GENERAL CONCEPTS & STS HISTORICAL

DEVELOPMENTS
1. HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS in which social
considerations changed the course of science
and technology.
2. INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS that defined
society
3. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND NATION
BUILDING
 Freud’s Psychosexual Development

• Freud’s theory, which focused on the

childhood period, was organized around his
libido theory. According to Freud, childhood
phases of development correspond to
successive shifts in the investment of sexual
energy to areas of the body usually associated
with eroticism: the mouth, the anus, and the
genitalia.
 Oral Stage
• Pathological traits: Excessive oral gratifications or
deprivation can result in libidinal fixations that contribute
to pathological traits. Such traits can include excessive
optimism, narcissism, pessimism, and demandingness.
Envy and jealousy are often associated with oral traits.

• Character traits:Successful resolution of the oral phase

provides a basis in character structure for capacities to give
to and receive from other without excessive dependence
or envy and a capability to rely on others with a sense of
trust, as well as with a sense of self-reliance and trust.
 Anal Stage
• Pathological traits: Orderliness, obstinancy,
stubbornness, frugality, parsimony,
ambivalence, lack of tidiness, messiness,
defiance, rage, sadomasochistic tendencies, and
obsessive compulsive personality.

• Character traits:Successful resolution of the

anal phase provides basis for the development
of personal autonomy.
 Phallic Stage
• Pathological traits: Difficulty with sexual
identity, transexuality, difficulty with authority,
homosexuality, Oedipus/electra complex.

• Character traits:Provides the foundation for

emerging sexual identity.
 Latency Stage
•  Pathological traits: The danger can arise
either from a lack of development of inner
controls or an excess of them.

• Character traits:The child can develop sense

of industry and a capacity for mastery of
objects and concepts.
 Genital Stage
• Pathological traits: Pathological deviations are
multiple and complex.

• Character traits:Fully mature personality with

capacity for full and satisfying genital potency
and self-integrated and consistent sense of
identity.
STRUCTURAL
THEORY OF
MIND
 Structural Theory of the Mind
Id – present at birth
• refers to a reservoir of the unorganized
instinctual drives
• instinctual drives, urges, self-centered,
unconscious\
 Structural Theory of the Mind
Ego – 4 to 6 months
• conscious rational self that deals with reality
• spans all three topographical dimensions of
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
 Structural Theory of the Mind
Superego – 3 to 6 years
• establishes and maintains the person’s moral
conscience on the basis of a complex system
of ideals and values internalized from one’s
parents
• ideal, conscience, values, morals
Defense Mechanisms

How do we deal with anxiety-

producing situations?
 Background
• Freud thought we had specific ways to prevent
anxiety.
• He felt these mechanisms were automatic.
• Most Freudian ideas are now discredited;
defense mechanisms, however, are still quite
current.
• Anna Freud did a lot of work on these.
 Denial
• This occurs when you know something is true,
but pretend it isn’t.
• VERY common among drug and alcohol
addicts.
– Weight/physical characteristics.
– Terminal illnesses (cancer, etc).
 Displacement
• This occurs when we relieve our anxieties by taking
them out on something/someone else.
• “Scapegoating” is similar to this.
• Examples:
– Stubbed your toe? Just hit a wall!
– Get yelled at? That’s okay! Yell at someone else!
– Parents had a rough day? They’ll take it out on their kids!
– Teacher stayed out too late last night? Give the kids a pop
quiz!
 Projection
• Assuming everyone else shares your anxieties.
• As a projector throws an image onto a screen,
you are throwing your anxieties onto others.
• Example:
– “I’m cold! Put on your jacket!”
– Expecting friends to agree on subjective matters
(movies, favorite foods, etc).
 Rationalization
• Taking a ridiculous situation and trying to
force it to make sense.
• Example: you hear a gunshot. You tell
yourself it’s…
– A tire popping.
– Fireworks.
– A door slamming.
– A popping balloon.
 Regression
• Dealing with your anxieties by acting like a
child.
• Having immature reactions to things you don’t
want to cope with.
– Fetal position while getting a beat-down.
 Reaction Formation
• Having the opposite reaction to the one you’re
supposed to have.
• “Laughing at a funeral” is a prime example.
– Happens a lot when dealing with grief.
 Sublimation
• Finding a positive outlet for negative feelings.
• Examples:
– Rap/hip-hop
– Kurt Cobain
– Eminem
– Adele/Taylor Swift (songs about boyfriends who dumped
them)
– Country music
– Poets: Sylvia Plath, Jewel, Poe…
 Repression
• The act of subconsciously “forgetting” about
events we cannot cope with.
• Your mind can later recall these very painful
memories.
– Girl in CA who witnessed her father murder her
friend, and repressed it for 30 years.