Psychosexual stages of development

in how many stages does child development occur in according to Freud?

5 psychosexual stages

what are the 5 psychosexual stages?

• oral

• anal

• phallic

• latency

• genital

what does each stage have and need?

• each stage is marked by a conflict which needs to be resolved before they can move onto the next stag e

• unsolved conflict = fixation

what is fixation?

caused by under/over in this stage (e.g. not enough stimulation or too much stimulation)

how are psychosexual conflicts resolved?

by finding a healthy way to satisfy the needs of each stage

what age are people who experience each psychosexual stage?

• oral = 0-2 years

• anal = 2-3 years

• phallic = 3-6 years

• latency = 6-12 years

• genital = 12+

what is the oral stage?

• focus is on the mouth

• express sexual energy through biting and sucking

• the way in which the child expresses early sexual energy

• ^mothers breast

what are the consequences of developing a fixation in the oral stage?

• oral fixation: smoking, biting nails, biting/chewing pencils, sarcastic or critical

what is anal stage?

• focus of pleasure: anus

• child becomes aware of reality and needs to conform to demands of others

express sexual energy through:

• learning to control expulsion of body waste

• pleasure from withholding/expelling faeces

what are the consequences of fixation in the anal stage?

Become one of the 2:

• anal retentive - obsessive and perfectionist

• anal expulsive - thoughtless and messy

what is the phallic stage?

• sexual focus = genitals

• Oedipus complex - male children have an unconscious desire to possess their mother and get rid of their father. 

• Castration anxiety (fear punishment from their father).

• ^identify with their fathers.

• Electra complex - female children experience penis envy, develops unconscious sexual desire for her father and rivalry with her mother, before identifying with her mother to resolve the conflict

what are the consequences of fixation in the phallic stage?

Phallic personality:

• narcissistic

• reckless

• vanity

• sexual anxiety

• envy

• inferiority

what is the latency stage?

• Period of reduced sexuality

• Develops mastery of world

• Conflicts and issues of previous stages are repressed

• ^can't remember much of earlier years

what is the consequence of fixation in the latency stage?

• insecurity

• inadequacy

• social isolation

what is the genital stage?

• sexual desires become conscious

• focus becomes directed towards sexual intercourse

what is the consequence of becoming fixated at the genital stage?

difficulty forming heterosexual relationships