal values and goals. These values and goals are another source of some developmental tasks such as establishing one's self-concept, developing relationships with peers of both sexes and adjusting to retirement or to the loss of a spouse.

There are other developmental tasks, however, that arise from the unique cultural standards of a given society and as such, may be observed in different forms in varying societies or, alternatively, may be observed is some cultures but not in others. One such task would be preparing oneself for an occupation.

An individual who belongs to an agricultural community, for instance, might make the preparations for an occupation such as becoming a farmer at an early age, possibly in middle childhood or in adolescence. Members of an industrialized society, on the other hand, require longer and more specialized preparation for an occupation. Therefore, they tend to embark on this developmental task sometime during early adulthood. Other culturally-based developmental tasks include achieving gender-appropriate roles and becoming a responsible citizen.

An enumeration of developmental tasks, therefore, will differ across cultures. Nevertheless, Havighurst did propose a list of common critical developmental tasks, categorized into six stages of development which offers a rough picture of what these specific developmental tasks are. Below is a partial list of Havighurst's developmental tasks.
Infancy and Early Childhood - birth to 5 years

Learning to walk

Learning to control bodily wastes

Learning to talk

Learning to form relationships with family members

Middle Childhood - 6 - 12 years

Learning physical skills for playing games

Developing school-related skills such as reading , writing, and counting

Developing conscience and values

Attaining independence

Adolescence - 13 - 17 years

Establishing emotional independence from parents

Equipping self with skills needed for productive occupation

Achieving gender-based social role

Establishing mature relationships with peers of both sexes

Early Adulthood - 18 - 35 years

Choosing a partner

Establishing a family

Managing a home

Establishing a career

Middle Age - 36 - 60 years

Maintaining economic standard of living

Performing civic and social responsibilities

Relating to spouse as a person

Adjusting to physiological changes

Later Maturity - over 60 years

Adjusting to deteriorating health and physical strength

Adjusting to retirement

Meeting social and civil obligations

Adjusting to death or loss of spouse

The assertions and principles presented by Havighurst are quite easily understandable and clear. The applications of Havighurst's Developmental Tasks Theory extend to the field of education and have asserted influence over educators and psychologists worldwide. Although the theory has its roots in the 1930s, it continues to stimulate the insights of contemporary psychologists, prompting the publication of new manuscripts and books based on the concepts of the developmental task theory.

Over the years, the reception and interpretation of Havighurst's Developmental Tasks Theory have evolved with the upsurge of new findings. Nevertheless, this theory has remained robust in its testimony that development is continuous throughout the entire lifespan.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Although many theorists are responsible for contributing to the Developmental Tasks Theory, it was Robert J. Havighurst who elaborated on this theory in the most systematic and extensive manner. Havighurst's main assertion is that development is continuous throughout the entire lifespan, occurring in stages, where an individual moves from one stage to the next by means of successful resolution of problems or performance of developmental tasks.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) was the founding father of psychoanalysis, a method for treating mental illness and a theory explaining human behavior.

Freud believed that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality. For example, anxiety originating from traumatic experiences in a person's past is hidden from consciousness and may cause problems during adulthood (neuroses).

Thus, when we explain our behavior to ourselves or others (conscious mental activity), we rarely give a true account of our motivation. This is not because we are deliberately lying. While human beings are great deceivers of others; they are even more adept at self-deception.

Freud's life work was dominated by his attempts to penetrate this often subtle and elaborate camouflage that obscures the hidden structure and processes of personality.

His lexicon has become embedded within the vocabulary of Western society. Words he introduced through his theories are now used by everyday people, such as anal (personality), libido, denial, repression, cathartic, Freudian slip, and neurotic.

Who is Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud, born on May 6, 1856, in what is now Příbor, Czech Republic (then part of the Austrian Empire), is hailed as the father of psychoanalysis. He was the eldest of eight children in a Jewish family.

Freud initially wanted to become a law professional but later developed an interest in medicine. He entered the University of Vienna in 1873, graduating with an MD in 1881. His primary interests included neurology and neuropathology. He was particularly interested in the condition of hysteria and its psychological causes.

In 1885, Freud received a grant to study with Jean-Martin Charcot, a renowned neurologist who used hypnosis to treat women suffering from what was then called "hysteria." This experience sparked Freud's interest in the unconscious mind, a theme that would recur throughout his career.

In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna, married Martha Bernays, and set up a private practice to treat nervous disorders. His work during this time led to his revolutionary concepts of the human mind and the development of the psychoanalytic method.

