Psychosexual stages of development

• Psychosexual stages of development

  • Children go through these phases and if conflicts aren’t resolved then the child may become fixated
  • Each stage represents the focus of pleasure from different parts of the body
  • pneumonic device - old age pensioners love guinness
• Oral stage

  • Birth to 1 year
  • Baby’s libido is focused on the mouth (sucking and biting)
• Oral fixation

  • Underfed or frustrated during feedings - pessimistic, envious and suspicious adult
  • Overfed - optimistic, gullible and full of admiration in adulthood
  • A person fixated on this stage may engage in excessive eating, smoking or becoming overly talkative
• Anal stage

  • 1 - 3 years
  • Libido becomes focused on the and the child derives pleasure from defecating
  • Tends to become a thing in potty training
• Anal fixation

  • Early or harsh potty training can lead to an anal retentive personality - hates mess, tidy, punctual and respectful of authority
  • Liberal potty training leads to the anal expulsive personality - like giving things away, messy, disorganised and rebellious
• Phallic stage

  • Ages 3 - 6
  • A child’s libido focusing on their genitals as the primary source of pleasure
  • Become increasingly aware of the opposite sex
• Phallic stage fixation

  • Can lead to sexual disfunction, problems with gender identity or difficulties in forming relationships
  • In men - anxiety about sexual performance, the need for reassurance or a tendency to be overly assertive
  • In women - the need to dominate men, rivalry with other women and the need for male attention
• Oedipus complex

  • In boys conflict arises because the boy develops sexual desires for his mother
  • He wants to posses his mother and get rid of his father in order to do so
  • The boy thinks if the father finds out it he will take away what the boy loves the most (his penis) - castration anxiety
  • Eventually this leads to the boy repressing these desires and adapting his fathers characteristics - identification
• Electra complex

  • Young girls unconsciously cultivate a sexual attraction towards her father, viewing her mother as a competitor
  • The girl covets her father but recognises she doesn’t have a penis leading to what’s called penis envy (a wish to be male)
  • She resolves this dilemma by focusing on longing for a baby - during this she blames her mother for her ’castrated state’
  • In order to alleviate this tension she represses her feelings and begins to identify with her mother
• Latency stage

  • Spans 6 years - puberty
  • Libido is dormant and no further psychosexual development occurs
  • Impulses are repressed leading to a period of calm
  • Most of the child’s energy is channeled into developing skills and acquiring knowledge
  • Play becomes largely confined to the same sex
• Latency fixation

  • Can lead to difficulty expressing emotions or forming healthy relationships
  • E.g failing to make friends can impact social skills and falling behind in school can make them feel less competent
  • Can lead to feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and social isolation
• Genital stage

  • Puberty - adulthood
  • Libido re emerges and is directed to peers of the other sex
  • Individuals become sexually mature and begin to explore their sexual feelings
  • This marks the onset of romantic and sexual emotions - leading to the formation of intimate relationships
• Genital stage fixation

  • Freud believed that the proper outlet of sexual instinct was through heterosexual intercourse
  • Fixation and conflict may prevent this - sexual perversions may develop (e.g oral fixation may result in someone gaining sexual pleasure primarily from kissing and oral sex)
  • Can lead to sexual disfunction, difficulty forming healthy relationships or other emotional problems