My Views On Sigmund Freud

In my Sociology class in college I learned about 5 important theorists, one of them being Sigmund Freud. I found him to be more intriquing than Mead, Erickson, Piaget or Kohlberg. Freud based his view on human behavior on the idea that the mind has both conscious and unconscious elements. His discoveries of the workings of the unconscious mind came about from his interest in hypnosis. He believed that a patients feelings and behaviors could be influenced by the unconscious mind and that it could sometimes cause the patient to demonstrate irrational behavior. Freud specialized in neurology. He was trained as a physician in the beginning and had a private clinical practice in Vienna. He came up with a theory called "psychoanalysis". However, he is most famous for his "model of personality" theory that incorporates the "id", ""ego" and "superego". The "id" represents the basic drives of the unconscious, which are present at birth. The "ego" is the term he used to represent a persons conscious efforts to balance the drives of the "id", with the demands of society. (Freud said through the "ego" a person maintains a hold on reality) Then Freuds term "superego" is our conscious telling us why we must limit our demands. Freud also claimed there were "6" stages of socialization. He viewed socialization as a struggle between natural drives and societal expectations. He called it a struggle between nature and nurture. The six stages of socialization and development according to Freud begin with stage one, called the "oral stage". This stage takes place between birth and age one.This is a critical stage of the childs development. This stage focuses on the mouth, stomach and esophagus.
Stage two is called the "anal stage". This stage occurs from age one to three. At this stage more things like toilet training are encouraged. Stage three is called the "phallic stage". This stage occurs between the age of three and five. Kids become very aware of their bodies. By the end of this stage they start getting romantic interest in the opposite sex. Stage four is called the "oeidipal stage". It takes place between the age of five and ten. During this stage children start to fear punishment. They basically start to see there are consequences for their actions. Stage five is the "latency stage". This stage happens between the ages of six and eleven. These kids going through this stage start to repress their sexuality, it lays dormant and they mostly associate with same sex peers. The final stage is stage six and it is called the "genital stage". This occurs during the ages of eleven and up. During this stage kids begin having more mature feelings in regards to their sexuality. I think Freud's stages are interesting as well as true from what i'v wittnessed with a few children i'v dealt with.