Which statement reflects psychoanalytic theory?

Which statement reflects psychoanalytic theory?

• A. Unconscious motivation is central to the theory.
• B. Oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages are not considered.
• C. Conscious attitudes determine behavior exclusively.
• D. Unconscious motivation and the psychosexual stages of development.

Answer: (D)

Unconscious processes and early childhood experiences shape how people think, feel, and behave. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory proposes that much of motivation lies below conscious awareness and that personality is largely formed through experiences and conflicts encountered during a sequence of psychosexual stages—oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Because both unconscious motivation and the psychosexual stages are central to this theory, the statement that includes both elements best reflects psychoanalytic thinking. Saying that conscious attitudes determine behavior exclusively ignores the powerful role of unconscious forces. And claiming that the psychosexual stages are not considered contradicts Freud’s framework, which places those stages at the heart of development.

Unconscious processes and early childhood experiences shape how people think, feel, and behave. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory proposes that much of motivation lies below conscious awareness and that personality is largely formed through experiences and conflicts encountered during a sequence of psychosexual stages—oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Because both unconscious motivation and the psychosexual stages are central to this theory, the statement that includes both elements best reflects psychoanalytic thinking.

Saying that conscious attitudes determine behavior exclusively ignores the powerful role of unconscious forces. And claiming that the psychosexual stages are not considered contradicts Freud’s framework, which places those stages at the heart of development.