Freud’s’ psychosexual stages of development

 

Abstract

            The development of human personality is something that depends on various psychosexual stages that a person undergoes. The reason for that is because such stages are the ones that enable a person to develop adult personalities. Regardless of the perspectives of some of the critics, is evident that psychology is the one that can used as the basis for understanding the changes that a person undergoes so as to experience different personality traits. As a result of that, it means that modern psychoanalytic theories can be used as the basis for understanding the perspectives regarding human development. From such perspectives, it implies that the development of human personality will have to take into account various developmental stages that enable a person to acquire seeking energies (Gould, 2002).  Such energies are the ones that allow a person to develop positive doctrines that makes him or her to be ultimately focused in certain erogenous areas.

Analysis of Freud’s psychosexual stages of development

Oral stage

 According to the information provided by Freud, the oral stage is based on the psychosexual development that a person undergoes from birth to one year. The reason for that is because the libidinal gratification becomes the main point of focus. The pleasure that a person or the infant derives is based on the oral exploration that his or her environment. This is based on his or her tendency to pick and place instruments or objects in the mouth. Due to the fact the infant might be lacking personality traits, every action that he or she takes will have to be based on pleasurable principles. Nevertheless, the infantile ego continues to develop during the oral phase. As a result of that, it becomes possible for the child to recognize the physical boundaries that exist between the surrounding/environment and his body. Typically, crying is one of the parameters that have been realized to have the propensity of gratifying the child’s needs. Conversely, weaning is also another parameter that has been perceived to have the propensity of increasing the awareness of the infant (Seitler, 2008).

Anal stage

            The anal psychosexual development of a child starts when he or she is within 18 months to three years. During this time, the child undergoes developmental changes from the upper digestive system (mouth) to the lower digestive system (anus). Despite that, research indicates that the formation of his or her ego remains as usual. Within this stage, one of the primary anal phase experience that the parent to orient the child with is the use of the toilet. As a result of that, demanding pressing gratifications (id) and demanding overdue gratifications (ego) is the one that has been realized to result in conflicting ideas of the parenting that the child receives. The handling of various activities such as coping up with parental demands, manipulating excretion is also based on the kind of responses the child receives from the parent. The reason for that is because parenting experiences are realized to have the propensity of influencing resolutions of the ego-aid conflict. The same conflict has been realized to be either psychologically and gradual or psychologically sudden (Gould, 2002). 

Phallic Stage

            When a child is 3-6 years, it means that his or her genitalia are on the initial erogenous zone. Within this infantile development phase, the child becomes aware of his or her body, the bodies f his or her parents, and that of other children. The significance of that is because is the one that assists the child to gratify his or her physical curiosities. As a result of that, the child is given the propensity of exploring sexual and physical differences that exists between each person. Such an analysis is what enables the child to understand the differences that exist between a girl and a boy or female and male.  In this phase, Freud suggests the fact that the decisive psychosexual experiences that boys undergo are based on their Oedipus complexes. 

Latency stage

            The latency stage starts when a child is between 6 years. As the child approaches puberty, the child begins to consolidate the habits that she or she had learned from the previous stages. Regardless of the sexual and the psychological developments that the child could have gone through, the oedipal conflicts that he or she could have experienced are the one that dictates is psychosexual development. The reason for that is because oedipal conflict is perceived as one of the instinctual factors that drive the manner in which the child will be using various defense mechanisms to sustain his or her life.  Due to the fact that such factors are perceived to be hidden or latent, there is a delay in the child's gratifications. This is because, during the oral, anal, and phallic phases, the child could have received extreme comfort from the parents and the community thus improving his or her psychosexual development.  As Freud illustrates, it is obvious that the child could be obtaining gratifications because of indulging in various external activities. The failure to solve some of the Oedipus conflicts that the child could have encountered during the preceding stages is the one that makes him or her experience some social alienation (Gould, 2002). 

Genital stage

            This stage is perceived to evolve when a child has passed through puberty. The significance of this stage is that it is the one that improves a person’s psychological detachment with the parents and his community. As a result of that, it becomes possible for a person to gain independence and depend on his or her personal efforts to make life worthwhile. Within this phase, a person acquires the ability to resolve various life challenging issues. Because of that, a person risks everything to ensure that any problems encountered have been resolved as required. Such a scenario will have to be based on the significance of recognizing psychosexual childhood disagreements that could have remained. Despite the fact that psychosexual developments a person undergoes in this phase are based on genitalia, sexuality is something that is consequential (Seitler, 2008).

 How cultural, historical, and local factors have an impact on situations, events, issues, or phenomena related to Human Development, and Mental Health

            Considering the above psychosexual developmental phases, it is logical to say that the same erogenous zones are ultimately associated with the responses that a person displays regardless of what he or she does. When a person improves his or her psychosexual stages, there are various stages that he or she will have to undergo.  Such stages include genital and latent phase, phallic, anal, and oral development. Ideally, the significance of these stages is because they have been realized to have the propensity of enabling a person to have an extension of developmental pleasures as a result of experiencing the significance of erogenous zones.

            According to Freudian psychology, it is evident that psychosexual development is one of the primary elements regarding the dynamics and perspectives of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. The reason underlying such perspectives is because Freud had a strong belief that a person undergoes personality development during the early childhood stages. If a person doesn't become contented with one of the five stages, it means that he or she will continue living a life full of unhealthy personalities.  Taking into consideration the views proposed by Freud, it can be argued that the frustrations that a person ends up experiencing are the one that makes him or her to fail to encounter effective psychosexual developmental phases (Seitler, 2008). As a result of that, it is possible for a person to continue experiencing negative issues such as anxieties or neurosis that can affect his or her normal development.

            From what is analyzed in Freud’s sexual infantilism, it has been analyzed that the failure of a person to experience proper psychosexual development is based on societal and parental alienations. As a means of avoiding or handling anxiety issues, a person needs to get associated with peers of society. Despite that, it has been realized that such alienation is the one that makes such an individual to get preoccupied with numerous psychological themes.  Basically, such themes that a person encounters have been found to be associated with his or her erogenous zones. Because of that, the truth is that such fixation ends up persisting into adulthood hence affecting individual psychopathology and personality traits. In return, the same encounters are the ones that have been proven to have the propensity of increasing personality disorders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

GOULD, S. (2002). Freud’s Evolutionary Fantasy. In I Have Landed (pp. 147-158). Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press. Retrieved May 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jbt50.11

Seitler, D. (2008). Freud’s Menagerie: Our Atavistic Sense of Self. In Atavistic Tendencies: The Culture of Science in American Modernity (pp. 31-54). University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved May 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctttsk90.5