Freud's Stages of Development

Do you think your personality is greatly influenced by the sexual pleasure you receive throughout your life? Well that's what Sigmund Freud believed. Freud's theory of personality development focused on the effects of sexual pleasure that affects one's psyche. According to him, every child is full of energy that needs to be channelized in the right direction. The overall development of a child depends on the way he or she controls or directs this energy. He named this energy as libido. He believed that libido provides the basic platform for the mind to run on. Freud's stages of development essentially showcase how sexuality starts from the very young age in humans and how it develops till adulthood at different stages. If these stages are not completed or psychologically satisfied, a person may get fixated there which may lead to conflicted personality in the adulthood. To know more about Freud's stages of life, read on...

Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development

Freud's theory essentially revolves around libido and psychology of a person and hence his theory is known as psychosexual theory. Given below are Freud's stages of development that are also known as Freud's stages of psychosexual development:

Stage 1 - Oral Stage: This stage occurs from birth to around one year. As the name suggests, in this stage, a child tries to gratify his libidinal energy through his mouth by sucking, biting, chewing, etc. You would observe children putting everything in their mouth at this age, be it objects, toys, or chocolates. Oral fixation has two possible outcomes. If the person is dissatisfied at this stage, he is characterized by pessimism, suspicion, and sarcasm and grows into an adult who reduces tension or anxiety through eating, drinking, and smoking etc. Such personality is known as oral receptive personality. On the other hand overindulged person is known as oral aggressive personality which is characterized by optimism, gullibility, and hostility etc.

Stage 2 - Anal Stage: This stage occurs between two to four years when a child starts with toilet or potty training. At this stage a child becomes aware of his anus and tries to gratify this zone with retention or expulsion of the feces. Anal fixation may occur due to strictness showed by the parents while toilet training which has two outcomes. The first can be a person with oral retentive personality which is characterized by stinginess, excessive tidiness, perfectionism, and stubbornness. The other outcome can be anal expulsive personality, which is defined by lack of self control, carelessness, and messy behavior.

Stage 3 - Phallic Stage: This stage occurs between four to six years of age where the erogenous zones of the body are genitals start developing. At this stage they frequently indulge in playing with their genitals in order to explore them. How parents react to this behavior of children, decides the outcome of the fixation at this stage. At this stage boys experience Oedipus complex and suffer from castration anxiety whereas, girls experience Electra conflict and suffer from a penis envy. At this stage a son is more attracted towards his mother and the daughter is attracted towards father and both dislike the same-sex parent. It may be a stage when children idolize their parents which Freud expressed a sexual desire. This is one of the most debatable stages of all the Freud's stages of development.

Stage 4 - Latency Stage: This stage occurs between six to twelve years when children express no psychosexual development. According to Freud, at this stage, children suppress their sexual energy and direct it towards asexual pursuits such as, school, athletics, hobbies, social relationships, friendship with same-sex, etc.

Stage 5 - Genital Stage: This stage occurs between twelve to eighteen years which is also the puberty period when children read their sexual maturity. How children explore and experiment their sexuality defines their adult behavior. Children with more resolved psychosexual developments have greater capacity to develop normal relationships with opposite sex. On the other hand children who are fixated in earlier stages, especially phallic stage, find it difficult to gel with opposite sex.

For better understanding take a look at following chart that would help you understand the stages in a glance.

Freud's Stages of Development Chart

Stage	Year	Characterized By
Oral Stage	0 - 1 years	A child derives pleasure through mouth by sucking, biting, and swallowing etc. Conflict arises when the oral needs of child are not met.
Anal Stage	2 - 4 years	Anus becomes the center of gratification as toilet training starts and the pleasure is derived by defecating or retaining faces.
Phallic Stage	4 - 6 years	Genitals become the center of gratification and children develop attraction towards the parent of opposite sex. Boys suffer from Oedipus complex and girls suffer from Electra conflict.
Latency Stage	6 - 12 years	No psychosexual development occurs in children. The libido is diverted towards asexual activities.
Genital Stage	12 - 18 years	It is the puberty period when sexual urges reawaken that may lead to children exploring their sexuality.

Freud's theory states that the person's development is completed till he reaches adulthood and his sexual experiences dominate his behavior throughout his life. However, Freud's stages of development were and are criticized by experts due to overemphasis of his theory on sexuality without any supportive corroborative data. The psychologists today believe that personality development is a continuous process that happens throughout life.