Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Of Development

Sigmund Freud’s theory of development attempts to explain how we form our sexual identity, our attitudes towards sexual behaviour and our emotional reactions to sex.

He called this theory “Psychosexual Development”, because Freud believed that sexual development was more psychological in nature than it was biological.

So psychosexual development could be rephrased as “the psychology of sexual development”, which studies the mental and emotional aspects of sexual development.

The Stages Of Psychosexual Development

According to Freud, our sex drive causes us to seek pleasure in different parts of our body during the various stages of psychosexual development.

Freud called this sex drive our psychosexual energy or libido, which we use to experience pleasure in our erogenous zones (areas of the body associated with sexual pleasure) during the five different stages of psychosexual development.

The main erogenous zones are the mouth, anus and genitals.

Below are the five stages of psychosexual development.

The Oral Stage (birth to 18 months)

The oral stage lasts for about two years, during which the infant obtains pleasure via their mouth by sucking, biting and chewing on things.

The Anal Stage (18 months to three years)

The anal stage lasts for about one to two years, during which toddlers obtain pleasure from withholding faecal matter or expelling it.

Note : this stage coincides with when children are toilet trained.

The Phallic Stage (ages three to six)

The phallic stage lasts for about three years, during which the preschool child obtains pleasure from self stimulation of the phallus.

In males the phallus is the penis, and in females it is the clitoris. This stage ends at around six years of age.

The Latency Stage (age six to puberty)

The latency stage lasts for about six years, beginning at age six or seven and ending at age twelve to thirteen or as puberty begins.

During this stage the child’s sexual desire is focused on their parent of the opposite sex.

However because this type of sexual desire is considered to be socially unacceptable, the child feels guilty and so represses these desires at an unconscious level.

This subsequently causes their libido to become dormant (hidden away).

This unconscious sexual desire for the parent is what Freud called the Oedipus complex, which was inspired from an ancient Greek tragedy called “Oedipus The King”.

In this play, Oedipus inadvertently kills his own father and then unknowingly marries his own mother.

Freud used the term Oedipus complex to refer to both males and females, although some people use that term only when referring to males, and the term “Electra Complex” to refer to females (which was a play that had a similar storyline to Oedipus The King).

The Genital Stage (puberty onwards)

The genital stage begins at age twelve or thirteen and continues throughout adulthood.

As puberty begins the repression previously exerted on the libido begins to lift, and the individual starts to become conscious of sex and their sexual desires towards members of the opposite sex.

This sexual desire shifts from a focus on the phallus, to a more general interest in sex with the opposite sex.

Note : The liberation of sexual desire from the unconscious level to the conscious level, manifests itself as an interest in members of the opposite sex and away from the parent or other family members. This is something Freud considered to be normal sexual development.

Fixation Of Libido

Freud believed that sexual development could be negatively affected if there was too much excitement or inhibition associated with a particular psychosexual stage.

The result of either too much excitement or inhibition would result in a “fixation of libido”, which would cause the libido to become “stuck” in one particular erogenous zone.

This could cause a person to develop various problems later in life, such as overeating, constipation, paedophilia, alcoholism, fetishism, erectile dysfunction and an inability to enjoy sex or a lack of sexual desire.

Criticisms Of Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

It is important to see Freud’s views on sexual development not as a series of facts, but rather as a series of concepts which may help to explain the process of sexual development.

Many people do not agree with Freud’s theory, and suggest that his views on sexual development were a result of the era in which he was brought up in.

Freud lived during the Victorian era, a time in which the display of sexual desires and sexuality was generally discouraged.

As a result, this may have heavily influenced Freud’s views and the theory on sexual development he ultimately came up with.

Many people today may view Freud’s theory with disgust, especially his belief that the child possessed a sexual desire for their parent.

It could be the case, as some people would say, that the child did not have a sexual interest in their parent, but rather was jealous of the power they had within that family.

As a result the child wishes to take the place of their parent, but despite their desire to do so they cannot.

It is also important to remember that for any theory there is a tendency for the theorist to project their own views, and possibly their own experiences in life onto that theory.

So what may be true (and therefore apply to) one person, may not be true (and apply) to another.

Summary

• Psychosexual development places great emphasis on the psychology of sexual development.

• Our sex drive (libido) causes us to seek pleasure in erogenous zones during the different stages of psychosexual development.

• The oral stage is characterised by infants who obtain pleasure via their mouth.

• The anal stage is associated with obtaining pleasure from withholding or expelling faecal matter.

• The phallic stage is associated with pleasure obtained from the phallus.

• The latency stage is when the child’s libido becomes repressed at the unconscious level, due to a socially unacceptable sexual attraction towards their parent.

• The unconscious sexual desire during the latency stage is what Freud called the Oedipus complex.

• The Electra complex is sometimes used to refer to the sexual repression of females during the latency stage.

• The genital stage sees the lifting of the child’s repressed sexual desires from the unconscious, and a general interest in sex with the opposite sex.

• Too much excitement or inhibition during psychosexual development, may result in a fixation of libido in a particular stage.

• Fixation of libido may result in sexual problems later in life.