Psychologist Sigmund Freud’s model of sexual development proposes a series of stages in which people grow and mature. The pleasure sought by your inborn instincts is focused on sexual desire and gratification, through proper stimulation of each erogenous zone.
According to Freud, every “healthy” child evolves through five different stages:
Here are the stages by ages:
- Oral: Birth to 18 months
- Anal: 18 months to 3 years
- Phallic: 3 years to 8 years
- Latency: 7 to 8 years to puberty
- Genital: Puberty to adulthood
Each stage is associated with a specific part of the body, or more specifically, erogenous zone. Each zone is a source of pleasure and conflict during its respective stage. “A child’s ability to resolve that conflict determines whether or not they were able to move onto the next stage,”
- Age range: Birth to 1 year
- Erogenous zone: The mouth
The oral stage is Freud’s first stage of personality development. From birth until about 18 months of age, an infant’s life centers on his mouth. The main task of this stage is to satisfy oral desire by stimulating the erogenous zone of the mouth. Infants are born with a very well-developed sense of taste, and their mouths are the most sophisticated tools they have to explore their world.
Freud’s theory says that things like excessive gum chomping, nail biting, and thumb-sucking are rooted in too little or too much oral gratification as a child.
“Overeating, overconsumption of alcohol, and smoking are also said to be rooted in poor development of this first stage,” she says.
- Age range: 1 to 3 years old
- Erogenous zone: anus and bladder
Freud’s second stage of personality development is all about the erogenous focus of the anal stage.. The theory says that how a parent approaches the toilet training process influences how someone interacts with authority as they get older.
- Age range: 3 to 6 years old
- Erogenous zone: genitals, specifically the penis
Freud comes up with his third stage: the phallic stage. The 3- to 5-year-old child is focused on the erogenous stimulation of the genital area. The need for satisfaction soon turns toward our parents, typically the parent of the opposite sex. As sexual satisfaction expands, a child finds himself within the realm of one of Freud’s most controversial and strange contributions to the study of personality,
For young girls, this meant fixation on the fact that they don’t have a penis, an experience he called “penis envy.”
According to Freud, boys eventually decide to become their fathers — through imitation — rather than fighting them.
Freud called this “identification” and believed it was ultimately how the Oedipus complex got resolved.
Positive relational experiences:
- the discovery of the sexual differences and the newly found interest for this problem open un a new stage in the process of adult identification. If in the last stages of psychosexual development, the identification was only primary, based on the fusion with the model (usually, the mother), now we can move on to the structured identification. The Ego and the Superego are consolidated using the model given by the same sex parent, trying to conquer the libidinal object (the opposite sex parent).
- the conditions and components of a structured identification are: cognitive aspects (the perception of similarity), affective aspects (empathy towards the model), volitional (wants to resemble the model) and pragmatic aspects (imitating or adopting the behaviour of the model).
- the last phase of identification occurs after puberty and it’s called independent identification because the model is followed being guided by personal experiences.
Possible negative consequences:
- traumatizing experiences that block the change to structured identification (maltreatment, abuse) can cause the fixation of the complexes Oedipus or Electra which favorize the apparition of dysfunctions in the development of the sexual identity and in couple relationships.
- Age range: 7 to 10 years old, or elementary school through preadolescence
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With successful resolution of the conflicts of each previous stage, children enter into a more quiet time of psychosexual development called latency. The libido loosens its grip on the personality, and sexual impulses cease to dominate. Kids find more freedom to explore and expand on the skills they’ve gained from each subsequent stage.
Latency lasts from about six years old until puberty. Things cool down, so to speak.”
Freud argued that this is when sexual energy was channeled into industrious, asexual activities like learning, hobbies, and social relationships.
He felt that this stage is when people develop healthy social and communication skills.He believed failure to move through this stage could result in lifelong immaturity, or the inability to have and maintain happy, healthy, and fulfilling sexual and non-sexual relationships as an adult.
Positive relational experiences:
- During this stage, the superego continues to develop while the id’s energies are suppressed. Children develop social skills, values and relationships with peers and adults outside of the family.
- The development of the ego and superego contribute to this period of calm. The stage begins around the time that children enter into school and become more concerned with peer relationships, hobbies, and other interests.
- The latent period is a time of exploration in which the sexual energy repressed or dormant. This energy is still present, but it is sublimated into other areas such as intellectual pursuits and social interactions. This stage is important in the development of social and communication skills and self-confidence.
- The hibernating libido gives rise to an increased interest to other activities that bring pleasure, other than sexual related. There is a marked decrease in interests regarding sexuality and these themes are viewed as taboo.
Possible negative consequences:
- As with the other psychosexual stages, Freud believed that it was possible for children to become fixated or “stuck” in this phase. Fixation at this stage can result in immaturity and an inability to form fulfilling relationships as an adult.
- Age range: 12 and up, or puberty until death
- Erogenous zone: genitals
The last stage in this theory begins at puberty . According to Freud, this is when an individual begins to have strong sexual interest in the opposite sex. The self-centered pleasure-seeking child of earlier stages gives way to a more mature form of satisfaction.
A concern for the pleasure of others begins to shape the direction of psychosexual development, and the child is now open to learning how to engage in mutually satisfying love relationships.
Freud never proposed that all people reach this point of full maturity. It’s more like an ideal, something to strive for, a lifelong project.
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