Freud's Psychosexual Stages

• Psychological development happens in five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
• These stages involve the fixation of libido on different body areas.
• Libido is roughly translated as sexual drives or instincts.
• As a person grows, certain body areas become sources of both frustration (erogenous zones) and pleasure.
• Freud believed life revolves around tension and pleasure.
• Tension results from the buildup of libido (sexual energy).
• Pleasure comes from the discharge of libido.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages

• Oral Stage
  • Age: Birth to 15 months.
  • Principal task: Weaning.
• Anal Stage
  • Age: 18 months to 3-4 years.
  • Principal task: Toilet training.
• Phallic Stage
  • Age: 3-4 years to 5-7 years.
  • Principal task: Sexual identity.
• Latent Stage
  • Age: 5-7 years to puberty.
  • Principal task: Learning.
• Genital Stage
  • Age: From puberty on.
  • Principal task: Genital intercourse.

Oral Stage (Birth to 1 Year)

• Libido is centered in the baby's mouth.
• Babies gain satisfaction from putting things in their mouth.
• Activities include sucking, biting, and breastfeeding.
• Oral stimulation may lead to oral fixation later in life.
• Oral personalities may exhibit smoking, nail-biting, or thumb-sucking, especially when stressed.

Anal Stage (1 to 3 Years)

• Libido focuses on the anus.
• Children derive pleasure from defecating.
• Children become aware that their wishes can conflict with the outside world, and their ego develops.
• Conflicts often arise during potty training.
• Early or harsh potty training can lead to an anal-retentive personality.
• Anal-retentive personalities hate mess, are tidy, punctual, and respectful of authority.
• They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and possessions.
• Liberal toilet training can lead to an anal-expulsive personality.
• Anal-expulsive personalities like to share, are messy, disorganized, and rebellious.

Phallic Stage (3 to 6 Years)

• Sensitivity concentrates in the genitals.
• Masturbation becomes a new source of pleasure.
• Children become aware of anatomical sex differences.
• The Oedipus complex (in boys) and Electra complex (in girls) arise due to erotic attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy, and fear.
• These complexes are resolved through identification with the same-sex parent.

Oedipus Complex

• Boys develop sexual desires for their mother.
• Boys want to possess their mother exclusively.
• Boys want to get rid of their father.
• Boys fear their father will take away what they love most (penis), leading to castration anxiety.
• Boys resolve this by imitating the father, a process called identification.
• Identification means adopting the values, attitudes, and behaviors of another person.
• Boys take on the male gender role and adopt an ego ideal and values that become the superego.

Electra Complex

• Girls desire the father but realize they do not have a penis.
• This leads to penis envy and the wish to be a boy.
• Girls resolve this by repressing their desire for their father.
• Girls substitute the wish for a penis with the wish for a baby.
• Girls blame their mother for their 'castrated state,' creating tension.
• Girls repress their feelings and identify with the mother.
• This is done to take on the female gender role.

Latency Stage (6 Years to Puberty)

• No further psychosexual development occurs during this stage
• Libido is dormant.
• Sexual impulses are repressed.
• Sexual energy is sublimated towards schoolwork, hobbies, and friendships.
• Children channel their energy into developing new skills and knowledge.
• Play is confined to children of the same gender.

Genital Stage (Puberty to Adult)

• Adolescents experience sexual experimentation.
• Successful resolution involves settling into a loving, one-to-one relationship in their 20s.
• Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self-pleasure.

Critical Evaluation

• Freud's theory is unfalsifiable and difficult to test objectively, making it unscientific.
• Freud may have shown research bias by only paying attention to information supporting his theories.
• Fisher & Greenberg (1996) argue that Freud's theory should be evaluated in terms of specific hypotheses.
• They concluded that there is evidence to support Freud's concepts of oral and anal personalities.