A boy child can have sexual feelings for his mother and a girl child for his father. Confusing right? Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, highlighted the five psychosexual stages of development that shape personality; which we are going to discuss. The adjective “psychosexual” is quite an interesting way to describe how personality develops. This is because Freud believed that sexual energy is expressed through different ways and through different parts of the body at each stage of development. As a child develops, he or she may have a fixation of libido (which is translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of the body.
The first stage is the Oral Stage which occurs during the first year of life. At this stage, the libido is centred around the baby’s mouth. Sucking at the mother’s breasts satisfies the baby’s need for food and pleasure. It is critical for babies to receive nurturing at this stage otherwise if nurturing is limited one may develop feelings of greediness and acquisitiveness. An oral fixation may develop if a baby has not been given enough gratification in order to move to the next stage of development. In other words, development is incomplete and one will remain focused on it until the fixation is resolved. Individuals with oral fixation may mistrust others, reject others’ love and experience fear of or inability to form relationships. In addition, the following problems may occur: excessive drinking, smoking, eating, nail-biting, thumb-sucking, chewing and licking of objects. Moreover, it may be difficult to wean a child of a bottle or pacifier.
When a child is between one and three years, one experiences the Anal Stage. At this stage the anal zone is the major significant body part for personality development; the child derives pleasure from defecating. During this stage the child is fully aware that he or she is a person with needs and wants, and it is possible for these needs and wants to come into conflict with the outside world. Freud believed that this conflict first develops during potty training when parents determine when and where a child can defecate. The nature of this conflict with authority (in the form of parents) determines the child’s future relationships with various forms of authority (McLeod, 2008). The child’s main developmental tasks during this stage include: learning independence, accepting personal power, and learning to express negative feelings such as rage and aggression. Parental discipline patterns and attitudes at this stage have significant consequences for a child’s later personality development. If a child receives early or harsh potty training, the child may have an anal-retentive personality which is refelcted when one is obsessively tidy, punctual, respectful, possessive and sometimes stubborn. On the other hand, a child may be anal expulsive if they receive liberal potty training. Later on in life people with anal expulsive personalities are messy, disorganized, rebellious and like sharing their items with other people.
The third stage is the Phallic Stage which occurs between three and six years. This is the most controversial stage that people are likely to reject. At this stage the basic conflict is centred around the unconscious incestuous desires that a child develops for the parent of the opposite sex. In other words, daughter likes father, son likes mother and because these feelings are threatening, they are repressed. Children are aware of the anatomical sex differences because the genitals become the most sensitive parts of the body and masturbation becomes a source of pleasure for both sexes. The male phallic stage is known as the oedipus complex and the mother is the love object for the boy. It is possible for the boy to feel jealous of his father and because the thoughts are incestuous the boy may experience castration anxiety which is the boy’s fear of loss or damage to his genital organ as punishment for desiring his mother. The female phallic stage is known as the electra complex which involves a girl striving for the father's love and approval. At this stage the girl child desires her father and wishes to be like him which results in penis envy and the wish to be a boy. The way parents respond, verbally and non-verbally, to the child’s emerging sexuality has an impact on sexual attitudes and feelings that the child develops. The phallic stage is resolved by the process of identification when the child adopts the values, attitude and behaviours of the same sex parent. Fixations at this stage may lead to adult personalities that are sexually aggressive, overally vain or low self esteem. In addition women fixated at this stage may be promiscuous.
From six to twelve years old there is the Latency Stage. This stage is relatively quiescent. There is limited conflict. Children replace their sexual interests with interests in school, games, friends, sports and various new activities. A child becomes more social and begins to develop relationships with others.
The last stage is the Genital Stage which occurs between the ages of twelve and eighteen years. The stage begins with puberty and settles when senility sets in. Adolescents invest their sexual energy in socially acceptable activities such as making friendships, focusing on school and developing career plans. Unlike the phallic stage where self-pleasure is the main focus, sexual desires are directed to relationships with other people. According to Freud, one fully expresses his or her sexual desire through sexual intercourse. Fixations and conflicts may lead to sexual pervasion. For example, if a person is fixated in the oral stage he or she may experience sexual pleasure from kissing or oral sex rather than sexual intercourse.
According to Freud, people that have unresolved issues in the three early stages (oral, anal and phallic) of development are likely to seek or be in need of therapy. This theory is interesting, but extremely controversial and it puts a lot of responsibility and pressure on the child’s parents to ensure each stage is properly managed. The psychoanalytic theory is not the only theory in psychology, however, I believe it is the most interesting.
References
McLeod, S. A. (2008). Psychosexual stages. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html
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