The psychodynamic approach was founded by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. He described humans as having unconscious thoughts and desires and that the human psyche is divided into three: the Id which is our unconscious and impulsive desires, it remains unaffected by reality; he seeks pleasure and wants instant gratification. Freud believed that a personality developed through a series of different stages, the 4 main psychosexual stages are: Oral between birth and the age of one year, this is when the infant is usually dependent on his mother, this stage focuses on feeding and oral stimulation. Anal from one to three years, this is when the little one will learn to become potty trained and gain control of their bladder and bowels. It is at this stage that if a child is praised for good performance it will lead him to a productive creative personality, as if a parent is unsupportive or ridicules the child it can lead to a destructive and disordered personality . The phallic phase between three and six years old is where the child discovers his genital area and the differences between men and women. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. What's interesting is that children become jealous of their parent of the same sex and want affection from their parent of the opposite sex, this is called Oedipus. complex for men and the Electra complex for women. The genital stage (from puberty) Freud believes that depending on how each of these stages is approached, it can have a positive or negative effect on the child's development. If all psychosexual stages are successfully completed, the end result will be a healthy personality. Freud produced a case study called Little Hans. He received letters from Han's father around the age of 3. Han had developed a fascination with his "Widdler" (penis). He had also developed a phobia of white horses. Han said he wanted his father to continue working away from home, as he is allowed to sleep in his mother's bed when he is away; Freud considered this to be the Oedipus complex. He believed that the fear of horses, especially white horses with a black bit and a large penis, was because it represented Han's father and when he once saw a little girl who was told not to not putting his finger near the horse's mouth, it reminded Han of Han when his mother told him she would cut off the biggest pee-pee. Freud interpreted this as a fear of castration. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay To conclude, Freud's case study "Little Hans" seems to support his theory, particularly the Oedipus complex which occurs during the phallic phase, the child unconsciously becomes sexually attracted to his parent of the opposite sex and begins to become jealous or envious of their parent of the same sex. The study lacked population validity because it was based only on a single person and it was impossible to generalize the results to a larger group. Both of Han's parents followed Freud's work and had a good understanding of the Oedipus complex. The information they provided in the letters could therefore be biased. The majority of data collected came from Han's father and not from Freud or Han himself..