Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

          This theory is one of my favorites. Hehehe... I don't know but I find this a bit bizarre yet it explains a lot about human personality.

          According to Freud, the libido, or the sex drive, energy, desire, whatever you may call it, causes us to seek pleasure in different parts of our body during the different stages of our development. Every stage can be characterized by being sensitive in an erogenous zone, or the part of the body the gives pleasure. If an individual develops normally through a certain stage, and have been successful in resolving conflict, little libido remains in each stage. However, if one failed in resolving the conflict in a certain stage, he/she will have the tendency to fixate, or to stay or focus on that certain stage of development.

There are five stages of psychosexual development:

Stage I: Oral Stage
          In this stage, the pleasure giving part is the mouth. Infants, for example, derive pleasure from their sucking reflex. This is important in developing trust and comfort between the infant and the caregiver.
The primary conflict is said to be the "weaning process". The issue is for the infant to become dependent or less dependent. If unresolved, he/she may have problems relating to dependency, aggression or gullibility. Individuals will tend to be fixated in this stage if there oral needs were not met. This will project in their later life as overeating, nail biting, smoking, fellatio/cunnilingus(wehehehe), etc.

Guilty uhuh?!...hehehehe...

Stage II: Anal Stage
          Erogenous zone is elimination of body wastes, both defecation and bladder elimination. The conflict is in toilet training and the resolution lies on how the parents handle the situation, whether they will take it positively or negatively.
          Too lenient parents will lead to anal expulsive personality characterized by being messy, wasteful, destructive, coprophilia(ewww), etc. On the other hand, too strict parent will lead to anal retentive personality characterized by obsession with organization, neatness and frugality.

Is this your room?...hehehehe...

Stage III: Phallic Stage
          The genitals are the pleasure giving parts in this stage as children become aware of their bodies and discover the difference between males and females.

This is Electra...she killed her mother to avenge her father...

          Boys experience Oedipus complex (the desire to posses the mother and replace the father) and girls experience Electra complex (sees mother as a rival of the father's attention). According to Freud, conflict among women is never fully resolved. This is the reason why women seek empowerment and equality with men. Of course, this is not acceptable on the part of women and have resulted to some controversy.

This is Oedipus... he killed his father and married his mother...

Stage IV: Latency Stage
          The erogenous zone in this stage is said to be latent or calm. This is because the libido is directed into school work, hobbies and activities with peer.

Play....play...play...

Stage V: Genital Stage
          The libido is now directed towards the other person. Its role is also for the purpose of reproduction. However, the drives are more developed since they allow symbolic gratification and are not only limited to physical gratification. Symbolic gratification includes love relationship and family, or acceptance of responsibility associated with adulthood.

Mwahuggsz!!!

How can these be applied in teaching and learning? You can read my post here:

Application of Sigmund Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development

images retrieved via google search...for those authors of specific websites where I got these images, please contact me if you want your photos to be removed...thanks...God Bless!!! hehehe