Freud believed that personality develops through a series of psychosexual stages in childhood where libido or sexual energy becomes focused on different erogenous zones. There are five stages - oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Fixation at a stage can result from unresolved conflicts and influence adult personality and behavior. The phallic stage involves awareness of sexual organs and the Oedipus/Electra complexes. Successful completion of stages leads to healthy relationships and maturity.

1. Psychosexual stages of
development
Aarti Sareen
M.S.P.T. (Honours) final sem.

2. • Psychosexual stages were given by
Sigmund Freud.
• According to him, personality is mostly
established by the age of five. Early
experiences play a large role in personality
development and continue to influence
behavior later in life.
• Freud believed that personality develops
through a series of childhood stages during
which the pleasure-seeking energies of the
Id become focused on certain erogenous
areas. This psychosexual energy, or libido
(sex drive), was described as the driving
force behind behavior.

3. • According to him from birth on, we have an innate
tendency to seek pleasure, especially through physical
stimulation and particularly through stimulation of
parts/zones of the body that are sensitive to touch:
• The mouth
• The anus
• The genitals
Which are referred to as erogenous zones.
• Various body zones are active as per the age and stage
or there occur shift of dominant erogenous zone from
one age/ stage to other.

4. Fixation
• If the child need’s at one of the psychosexual
stages were either unsatisfied or oversatisfied,
fixation would take place.
• This means the child would show continued
attachment to an old stage even after moving on
to a new one as per his/her age.
• This results into problematic behavior patterns

5. STAGES
• There are five stages to his theory which
include
• The oral stage
• The anal stage
• The phallic stage
• The latent stage
• The genital stage

6. 1.Oral stage (Birth to about age 1)
• In this stage the infant obtains sensual
pleasure first by sucking and later by
biting. The center of libido is mouth.
• The mouth is vital for eating, and the
infant derives pleasure from oral
stimulation through gratifying activities
such as tasting and sucking.
• Also the infant is entirely dependent
upon caretakers, the infant also
develops a sense of trust and comfort
through this oral stimulation.

7. • HELPFUL
• Feeding and contact with the mother.
• Mouthing new objects.
• relief of teething pain by biting.
• A conflict at this stage occurs with a child being weaned
off the mother’s breast
• Signs of Fixation or affects on adult personality in this
stage are:
– Overeating or Pessimism
– Smoking
– Envy
– Gullibility
– Suspicion
– Dependency
– Passivity

8. • Changes occur in the normal expression
of oral behavior as a person grows older.

9. 2. Anal stage (ages 1-3)
•The region around the anus become highly sensitive
to the stimulation of “holding on” and “letting go”.
•Freud believed that the primary focus of the libido
was on controlling bladder and bowel movements.
•The major conflict at this stage is toilet training--the
child has to learn to control his or her bodily needs.
•Developing this control leads to a sense of
accomplishment and independence.
•Toilet training is child’s first encounter with authority.

10. • First part of this stage involves pleasure from
expulsion of feces; latter part involves pleasure
from retention.
• Fixation at first stage
• Messiness
• Disordered
• Fixation at second stage
• Excessive compulsiveness
• Over conformity
• Exaggerated self control.

11. • Parenting play a very important role in success of this
stage and development of personality.
• Parents who utilize praise and rewards for using the
toilet at the appropriate time encourage positive
outcomes and help children feel capable and productive.
• Positive experiences during this stage served as the
basis for people to become
• Competent
• Productive
• creative

12. • If parent punish, ridicule or shame a child for accidents
or other inappropriate parental responses can result in
negative outcomes.
• If parents take an approach that is too lenient, Freud
suggested that an anal-expulsive personality could
develop in which the individual is
• Messy
• Wasteful
• destructive
• If parents are too strict or begin toilet training too early,
Freud believed that an anal-retentive personality
develops in which the individual is
• Stringent
• Orderly
• Rigid
• obsessive

13. 3. Phallic stage (ages 3-5)
The child grow more interested in their
genitals. At this age, children also begin to
discover the differences between males and
females.
In this stage, the focus of Libido, where
pleasure is found, is in:
Awareness of sexual organs
Love-hate relationship with the same-sex parent
Some critical episodes for development occur
during this stage, but these episodes occur
differently for boys (Oedipus complex) and
girls (Electra complex).
Signs of Fixation or affects on adult
personality in this stage are:
Reckless or afraid of love
Narcissistic
Self-Assured or Selfish
Poor Opposite sex relationships

14. Phallic stage cont.
Oedipus complex
• Occurs in boys
• Desire for stimulation or masturbation of his own
genitals.
• Have sexual/sensual desires for his mother.
• Boys begin to view their fathers as a rival for the
mother’s affections. The Oedipus complex describes
these feelings of wanting to possess the mother and the
desire to replace the father.
• The child also fears that he will be punished by the father
for these feelings, a fear Freud termed castration
anxiety.
• Starts identifying with father

15. • Identification with
father
• Reduces anxiety.
• Behave like his father
• Take up his ideas of right and
wrong.
• Tries to dress like his father.

16. Phallic stage cont.
Electra complex
• Occur in girls.
• Attracted towards their father.
• Notice that she does not have the sex organs like her
father and brother.
• Feeling of being castrated by her mother which makes
her angry and she starts devaluating her mother.
• Still identify with her mother with the feeling that by doing
so she will stand better chance in her own “romantic
relationship”

17. • Identification with mother
in girls being with feeling
that by doing so she will
stand better chance in
her own “romantic
relationship”.
• It is well said saying “A
father is a daughter’s first
love”

18. 4.Latency Stage: (age 6 to puberty)
• At this stage, sexual drive lay dormant.
The stage begins around the time that
children enter into school and become
more concerned with peer relationships,
hobbies and other interests.
• Sexual energy is still present, but it is
directed into other areas such as
intellectual pursuits and social interactions.
• Child usually has few opposite sex friends.
• This stage is important in the development
of social and communication skills and
self-confidence.
• A sign of fixation in this stage is a lack of
close friends

19. 5.Genital Stage (adolescence and beyond)
• Marked by puberty
• Mature heterosexual interests appears.
• A person becomes interested in dating and
marriage
• The more libidal energy that a child has at this
stage, the greater his or her capacity will be to
develop normal relationships with the opposite
sex.
• If the other stages have been completed
successfully, the individual should now be well-
balanced, warm and caring. The goal of this
stage is to establish a balance between the
various life areas.
• Signs of fixation in this stage include:
– Guilt about sexuality
– Feelings of inadequacy
– Poor sexual relationships
– Anxious feelings regarding the opposite sex