Moral development according to psychoanalytic theory: autonomy and drive control
Joaquín Díaz Atienza
In this third post, we address moral development from a Freudian or psychoanalytic perspective. But first, we will explain, in a simplified way (though some rigor may be lost), some essential psychoanalytic concepts for understanding Freud's theory of moral development. It's important to keep in mind that Freud introduced new explanatory elements as his own theory evolved, shifting from an essentially biological view to one that was exclusively psychological.
SOME CONCEPTS
First, it is called first topical to the dynamic structure constituted by the unconscious, preconscious, and consciousPsychological processes occurring in the unconscious would be unconscious and primary in nature; those occurring in the preconscious would be capable of reaching consciousness in certain situations. Secondary processes would occur in the conscious mind.
The contents and conflicts of the unconscious, although operative, do not have access to consciousness because doing so would produce great anxiety in the subject. Therefore, a censor is used to decide what can and cannot pass into consciousness. This is called repression.
The second topic, also called personality topicIt is made up of the id, the ego, and the superego. The id It is unconscious. Its content is libidinal and destructive. It is oriented towards the satisfaction of pleasure and, therefore, is governed by the pleasure principle. The ego has connections with the id and is governed by it. principle of realityIt is what it can be for the subject and is responsible for the subject's social adaptability. The superego It would be the ego ideal and the moral censor, the subject's moral conscience. Its actions are conscious in nature. However, it also possesses an unconscious aspect, insofar as the subject is unaware of the origin of the impulses that arise in consciousness. Its contents are, therefore, internalized. (Figure 1)
Figure 1 
MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN FREUD
In Freud we can find three well differentiated stages: A biological stage, the stage prior to the constitution of the second topography and the one after it.
Stage biologist
Freud attempts to interpret so-called sexual perversions and the resistances in the form of disgust and shame that the subject presents towards them as a consequence of phylogenetically determined inhibitions.
In this sense, and referring to incest, Freud tells us: "In the civilized child, one has the impression that the establishment of these barriers is the work of education, and it certainly contributes to it. But in reality, this development is organically conditioned, hereditarily fixed, and, if necessary, can occur without any help from education."
Therefore, at this stage two types of prohibitions are usually distinguished:
– Restrictions related to the social, religious, and moral organization of the community. These restrictions would be universal, in the Kantian sense. They would be part of a general system.
– Other prohibitions are self-executing. They are not included in any specific system and correspond to taboo prohibitions. For Freud, these would be the most archaic prohibitions that shape moral consciousness.
For Freud moral conscience It is that which is known with the greatest certainty. The identity of consciousness It consists of that state that allows us to denote, to distinguish, objectives as internal or external realities. In other words, sensitivity to moral facts. The content of conscience consists of the observation that within us there exist some desires that we do not admit without any justification; they are desires that we dismiss in and of themselves.
When we fulfill a forbidden desire, guilt arises, which is nothing more than the negative assessment we make of the transgression committed.
For Freud, the origin of moral conscience lies in the ambivalence that arises between the desire and the prohibition against fulfilling it. Freud tells us: "Behind every prohibition, there is inevitably a longing."
Self-ideal and moral conscience
It is the second stage. Castilla de Pino tells us that the birth of ideal self It is a pre-superegoic stage, since the superego itself would be the result of the combination of the ego ideal with moral conscience.
The self must suppress its impulses in order to achieve social adaptability and due to the imperatives of social, cultural, and ethical-social norms.
Repression leads to an ego ideal against which the individual evaluates their own actions. This is an individual process through which the individuality and subjectivity of values arise, and these values can differ from person to person. Everything depends on the drives involved and their degree of repression. Moral conscience, therefore, arises from the individual's awareness of certain desires that they disapprove of and consider their own. Hence, the moral conscience remains undisturbed until these unacceptable desires, considered one's own, resurface.
For Freud, this would explain why humans find it so difficult to categorize something as morally good or bad. What is acceptable to some may not be acceptable to others. It all unfolds in the mixture of love and hate we feel toward certain "objects."
Punishment, therefore, is nothing more than an attempt at reparation, at reconciliation, by which the individual brings his acting self closer to his ideal self as a moral reference.
The role of the superego in moral conscience
The major innovation of the superego compared to the ego ideal is its weaker connection to the superego's conscience. It represents the resolution, the individual's resolution of the Oedipus complex. This resolution is fundamentally constituted by two identificatory processes: The first is the child's need, for their socio-emotional and moral development, to mimic the father's authority figure, even to the point of internalizing it. The second, more complex and equally necessary, is the child's self-imposed prohibition against becoming an extension of the father figure. The first is a positive identification with the parental figure, the second a negative one.
This Oedipal experience will generate a feeling of ambivalence that will be the source of two feelings of guilt with different generating mechanisms. One would be unconscious and is related to the Oedipus complex. The second, conscious, will be related to the tension produced between the ego and the ego ideal that arises during development.
From the guilt arising from the conflict between the acting self and the ego ideal (my ethical standard), is born what Freud calls moral masochism, which is nothing other than the need to be punished by an unconscious mechanism, as demonstrated by the individual's lack of knowledge regarding the source of the guilt.
For Freud, the subject's ethical nature is the result of instinctual repression. Hence, he proposes that we relax instinctual repression by being less severe in our approach. Furthermore, this is the only way to access the truth of the underlying dynamics that generate feelings of guilt.
Therefore, morality as a whole would correspond to a reactive formation, a defense mechanism to maintain the minimum psychological equilibrium necessary for survival in society. In other words, suppressing impulses leads to behavior radically opposed to what is truly desired.
Hence, for Freud, the two forms of guilt would be due to the liquidation of the Oedipus complex (when the subject disobeys parental imperatives and the superego punishes "from within") and the violation of every norm that comes from society, from culture, due to adaptive requirements at the price of instinctual renunciation.
Next post: Moral development, the concept of a mature minor and decision-making (and 4).
