Running head: Sigmund freud

Sigmund Freud and the Five Stages of Psychosexual Development

Summer D. Young
Ivy Tech Community College

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Abstract

Sigmund Freud was a pioneer in Psychology. His many theories and development of
Psychoanalysis laid the foundation for those who followed. Of all his theories, he thought that
most people would think that the psychosexual stages of development was the most
controversial. His thought was that puberty was not the onset of sexual desires and tendencies,
but in fact that occurred at infancy and throughout childhood.

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Sigmund Freud and the Five Stages of Psychosexual Development
Sigmund Freud was born in 1856, in a small Moravian town, in what is now known as
the Czech Republic (Freud, 1977). In 1873, Freud began college at age 17, with the initial intent
to study law. That soon changed as Freuds greed for knowledge redirected his path to
physiological research and neurology (Freud, 1977). In 1881, Freud obtained his medical degree,
in which he used to treat those with mental illness. During this time, Freuds observations,
studies, and research transcended into the development of the field of Psychoanalysis. Thus,
laying the groundwork for probably his most controversial theory, in which Freud indicates that
people develop through five stages based on certain zones of pleasure or frustration erogenous
zones (Thurschwell, 2000). Freuds theory of psychosexual development is based on five
stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Stages
In a published work, Three Essays on Sexuality, Freud (1905) summarizes the existence
of sexual needs in human beings and animals is expressed in biology by the assumption of a
sexual instinct, on the analogy of the instinct of nutrition, that is of hunger. In the
development of each of his five stages, Freuds theory indicates this sexual instinct or hunger,
that if left unsatisfied leads to frustration. In each of the five stages, beginning with infancy, there
is an aim, or activity that leads to pleasure as well as an object or person that fulfils the sexual
hunger (Thurschwell, 2000). Freud believed that within each stage is conflict, and how the
conflict, is resolved determines personality patterns, because early stages provide the
foundation for adult behavior (Salkind, 2004).

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Oral. According to the text, Invitation to The Life Span, the oral stage (named for the
erotic body part of the mouth) of development occurs from birth to 1 year of age. During this
stage, the infant obtains pleasure through sucking, rooting, and eating, which is the most
stimulating of activities. Pleasure and frustration occur here based on whether the infants need
is being satisfied or unsatisfied. The aim, or activity is the sucking and feeding and the object or
thing would be the breast or the bottle. Here, the oral stimulation is being met by the caretaker,
so a trust and bond is formed between that person and the baby.
The conflict within the oral stage is weaning the baby. The baby has relied on oral
stimulation to satisfy his or her needs up until the weaning process occurs. Here, the role of the
caretaker goes from exclusively maternal to parental (Garcia, 1995). When the infant experiences
and resolves the conflict of weaning he or she advances to the second of five stages.
Anal. During the anal stage of Freuds theory, the anus is the focus of pleasure. Toilet
training is main activity during the anal stage. The primary pleasure comes from bowel
movements and later the psychological fulfillment of controlling the bowel movement. This
stage occurs between the ages of 1-3 (Berger, 2014).
According to Berger (2014), the conflict in this phase occurs if the toddler is not yet
mature enough to be potty trained or if the parent is too strict when the toddler refuses to use the
toilet. Freuds theory would then indicate that the child would develop an anal personality and
look to self-control as an adult.
Phallic. The third stage, named from the Greek word, meaning penis, occurs about the
age of 3 and lasts until around the age of 6. Here, pleasure is derived from genital stimulation.
Boys are proud of their penises and fear castration and girls question why they do not have a
penis, also termed penis envy (Thurschwell 2000).

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During this stage, the child contends a deep affection for the parent of the opposite sex,
and a rivalry toward the parent of the same sex (Garcia, 1995). According to Freud (1938),
during this stage, the boys have an unconscious desire to replace their fathers and desire their
mothers undivided love, this is known as the Oedipus complex. This complex was named after
Oedipus, the son of a king of Greek mythology, who murdered is father in order to marry his
mother (Berger, 2014). Likewise, girls during this stage have a desire to replace their mothers
and win their fathers affection, thus called the Electra complex (also named after a mythology
figure). It is important to note that these are unconscious impulses and not figurative.
It is during this phallic stage that the superego emerges. The superego is the judgmental
part of the personality. It makes the child aware of what he or she should or should not do and
makes the child feel guilty when they do something they should not have done. The superego
also emerges as moral compass or conscience when the Oedipus and Electra complexes arise
(Berger, 2014).
Latency. In middle childhood, between the ages of 6-11, is what Freud interprets as a
quiet period for sexual needs. Unlike the phallic stage, the unconscious sexual conflicts are
suppressed during this time (Berger, 2014). Children are more into sports and school during this
time. Freud (1938) concluded that this latency period was only temporary and will be brought
again once puberty emerges.
Genital. The quiet stage of latency ends with an eruption of the genital stage. This stages
occurs from adolescence and lasts throughout adulthood. It is here that the genitals are the
primary focus of pleasure and sexual stimulation (Berger, 2014). During the genital stage, it
where the adolescent and adult, unconsciously take their past experiences and conflicts,

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depending of the fixation at a certain stage and begin to seek out the opposite-sex to satisfy the
sexual impulses (Garcia, 1995).
Conclusion. Although, a century has passed since Freuds death, his theories and
observations are still being used in the field of psychology. Freuds theory on psychosexual
development has been controversial, however, other theorists such as Piaget and Erickson have
expanded on some of Freuds content in their own theories of development. Controversy does
not deem his findings wrong, it just constitutes more observation and research on the
psychosexual phases of development.
.

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References
Berger, Kathleen S. (2014). Invitation to The Life Span.2nd Edition. Worth Publishers. New York.
NY.
Freud, S. (1938) The basic writing of Sigmund Freud (A.A. Brill, Ed. And Trans.). New York.
NY: Modern Library.
Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Se, 7.
Freud, S. (1977). Five lectures on psycho-analysis. WW Norton & Company.
Garcia, J.L. (1995). Freuds Psychosexual Stage Conception: A Developmental Metaphor for
Counselors. Journal of Counseling &Development, 73(5), 498-502.
Salkind, Neil J. (2004). An introduction to theories of human development. Thousand Oaks,
CA:Sage.
Thurschwell, P. (2000). Chapter 3:SEXUALITY. In., Routledge Critical Thinkers (pp. 43-60).
Taylor & Francis Ltd/Books.