2D- Freud Flashcards
(8 cards)
Who was Freud
20th cen psychologist
explain the oedipus complex
Oedipus comes from Greek mythology
Freud believed that one of the repressed feelings (that lead to illusion of God) is the male child’s unconscious desire to kill his father
Stems from all males being born with a ‘libido’ in their mouths (mother satisfies this with breastfeeding)
At age ⅔ childs libido transfers to sexual organs- still wants mother to satisfy but she’s satisfying father’s
Child builds ambivalent feelings (conflicting) to father
These feelings get repressed into unconscious minds- so belief in God arises when we get projections of the ‘oedipus complex’
This is why God is always seen as male, powerful and feared
Therefore, God is an illusion and no more than projections from repressed feelings
According to Freud if a person has dealt with these feelings then they no longer believe in the illusion of God
Example- Daniel Schreber- patient of Freud’s- dressed up as a woman- says he had a misdirected oedipus complex
Explain the primal horde
Influenced by Charles Darwin- he argued in books we lived in Hordes
Each horde was dominated by an ‘alpha male’ who had sex with all the women in the group
Rest of the men had a hate and jealousy to alpha, so killed him
However felt guilty so put a totem in place of alpha male- animism
Eventually totems evolved into Gods from which religion developed
For freud this is the origin of the illusion of God
-However this does not work for Buddhism who don’t believe in any Gods
Explain wish fulfillment
Argues that religious mystical experiences (oceanic feelings) are proof religion is a neurosis
Calls oceanic feelings ‘wish fulfillments’ as humans cannot deal with life so we react against this
Argues wish fulfillments are nothing more than the desire to return to the womb as we had no fear
Sees them as a regressive neurosis
‘Men cannot remain children forever’
Explain obsessive behaviour
Described religion as ‘universal obsessional neurosis’ (now OCD) to avoid imaginary misfortunes eg hell, damnation
People with OCD tend to repeat actions which are meaningless
Religious rituals are an example of neurotic behaviour eg muslims praying 5 times a day (Salat)
When a religious person is stopped from doing these rituals they feel guilt and fear as God would not approve
Explain the challenges against Freud
Evidence is too narrow- his theories were generalised from limited patients, so weakens the validity- failed to recognise (with oedipus complex) some religions are based on female deities (eg Egyptian isis Cult) and some did not have a God
No universal oedipus complex- the family unit is not the same in every society so it cannot be a universal phenomenon- cannot be the cause of all religions
Lack of anthropological evidence- primal horde was just a speculation and not all tribes had totems or even an alpha male- guilt isn’t handed down- by freud’s own admission the ‘primal horde’ had never been observed’- its Freud’s construction rather than a theory by Darwin
give 3 points that agree with ‘Religious belief can be considered a neurosis’
Many similarities between religious rituals and neurotic rituals- repeated actions without meaning eg Salat
Religion dominates the mind of a believer- effects all elements of their actions
Oedipus complex supported by Darwinism- better in 21st century which craves science
give 3 points that disagree with ‘Religious belief can be considered a neurosis’
It is not legitimate to compare a few ill patients such as Daniel Schreber to the whole world- had a small patient base
Freud doesn’t have enough evidence eg for oedipus complex
Wish fulfilments- anxiety is not universal or restricted to religion- mystical experiences do not have to be religious
