Stages of Psychosexual Development

The concept of Infantile Sexuality - We are sexual creatures from birth. Erogenous Zones - parts of the body through which libido is expressed. Migrate around the body according to a genetic timetable. Fixation - stuck in a stage. Caused by over-gratification or under-gratification. Manifests itself symbolically in adulthood.

The stages which show development of human personality from birth up to and including early

adulthood. The children experience unconscious

sexual fixations as they grow older, which change after every developmental stage.

These urges change drastically Oral after each stage. Without a proper resolution following each stage, we may experience faults in our

future personalities. The shifting of the erogenous zones from

Anal

Phallic stage to stage represents a childs maturation and development.

These stages symbolize our desires and conflicts within our Latency unconscious minds.

Genital

 This stage begins at birth, lasts one and a half years. The child whose nursing urges were always and often Oral cavity is the erogenous zone where the is excessively satisfied, is optimistic, gullible, andchild is full
busy in nursing and putting of admiration for others aroundthings him. in his mouth.

The stage ends up in the primary conflict of him stopping or Feeding a child through bottle or giving a suck-on
depriving a child the sensory pleasures of nursing and nipple can not of satisfy these needs. of the psychological pleasure of being cared or held.

 If the mother refuses to nurse on demand or truncates nursing sessions early, it frustrates and fixates the child in this stage.

He becomes envious, sarcastic, pessimistic and suspicious.

The child may become dependent and aggressive. He has gorging, drinking, smoking and nail-biting issues

Moreover, he may develop an attention-seeking personality.

 During toilet training the childs obsession and control on the This stage lasts from one and one-half to two years where anus represents his reaction to societal pressure to control his main focus is the anal aperture body functions. The resolution of the anal stage, proper toilet training, A child meets the conflict between the parents demands and his permanently the individual tendencies to two possession own desires andaffects physical capabilities in one of the ways: towards authority. and He attitudes puts up a fight (anal expulsive character) He refuses to excrete (anal retentive character)

 The child may get fixated in the anal stage. The anal expulsive character mostly excretes outside the toilet. He is messy, disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant. The child who develops an anal retentive character, retains body wastes to spite parents and enjoys the pleasurable pressure of the built-up feces in the intestine. This character is neat, precise, orderly, careful, stingy, obstinate, meticulous, and passive-aggressive.

 Oedipus Complex: Electra Complex: Phallic means male genital, thus the stage refers to the
arising by sexual drives the conflicts young male, the natural love for hischilds mother turns into InThe young female develops a in strong sexualgenitals. The mostattraction. intricate of all psychosexual conflicts, where sexual He feels envious of his father. attraction towards her father, developing a penis - the desires possess the opposite sexed parent. child The absence of maleto genital in the mother puts theher boy in envy (in to contrast castration anxiety) against Starts from three years of age to six the years. the fear of castration byshe his castrated rival, father. mother, thinking that her. Erogenous zone isthe transferred from anal to genital region. he develops superego, controlling his sexual desires So She learns her role by identifying with her mother., The child may Oedipus/ Electra complex. and becoming like his father, to vicariously gain his mother. in order to develop indirectly possess her father.

 The phallic character is wild, stubborn, poised, proud and self Those children with single-parent or abusive households are admiring; which is controlled by the ego. fixated in the phallic stage too. Failure to resolve the conflicts leads to stage fixation. He may develop homosexual characteristics due to failure He may have incest complex, issues when dealing with authority of identifying with a rival or same-sex parent. and has trouble in intimate relationships. He may be incapable or afraid of such relationships.

 Occurs between 8-13 years of age.

A transitional period between phallic and genital stage. Sexual drive is dormant

Children suppress their sexual desires by focusing on curricular and

co-curricular activities Same gender friendship is developed (not homosexuality)

Vital for academic pursuits, talent polishing etc.

Changes very soon.

 This stage begins when the childs sexual urges once more; the erogenous zone
being the genitals again. Inversely proportional to other stages i.e. less exposure in other stages means

higher level of sexual expression.

Interest turns to heterosexual relationships. If the individual was fixated in the phallic stage, his development will be

troubled.
Improper transitioning may cause failure to form heterosexual relationships.

CRITICISM
Horney thought that he had difficulty incorporating female Karen Not many psychologists still recognize his work as valid because of a lack
of any evidence or proper research. desire into his theories. He This theorythat is also unacceptable due to , its over-explicitness. thought girls had male envy however Karen Horney thought Freuds theory has been rejected by many psychologists due to absence of that girls had power envy during the psychosexual certain stages in the life of many individuals. development. The There were a lot of feminist groups didnt approve on didnt his views, most controversial stage is the that Phallic stage. People agree but there was on one in particular named Karenwith Horney. with his theory how the children connect their parents.

Though there is much criticism, still, the fact can not be denied that Freud has been one of the pioneers of explaining behavioral psychology through psychosexual developmental stages. These stages do, even if not all of them, impact our personality development.