1. Sigmund Freud, a Viennese physician, postulated his own theory regarding development.
According to the psychosexual theory, the sexual energy distributed in the focal parts of the body
tends to produce pleasure when stimulated. The changes in the location of these sexual regions
during life constitute the five stages of psychosexual development described as follows:
1. Oral Stage (Birth-18 months). During this period, the principal source of pleasure for
the infant is the mouth wherein the infant gains pleasure for oral activities derived
from sucking, biting and swallowing with the attendant sensations of the lips, tongue
and cheeks. The infant is completely dependent upon the mother who becomes the
primary caregiver.
The two modes of activity engaged by the infant are: oral incorporative or taking-
in behavior that involves the pleasurable stimulation of the mouth by other people or
by food: and, oral aggressive or spitting-out behavior that occurs during the painful
and to bite occurs. When infants are rendered with too much or too little oral
gratification during the weaning period, he is predisposed to become fixated at that
stage and continue to seek oral gratification in adult life.
Fixation signifies a persistent manifestation of such behavior particular phase of
development. In this case, some fixated behavior may lead to certain personality
developed later in life such as: oral dependency marked by passivity and gullibility;
oral incorporation expressed by a person who are suckers (taking-in), gossip,
drinkers, overly demanding; and oral aggression marked by cruelty, sarcastic
behavior and mouthing off adults; and biting aggressively most related with primitive
wishes and fantasies of biting, devouring and destroying. Resolution of this conflict
develops the capability to give and receive from others without excessive dependence
or envy, as well as establishing trust with the care provider.
2. Anal Stage (1 ½ -3 years). The second year of life is marked by the maturation of the
sphincter muscles; when infants learn to control elimination of their wastes. Two
modes of activity are engaged by the infant while handling their feces: anal retention
and anal expulsion. During toilet training, parents play an important role in regulating
the time and place of defecation, so much so, that premature or delayed training can
lead to fixation in this stage. Such stuckness/ inadequacy may predispose certain
personality as: anal retention as the tendency to retain the pressured feces results to
forms of being compulsively clean, orderly, stubborn, frugal or stingy and fussy
adults; while anal expulsion as the tendency to discharge/throw away the feces is
marked by sadistic wishes of having the feces as destructive and powerful weapon,
thereby taking the form of a sloppy, disorganized, careless, loose, messy, and defiant
characteristics. Resolution of this conflict may tend to develop independence,
initiative and self-determination without shame and doubt.
3. Phallic/Early Genital Stage (3-6 years). This stage is linked both psychologically
and physiologically to the activeness and sensation of the genital – marked by

2. behaviors such as masturbation and sexual fantasies or forms of perversion.
Psychologically speaking, this stage is marked by complexes developed by both
sexes. For example, a boy who sexually desires and competes for affection for his
mother and develops some hostile fantasies and impulses about the father, and such
retaliation about removing these genitals is called castration anxiety. In here, the boy
who considers his father as the chief rival in his affection to his mother is labeled by
Freud as Oedipus complex. On the other hand a girl who blames her mother for not
having the penis she lacks which she envied so much from her father and
consequently, transfers her affections from the mother toward her father hoping to
share the valued organ she lacks with him is termed as penis envy; this condition is
further termed as Electra complex. Such conflicts can be resolved by identification
with the same-sex parent, the idea called “identification with the aggressor”, thereby
taking on a “masculine” or “feminine” role, adapting parental values and developing
superego.
4. Latency Stage (6-12). This is a period when sexual development comes to a halt as
the sexual impulses are repressed and al sexual free occupations are non-sexual and
channeled into socially acceptable outlets such as intellectual or social activities. This
waits until reaching pubertal stages. Social skills and friendships are developed
during this stage.
5. Genital Stage (12-onwards). This stage is marked by maturation of the reproductive
system and reactivation of the genital zones as an area of sensual pleasure. The
underlying goal of sex instincts is for biological reproduction in preparation for adult
sex roles and having family.
Successful resolution in the first three stages will likely developed wholesome
relations with members of the opposite sex, while failure to address the conflicts
in the early stages may have difficulty in managing these new sexual urges in
socially acceptable ways such as homosexual relationships or sexual escapades.
Satisfaction of the sex instinct is derived from forming heterosexual relationships,
courting and getting married and by having children.