Psychosexual Stages

Specification

• Freud’s psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital) and the role of the unconscious in the development of personality.

the Unconscious

Freud proposed that the psyche, forming the structure of personality, has three parts:

• ID - driving us to satisfy selfish urges (i.e. acts according to the 'pleasure principle') (exists from birth).

• Ego - acts rationally, balancing the ID and the superego (i.e. acts according to the 'reality principle') (develops years 2-4).

• Superego - concerned with keeping to moral norms (i.e. acts according to the ‘morality principle’), and attempts to control a powerful ID with feelings of guilt (develops years 4-5).

Psychosexual Stages

Freud proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place during five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

These are called psychosexual stages because each stage represents the fixation of libido (roughly translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of the body. As a person grows physically certain areas of their body become important as sources of potential frustration (erogenous zones), pleasure or both.

Freud (1905) believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. Freud also believed that all tension was due to the build-up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from its discharge.

In describing human personality development as psychosexual Freud meant to convey that what develops is the way in which sexual energy of the id accumulates and is discharged as we mature biologically. (NB Freud used the term 'sexual' in a very general way to mean all pleasurable actions and thoughts).

Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial to the formation of adult personality. The id must be controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a conflict between frustrated wishes and social norms.

The ego and superego develop in order to exercise this control and direct the need for gratification into socially acceptable channels. Gratification centers in different areas of the body at different stages of growth, making the conflict at each stage psychosexual.

Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year)

In the first stage of personality development, the libido is centered in a baby's mouth. It gets much satisfaction from putting all sorts of things in its mouth to satisfy the libido, and thus its id demands. Which at this stage in life are oral, or mouth orientated, such as sucking, biting, and breastfeeding.

Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an oral fixation in later life. We see oral personalities all around us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers, and thumb suckers. Oral personalities engage in such oral behaviors, particularly when under stress.

Anal Stage (1 to 3 years)

The libido now becomes focused on the anus, and the child derives great pleasure from defecating. The child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can bring them into conflict with the demands of the outside world (i.e., their ego has developed).

Freud believed that this type of conflict tends to come to a head in potty training, in which adults impose restrictions on when and where the child can defecate. The nature of this first conflict with authority can determine the child's future relationship with all forms of authority.

Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an anal-retentive personality who hates mess, is obsessively tidy, punctual and respectful of authority. They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and possessions.

This is all related to pleasure got from holding on to their faeces when toddlers, and their mum's then insisting that they get rid of it by placing them on the potty until they perform!

Not as daft as it sounds. The anal expulsive, on the other hand, underwent a liberal toilet-training regime during the anal stage.

In adulthood, the anal expulsive is the person who wants to share things with you. They like giving things away. In essence, they are 'sharing their s**t'!' An anal-expulsive personality is also messy, disorganized and rebellious.

Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)

Sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the genitals and masturbation (in both sexes) becomes a new source of pleasure.

The child becomes aware of anatomical sex differences, which sets in motion the conflict between erotic attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear which Freud called the Oedipus complex (in boys) and the Electra complex (in girls).

This is resolved through the process of identification, which involves the child adopting the characteristics of the same sex parent.

Latency Stage (6 years to puberty)

No further psychosexual development takes place during this stage (latent means hidden). The libido is dormant.

Freud thought that most sexual impulses are repressed during the latent stage, and sexual energy can be sublimated (re: defense mechanisms) towards school work, hobbies, and friendships.

Much of the child's energy is channeled into developing new skills and acquiring new knowledge, and play becomes largely confined to other children of the same gender.

Genital Stage (puberty to adult)

This is the last stage of Freud's psychosexual theory of personality development and begins in puberty. It is a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in a loving one-to-one relationship with another person in our 20's.

Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self-pleasure like during the phallic stage.

For Freud, the proper outlet of the sexual instinct in adults was through heterosexual intercourse. Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual perversions may develop.

For example, fixation at the oral stage may result in a person gaining sexual pleasure primarily from kissing and oral sex, rather than sexual intercourse.

Evaluation

• Is Freudian psychology supported by evidence? Freud's theory is good at explaining but not at predicting behavior (which is one of the goals of science).

• For this reason, Freud's theory is unfalsifiable - it can neither be proved true or refuted. For example, the libido is difficult to test and measure objectively. Overall, Freud's theory is highly unscientific.

• Freud may also have shown research bias in his interpretations - he may have only paid attention to information which supported his theories, and ignored information and other explanations that did not fit them.

• However, Fisher & Greenberg (1996) argue that Freud’s theory should be evaluated in terms of specific hypotheses rather than as a whole. They concluded that there is evidence to support Freud’s concepts of oral and anal personalities

• Supporting evidence for the Oedipus complex comes from the Little Hans case study.

• This theory can be applied to society in explaining the possible long-term effects of a traumatic childhood.

Past Paper Questions

• Stuart is a four-year-old boy who enjoys spending time with his mother. His father decided to take him on a fishing trip. Stuart became afraid and said he did not want to go. Identify which Freudian psychosexual stage Stuart is in. (1) October 2016

2 Markers

• Explain, using Freudian theory, why Stuart became afraid. (2) October 2016

• Shruthri was given a bag of sweets by her mother and told not to eat any before her dinner. Shruthri ate all the sweets. Explain, using Freudian theory, which part of Shruthri’s personality was responsible for her behaviour. (2) October 2016

• Explain, using Freudian theory, which part of Shruthri’s personality should have stopped her eating all the sweets. (2) October 2016

• Explain one weakness of Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. (2) October 2016

4 Markers

• Describe Freud’s psychosexual stages of development in relation to the behaviour of Anya and Gregor. (4) October 2019

• Explain one strength and one weakness of Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. (4) October 2019

8 Marker

• Evaluate Freud’s psychosexual stages in the development of personality. (8) January 2017

12 Marker

• Evaluate Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. (12) October 2017