Freud Four Components of Drive Theory
What are the Freud four components of drive theory? In order to discover the various workings of this concept, we must first begin with the notion itself.
To Freud, four components of drive theory did not really exist. You see, there are many different factors that play into this theory, though none of them can be easily divided into four categories. To start, let’s look at the theory itself. The “father of psychology” believed that our adult lives are directly impacted by the lives we lead as children. More importantly, by the obstacles we overcome as children. Essentially, this all relates to the psychosexual stages that we go through as children.
As infants, we all experience three stages (according to Freud): oral, anal, and genital. If a child does not receive adequate care during any one of these stages, the child will develop into an adult that reverts to one of these things for comfort. Confused? Let’s take the instance of a person that eats for comfort as an adult. This person always turns to food when they are upset or angry, and food always makes them feel better. Well, Freud would have said that this is a direct result of neglect during the oral stages of that person’s development – they didn’t receive adequate food, so they turn to food for comfort.
For the most part, the Freud four components of drive theory are not really considered to be accurate within today’s psychological world. Modern psychologists tend to attribute various adult behaviours to other factors, though pure Freudians would certainly look at an adult’s infancy for some clues. Though this theory may seem slightly outdated, it is important not to disregard it altogether.
Were you to inquire into the childhood of all those that seek psychological help as adults, you may find that certain Freudian theories turn out to be true. Then again, you would have to delve deep into a person’s subconscious in order to allow childhood memories to surface. Either way, this theory is an intriguing one.
Now that you know about the Freud four components of drive theory, you may be wondering how you were raised. Before you go blaming your own parents for your adult issues, consider the fact that Freud’s theory is hardly used today. Still, your obsessive housecleaning habits have to stem from somewhere...