Freud introduced several influential concepts, including the Oedipus complex, dream analysis, and the structural model of the psyche divided into the id, ego, and superego. He published numerous works throughout his career, the most notable being " The Interpretation of Dreams" (1900), " The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" (1901), and " Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality " (1905).

Despite controversy and opposition, Freud continued to develop his theories and expand the field of psychoanalysis. He was deeply affected by the outbreak of World War I and later by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. In 1938, due to the Nazi threat, he emigrated to London with his wife and youngest daughter.

Freud died in London on September 23, 1939, but his influence on psychology, literature, and culture remains profound and pervasive.

He radically changed our understanding of the human mind, emphasizing the power of unconscious processes and pioneering therapeutic techniques that continue to be used today.

Sigmund Freud's Theories & Contributions

1. Psychoanalytic Theory: Freud is best known for developing psychoanalysis, a therapeutic technique for treating mental health disorders by exploring unconscious thoughts and feelings.

2. Unconscious Mind: Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, describing the features of the mind's structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.

3. Personality: Freud proposed a tripartite model of the human mind, composed of the id, ego, and superego. The id represents primal desires, the ego balances the id and reality, and the superego represents societal norms and morals.
The id, ego, and superego have most commonly been conceptualized as three essential parts of the human personality.

4. Psychosexual Development: Freud's controversial theory of psychosexual development suggests that early childhood experiences and stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) shape our adult personality and behavior.

His theory of psychosexual stages of development is predicated by the concept that childhood experiences create the adult personality and that problems in early life would come back to haunt the individual as a mental illness.

5. Dream Analysis: Freud believed dreams were a window into the unconscious mind and developed methods for analyzing dream content for repressed thoughts and desires.

Dreams represent unfulfilled wishes from the id, trying to break through to the conscious. But because these desires are often unacceptable, they are disguised or censored using such defenses as symbolism.

Freud believed that by undoing the dreamwork, the analyst could study the manifest content (what they dreamt) and interpret the latent content ( what it meant) by understanding the symbols.

6. Defense Mechanisms: Freud proposed several defense mechanisms, like repression and projection, which the ego employs to handle the tension and conflicts among the id, superego, and the demands of reality.

Sigmund Freud's Patients

Sigmund Freud's clinical work with several patients led to major breakthroughs in psychoanalysis and a deeper understanding of the human mind. Here are summaries of some of his most notable cases:

1. Anna O. (Bertha Pappenheim): Known as the 'birth of psychoanalysis,' Anna O. was a patient of Freud's colleague Josef Breuer. However, her case heavily influenced Freud's thinking.

She suffered from various symptoms, including hallucinations and paralysis, which Freud interpreted as signs of hysteria caused by repressed traumatic memories. The "talking cure" method with Anna O. would later evolve into Freudian psychoanalysis.

2. Dora (Ida Bauer): Dora, a pseudonym Freud used, was a teenager suffering from what he diagnosed as hysteria. Her symptoms included aphonia (loss of voice) and a cough.

Freud suggested her issues were due to suppressed sexual desires, particularly those resulting from a complex series of relationships in her family. The Dora case is famous for the subject's abrupt termination of therapy, and for the criticisms Freud received regarding his handling of the case.

3. Little Hans (Herbert Graf): Little Hans, a five-year-old boy, feared horses. Freud never met Hans but used information from the boy's father to diagnose him.

He proposed that Little Hans' horse phobia was symbolic of a deeper fear related to the Oedipus Complex - unconscious feelings of affection for his mother and rivalry with his father. The case of Little Hans is often used as an example of Freud's theory of the Oedipal Complex in children.

4. Rat Man (Ernst Lanzer): Rat Man came to Freud suffering from obsessive thoughts and fears related to rats, a condition known as obsessional neurosis.

Freud connected his symptoms to suppressed guilt and repressed sexual desires. The treatment of Rat Man further expanded Freud's work on understanding the role of internal conflicts and unconscious processes in mental health disorders.

5. Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff): Wolf Man was a wealthy Russian aristocrat who came to Freud with various symptoms, including a recurring dream about wolves.

Freud's analysis, focusing on childhood memories and dreams, led him to identify the presence of repressed memories and the influence of the Oedipus Complex. Wolf Man's treatment is often considered one of Freud's most significant and controversial cases.

In the highly repressive "Victorian" society in which Freud lived and worked, women, in particular, were forced to repress their sexual needs. In many cases, the result was some form of neurotic illness.

