psychosexual stages

• Freud claimed that child development occurred in 5 stages - the psychosexual stages
• Each stage (bar latency) is marked by conflict that the child must resolve in order to successfully move onto the next stage
• Any psychosexual conflict that goes unresolved leads to fixation, where the child carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life
• the first stage is the oral stage, which occurs from 0-1 years of age
• in the oral stage, the focus of pleasure is in the mouth/oral fixation
• Consequences of unresolved conflict in the oral stage lead to smoking, biting nails, sarcasm and being critical
• the second stage is the anal stage, which occurs from 1-3 years of age
• in the anal stage, the focus of pleasure is the anus
• Anal retentive - perfectionism and obsessive

  Anal expulsive - thoughtless and messy
• the third stage is phallic stage, which occurs from 3-5 years of age
• in the phallic stage, the focus of pleasure is the genital area
• the Oedipus and electra complex occur in the phallic stage
• consequences of unresolved conflict in the phallic stage include narcissism, recklessness and sexual anxiety
• the fourth stage is latency, which occurs in later childhood and is when earlier conflicts are repressed
• the fifth stage is the genital stage, which occurs in puberty
• in the genital stage, sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
• Consequences of unresolved conflict in the genital stage lead to difficulty forming heterosexual relationships