Question

How did Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory strongly connect with Evolutionary Psychology in terms of its roots in Darwinian beliefs?

Answer 1

Evolutionary psychology is the domain that talks about how evolution has shaped not only our brains but our behavior as well. Such behaviors include the psychological adaptations that aided in survival and reproduction and these adaptations continue to function in the modern environment. Much of the Darwinian theories influenced and guided psychological research and had a great impact on the whole field of psychology.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, wrote that “the theories of Darwin ... strongly attracted me, for they held out hopes of extraordinary advance in our understanding of the world.” and took inspiration from Darwin's biology to base his constructs. He believed that ''the study of evolution'' is ''essential to psychoanalysis''. Freud was so highly influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theories that he regarded 'Origin of Species' as one of the most significant books ever published.

Freud's psychosexual theory was influenced by Darwin's concept of self-preservation instinct of animals (libido) in which he talks about sexual drives as the main drive in animals that help them survive and reproduce. Perhaps, this was the reason why sex drive became central to Freud's theories which also includes the concept of id, libido, and the stages of psychosexual development. He also accepted Darwin's idea of inheritance of traits, specifically mental traits that might have their roots in evolutionary past and are still intact.