Latency (psychology)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In developmental psychology, latency describes a delay in the expression of a developmental characteristic. For Sigmund Freud, the term plays a role in the scheme of the psychological ( libidinal ) development of the human being. Freud initially used the term in the field of individual psychology , but later also used it to designate universal historical , in particular religious historical development processes, see also social psychology .

Psychosexual development

The latency phase is usually understood to mean a psychosexual developmental delay in the child that extends from the end of the early to the beginning of the late genital phase , i.e. from around the 6th to 12th centuries. Year of life, d. H. from the end of the Oedipus complex to the onset of puberty . During this period the child's sexuality is not developed any further. The social network, which was previously mainly the family, is being expanded. According to Sigmund Freud, this course of development is psychodynamically conditioned by mutually influencing opposing tendencies. So the latency does not mean that there are no psychosexual impulses in children during the latency period. During this time, only the inhibiting forces predominate, such as disgust , feelings of shame and ideal moral requirements. These indicate intensified moments of ego development .

History of religion

In his work “ The Man of Moses and the Monotheistic Religion ”, Freud tries to show that the monotheistic faith declined relatively suddenly after the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, together with the influence of Moses . According to research by Ernst Sellin , Moses was slain by the Jews. Moses was a representative of the Egyptian people and a follower of the monotheistic cult of the sun god Aton introduced by Pharaoh Akhenaten . Freud describes the astonishing fact that, despite this development, belief in the monotheistic tradition came back in the form of the teaching of Moses as a latency period. This lasted for at least 60 years. Freud refers to it as the incubation period, based on the pathology of infectious diseases .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Arnold, Wilhelm et al. (Ed.): Lexicon of Psychology . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-508-8 ; (a + b) to Lemma-Stw. "Latency phase": column 1214
  2. ↑ a b c Freud, Sigmund : The man Moses and the monotheistic religion . (1939) Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2010; ISBN 978-3-15-018721-0 ; (a) Re. “Latency phase in terms of developmental and universal history”: pages 75 ff., 95 * 21 ff. (number of pages * number of lines); (b) Re. “Latency phase in the developmental history (individual psychology)”, pages 95 * 21 ff. (number of pages * number of lines); (c) on Stw. “Latency Period in the Jewish Religious History”, pages 75 ff.
  3. ↑ Freud, Sigmund : Three treatises on the theory of sex and related writings . (1904/1905) Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. and GW Vol. XI; Page 52 (Tb.-edition)
  4. ↑ Peters, Uwe Henrik : Dictionary of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 3 1984; Lemma-Stw. “Latency Period”: page 327