It appears we were misguided. Freud was not in fact a pedophile and a sex maniac and all the other things we called him. We apologise to any Freud fans out there.
Sigmund Freud was actually a philosopher/psychologist who dealt mainly with the subconscious. The unconscious mind influences all of our conscious behaviour, and dreams provide us with a glimpse of the unconscious, through symbolism and (sexual) imagery. A major part of this involves memories. Freud believed that repression of painful memories from early life plays a role in determining our behaviour later in life.
Along with the unconscious, Freud made the controversial point that the underlying motivation in everyone's life is sexual desire. Throughout a child's life, they progress through stages known as 'psycho-sexual phases'. These range from 'Oral' to 'Anal' to 'Phallic' to 'Genital', based on the time of the child's development and the part of the body which the child's behaviour revolves around. Righto.
His other controversial theory is the 'Oedipus Complex'. This states that all male children experience their first sexual attraction towards their mother, and their first feelings of hate towards their father. Due to the possession of a phallus, they feel that they have power, and see females as powerless, due to the 'differences' they have. Females develop the similar concept of the 'Electra Complex', where they feel 'penis envy' towards males, and a lack of power.
Freud's legacy lives on in the realms of psychoanalysis, and interpretation of the unconscious. Although he did not invent this notion, he brought it into popular Western thought and psychology.
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