Freud’s 5 Stages of Psychosexual Development

• According to Freud life long behaviour of human beings ismotivated by the need of basic motivation. Libido or sexuality is not only genital arousal but it is expressed by various physical needs which is called stimulus area.The stages of psycho-sexual development depends on the type of gratification oflibido. According to Freud the stages of psycho­ sexual development can be classified into five stages.

1. Oral Stage

• The first stage of psycho sexual development is oral stage which covers the period from birth to 18 months of age. The child gets pleasure through mouth, so oral activities in which body parts as lips, tongue and other parts take interest. Sucking, biting, swallowing and chewing give pleasure to the child and satisfies his libido energy.According to Freud to much or to less oral stimulization can take him in adulthood towards orally passive personality. According to Freud five oral types work which are pre-types of personality characteristics or a child who feels pleasure in the act of taking food, later on he will develop as a person who is gultton or as a person who will acquire more knowledge or power. Similarly a child who at this stage feels pleasure in retaining something or grasping something, later on he will become obstinate, one who bites will become one who will like to satire, to find faults and to dominate. Spitting or vomiting like activities will develop into negativisarn.

2. Anal stage

• This stage of psycho-sexual development covers a period from 18 months to 3 years of age in which libido energy shifts from oral area to anal area. The child feels pleasure mainly in expulsion or related activities. Expulsion of stool or urine gives him pleasure and releases him from tension. Ifthe parents given much importance to toilet-training or do-not pay any attention to it, this become a cause of worry for the child and this worry affects other situations. Because of this the child becomes dirty, disorganised and irresponsible. On the contrary he can develop into clean and complaining adult.

3. Post phallic stage

• This stage covers the period starting from three years to five years of age in which gratification of child centred on genital organs or reproduction organs. The firing of the phallic area is the centre of causing tension or releasing tension. Behavioural activities related to it appear. The male child identifies himself with father and female child identifies herself with mother. This is seen more in boys than in girls. According to freud the boy loves his mother and girls loves her father and does-not want to share him or her with others. The child is attached with parent of opposite sex and enimity with parent of similar sex. Freud calls it Oedipus Complex. According to greak legend King Oedipus unknowingly after murdering his father married his mother. Similarly the identification of girl with her mother and loving father is called Electra Complex, in which she feels enimity with her mother. Freud regards this as sexual conflict, sense of guilt and anxiety. Actually these complexes are not seen in all societies and cultures. These complexes are the exhibition of some kind of enemity which contradict the feeling of ownership. This is not caused by some sexual motive or some kind of competition between child and his parents.

4. Latency Stage

• This stage of psycho-sexual development of child is spread between 5 years of age and puberty in which sexuality becomes inactive or becomes less important. This period is generally peaceful and there is no excitement in any part of body. In this period libido energy is active in non-sexual activities like play and relation with peers. The child engages his thoughts in school activities and playing with his peers. In this period the child expands his area by acquiring cognitive skills and cultural values.

5. Genital Stage

• This is the period of adolescence in which libido energy reappears with full strength. This happens due to physiological changes of the child. In this period libido energy wants gratification like in previous period, but it is directed towards hetro­ sexuality or towards person opposite sex. In this period feeling of love of an individual becomes self less and like previous stages it is not limited to self satifaction or self happiness.
  According to Freud, although in complete life time some internal conflilcts are inevitable, yet in most of individual by the end of genital stage it becomes stable. One of the most important achievement is establishing a balance between love and work. The personality of an individual is consisted of three main components Id Ego and Superego. Each component has its function, principles and mobilitiy and these are related to each other. The behaviour of an individual is the result of the interaction of these three components.

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Important Points of Human Development :- 

1. Development means proceeding towards more maturity which is not quantitatively measurable but in qualitative change.
2. Development in continuous, systematic and sequential.
3. In each cell of parents there are 23 chromosoms and these constitute 23 pairs.
4. Each choromosom has many genes and each gene determines one or the other trait or characteristic.
5. Heredity provides potentialities to develop. These potentialities develop in environment.
6. Sigmund Freud propounded psychoanalytic theory and Erikson propounded Psycho­ social theory which describe the stages of development from birth to adulthood.

Human Development Questions And Answers

1. What is the meaning of heredity?
(A) Sperm and ovam
(B) Chromosomes and genes
(C) Mitosis and Meiosis
(D) DNA and RNA

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2. Which of the following theory has been propounded by Freud?
(A) Cognitive theory
(B) Psycho-social theory
(C) Stimulus-response theory
(D) Psycho analytic theory

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3. Who out of the following has propounded psycho-social theory?
(A) Sigmund freud
(B) Erik Erikson
(C) E.B. Hurlock
(D) Not any of these

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