Freud sought to understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients. This was not primarily an investigation of sexual experiences as such. Far more important were the patient's wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt, and fear - and how they handled these powerful emotions.

Freud's Followers

Freud attracted many followers, who formed a famous group in 1902 called the "Psychological Wednesday Society." The group met every Wednesday in Freud's waiting room.

As the organization grew, Freud established an inner circle of devoted followers, the so-called "Committee" (including Sàndor Ferenczi, and Hanns Sachs (standing) Otto Rank, Karl Abraham, Max Eitingon, and Ernest Jones).

At the beginning of 1908, the committee had 22 members and was renamed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

Neo-Freudians

The term "neo-Freudians" refers to psychologists who were initially followers of Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) but later developed their own theories, often modifying or challenging Freud's ideas.

Here are summaries of some of the most notable neo-Freudians:

1. Otto Rank: Rank (1884 - 1939) was an early collaborator with Freud and played a significant role in the development of psychoanalysis. He proposed the "trauma of birth" as a critical event influencing the psyche. Later, he shifted focus to the relationship between therapist and client, influencing the development of humanistic therapies.

2. Harry Stack Sullivan: Sullivan (1892 - 1949) developed interpersonal psychoanalysis, emphasizing the role of interpersonal relationships and social experiences in personality development and mental disorders. He proposed the concept of the "self-system" formed through experiences of approval and disapproval during childhood.

3. Anna Freud: Freud's youngest daughter significantly contributed to psychoanalysis, particularly in child psychology. Anna Freud (1895 - 1982) expanded on her father's work, emphasizing the importance of ego defenses in managing conflict and preserving mental health.

4. Erich Fromm: Fromm (1900-1980) was a German-American psychoanalyst associated with the Frankfurt School, who emphasized culture's role in developing personality. He advocated psychoanalysis as a tool for curing cultural problems and thus reducing mental illness.

Critical Evaluation

Does evidence support Freudian psychology? Freud's theory is good at explaining but not predicting behavior (which is one of the goals of science).

For this reason, Freud's theory is unfalsifiable - it can neither be proved true or refuted. For example, the unconscious mind is difficult to test and measure objectively. Overall, Freud's theory is highly unscientific.

Despite the skepticism of the unconscious mind, cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology has shown the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Such empirical findings have demonstrated the role of unconscious processes in human behavior.

However, most evidence for Freud's theories is from an unrepresentative sample. He mostly studied himself, his patients, and only one child (e.g., Little Hans).

The main problem here is that the case studies are based on studying one person in detail, and regarding Freud, the individuals in question are most often middle-aged women from Vienna (i.e., his patients).

This makes generalizations to the wider population (e.g., the whole world) difficult. However, Freud thought this unimportant, believing in only a qualitative difference between people.

Freud may also have shown research bias in his interpretations - he may have only paid attention to information that supported his theories, and ignored information and other explanations that did not fit them.

However, Fisher & Greenberg (1996) argue that Freud's theory should be evaluated in terms of specific hypotheses rather than a whole. They concluded that there is evidence to support Freud's concepts of oral and anal personalities and some aspects of his ideas on depression and paranoia.

They found little evidence of the Oedipal conflict and no support for Freud's views on women's sexuality and how their development differs from men'.

References

Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American psychologist, 54(7), 462.

Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (1895). Studies on hysteria. Standard Edition 2: London.

Fisher, S., & Greenberg, R. P. (1996). Freud scientifically reappraised: Testing the theories and therapy. John Wiley & Sons.

Freud, S. (1894). The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 41-61.

Freud, S. (1896). Further remarks on the neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 157-185.

Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. S.E., 4-5.

Freud, S. (1901). The psychopathology of everyday life. SE, 6. London: Hogarth.

Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Se, 7, 125-243.

Freud, S. (1915). The unconscious. SE, 14: 159-204.

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.

Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

Freud, S. (1925). Negation. Standard edition, 19, 235-239.

Freud, S. (1961). The resistances to psycho-analysis. In T he Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIX (1923-1925): The Ego and the Id and other works (pp. 211-224).

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological review, 102(1), 4.

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of experimental psychology, 18(6), 643.

Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of Memory, (pp. 381-403). New York: Academic Press.

FAQs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sigmund Freud: Theory & Contribution to Psychology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) was the founding father of psychoanalysis, a method for treating mental illness and a theory explaining human behavior.