Psychosexual Development Overview

Psychosexual Development

• Partial Instincts: Erotic sensations focus on specific body parts (mouth, anus, genitals).
• Libido in Stages: Libido attaches to different body areas during developmental stages, each with a focus on sexual pleasure.
• Fixation: If a child doesn't progress to the next stage (due to unmet or over-satisfied needs), some libido remains, impacting later development. This reluctance or inability leads to less energy for future stages.
• Freudian Libido: Energy of sexual instinctual origin; becomes fixated to pregenital zones if needs aren't met or are overly satisfied; creating less energy for future stages.

Stages of Psychosexual Development

Oral Phase

• Focus: Mouth (nursing, sucking).
• Gratification: Child's needs met through oral stimulation.
• Ego Development: Learning self vs. external world.
• Primary Narcissism: Self-contained pleasure; no self/other distinction initially.
• Character Traits (fixation): Dependence, passivity, excessive oral satisfaction (smoking, overeating).

Anal Phase

• Focus: Anus (pleasure from retaining/eliminating waste).
• Conflict: Toilet training creates ambivalence (pleasure vs. parental conflict).
• Character Traits (fixation):
• Control & Order: Ambition, pride, over-control, cleanliness.
• Opposite Traits: Sloppiness, lack of control, material irresponsibility.
• Additional Traits: Anal pride, omnipotence (superiority, workaholism, rigidity).
• Optimal Relationship: Balanced control (retaining/possessing/releasing) resolves ambivalence.
• Origins: Envy, hostility, etc., can stem from either oral or anal stages.
• Hoarding: Extreme difficulty discarding, linked to anxiety, fear of loss, and potential unresolved conflicts (anal-retentive).

Phallic Phase

• Focus: Genitals.
• Gender Differences: Curiosity about sex differences.
• Oedipal Complex:
• Desire: Unconscious desire for opposite-sex parent.
• Conflict: Want to replace/harm same-sex parent (boys fear castration).
• Freud's Example: Personal experience with love for mother, jealousy of father, and threats about genitals.
• Resolution: Development of the superego (internalizing rules).
• Character Traits (fixation): Desire, competition, or guilt.

Latency Period

• Inactive Sexual Instincts: Sexual energy is dormant, focused on learning and social activities.

Genital Phase

• Mature Sexuality: Final phase with fully mature sexuality.
• Satisfaction: Fulfillment through work, relationships, and sexual satisfaction.
• Optimal Adjustment: Healthy adjustment, balancing love and work.
• Sublimation: Id impulses redirected to acceptable activities (work, creativity).
• Limited Genital Productivity: Suppression may manifest in abnormal interests (money obsession).
• Love vs. Work: Lack of love may lead to work substituting for emotional fulfillment.

Hartmann's Reformulation of the Ego

• Id and Ego Development: Id and ego arise from the same source, with different paths.
• Ego Autonomy: Ego can function independently of id impulses.
• Primary Autonomous Ego Functions:
• Develop in a conflict-free environment.
• Include perception, thinking, language, intuition, comprehension, learning, motor function.
• Independent Energy Resources: Ego develops its own energy, operating independently of the id.
• Neutralization: Ego manages conflicts, maintaining autonomy.
• Secondary Autonomy: Ego incorporates instinctual drives into conflict-free functioning; changing how it operates.
• Ego Strength: Correlated with ego’s ability to neutralize conflicts.
• Impact on Later Theories: Contributing to Erikson's Psychosocial Development and Object Relations Theory.

Explore the stages of psychosexual development according to Freud. This quiz delves into libido, fixation, and the characteristics of each stage, including the oral phase. Enhance your understanding of how early experiences shape personality and behavior later in life.