My essential question is: What are the most effective methods of conflict resolution for young kids. As a part of my project on early childhood development I am taking a free online Yale Intro to Psych course. Today I watched Lecture 3 on Sigmund Freud, is a psychoanalyst* famous for his theories on the unconscious. Many aspects of Freud’s grand theory of the processes of the unconscious are widely criticized due to their lack of provability (or lack of dis-provability), however, his main point that some of our actions are a result of  unconscious desires that we are unaware of is upheld by many psychologists.

(I am not going to explain Freud’s theory in this CR because then my CR would be way over one page so see my post “Freud’s Theory of the Unconscious” if you want to know more about it.)

I found Freud’s  theory immensely fascinating because of its strong ties to explaining child development, the development of our actions, and the development of our personalities. When we are young, our parents– as well as teachers, other adult role models in our lives, and society–tell us, and demonstrate for us, what is right and what is wrong (acceptable and unacceptable). According to Freud, this is what develops our superego (an unconscious process that he believes suppresses our unconscious desires that are wrong), meaning that what we learn from our parents, teachers, adult role models, and society as kids can determine our actions and defense mechanisms throughout most of our lives. Freud’s theory (which I will explain in another blog post) reveals the importance of conflict resolution methods for young children/methods for teaching kids what is right and wrong that do not foster shame. I don’t know if there is one conflict resolution method that is “right”, but there are definitely ones that are wrong. The main goal of my project is to figure out what methods work best. Learning about this theory made me realize how much I don’t know about child development, and how impossible it is to fully answer my question without years of knowledge, research, and experimentation. It made me realize that I need to shift the focus of my project to learning more about things that relate to my question rather than answering it.

*Psychoanalysts strive to help people come to an understanding of the unconscious causes/reasons behind their destructive behaviors. Your image of a therapist having a patient lay down on a sofa and walk them through their emotions/thoughts/feelings in a specific incident to guide them towards an introspective understanding is the Freud Method.