There have been many theories in psychology that have attempted to shine a new light on

Freud’s basic psychosexual stages of development, attempting to give way to new ideology.
Even though Freud created this theory in 1905, it is still the most popular way to understand why
we act the way we do in reference to the crucial stages of human growth. The five stages of
psychosexual development are oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital. Each one of these stages is
affected by numerous variables that in turn leave one with the ability to proceed to the next stage
in a healthy fashion or affect them in such a way that causes retention in their growth and sexual
development. This will discuss the cycle sexual development of personality demonstrating how it
centres on some erogenous zones and explain its educational implications.

Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial to the formation of adult personality. The
id must be controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a conflict between frustrated
wishes and social norms. In addition to the id, the ego and superego develop in order to exercise
this control and direct the need for gratification into socially acceptable channels. Gratification
centers, of different areas of the body at different stages of growth, in turn make the conflict at
each stage a psychosexual response. The five different stages in psychosexual development each
have a particular association with a specific conflict. Each conflict has to be resolved within an
individual before they can move on to the next stage in a healthy manor (McLeod, 2008, p.1).

Frustration and overindulgence, or both, have the ability to cause fixation issues of a specific
psychosexual stage. Fixation refers to the theoretical notion that a portion of the individual’s
libido has been permanently ‘invested’ in a particular stage of his or her development. It is
assumed that some libido has been permanently invested in each psychosexual stage and thus
each person will behave in some ways that are characteristics or infancy, or early childhood.”
Strong conflict can fixate people at early stages, (McLeod, 2008, p.1).

The first psychosexual stage of development is the oral stage. This stage deals with children from
ages 0-2, starting with the child still in the womb. The pleasure source during this stage is
sucking, biting, and swallowing. The issue of conflict occurs during the process of being weaned
away from the mother’s breasts. At this early stage in life, an important part of emotional
development involves the amount of hugging and cuddling that in infant has with its caregivers.
This stage is also when the ego begins to develop, like previously discussed if certain needs
where not met during development during this stage it can cause issues in the child’s

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psychosexual development. The oral stage is the time when libido is centered in a baby’s mouth.
A child will get great satisfaction from putting things in their mouths, ultimately pleasing the
libido, the ultimate conflict during this time. Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an oral
fixation in later life. We see oral personalities all around us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-
chewers, and thumb suckers. It is common that people who have fixation issues partake in these
behaviors during times of stress and anxiety as way to cope and deal with specific circumstances.

The second stage of psychosexual development is the anal stage. This occurs within children
ages 2-4 years old. During this time the child’s source of pleasure is centered on the anus in
terms of defecating, or retaining feces. This is because libido is now more focused on the anus.
“The child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can
bring them into conflict with the demands of the outside world. The ego has now been
developed. Anal fixation issues can arise later in life if the child was punished too much during
toilet training. The conflict in this stage is toilet training. The two possible outcomes of children,
who are punished, to the extent where it causes an issue, are anal retention or expulsion. The
anally retentive person will tend to have a compulsion for order and tidiness, while the anally
expulsive person has a lack of self-control and is usually messy and careless, (Changing Minds,
p. 1).

The third stage of psychosexual development is the phallic stage, usually ages 4-5. During this
time is when the superego begins to develop. The pleasure source during this time is the genitals.
The phallic stage is when a “child becomes aware of anatomical sex differences, which sets into
motion a conflict between erotic attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear which Freud
called the Oedipus complex for boys and the Electra complex for girls. This is resolved as the
child starts to form their own identity. As children, we will adopt certain characteristics from our
same sex parent, which ultimately leads to the resolve in conflict of this stage.

The forth stage of psychosexual development is the latency stage, which occurs generally around
ages 6-puberty. The pleasure source during this time consists of “sexual urges that are
sublimated into sports and hobbies. Same-sex friends also help avoid sexual feelings, (Changing
Minds, p. 2). Latent means hidden, or dormant. Freud thought that most sexual impulses are
repressed during the latent stage and sexual energy can be sublimated towards school work,
hobbies, and friendships. The time of latency is when most children focus their energy on the

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development of new skills and gaining further knowledge of life. Children often prefer to engage
in same sex play during this stage.

The final psychosexual stage is the genital stage, which occurs from puberty to adult hood.
Physical sexual changes reawaken repressed needs and direct sexual feelings towards others lead
to sexual gratification. The main conflict within this stage is the social rules within society. It is a
time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in
a loving one-to-one relationship with another person in our 20's. Our Sexual instincts are more
towards pleasure with another person, rather than self-pleasure, which occurs during the phallic
stage. Freud believed that the healthy way to deal with one’s sexual instincts is through
heterosexual intercourse.

In summation, Freud saw infantile sexuality as the beginning of the formation of ones
personal and sexual developmental growth. During the crucial first five years of development,
the psychosexual stages give way to a formal understanding of how and why someone develops
the way they do. In humans the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital stages can be analyzed to
better understand a person and aid in the continuous growth of their personality.

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References