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Analysis of Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development

Meera Khemani

Department of Psychology: Christ (Deemed to be University)

Developmental Transitions and Change Management

Dr. Neeraj Panwar

6th November 2020

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Analysis of Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development

This analysis aims to understand and critique the psychosexual developmental stages

given by Freud as a means to understand how one’s personality is formed. From understanding

how Freud paved the way into psychoanalysis to also understanding his shortcomings, his biases,

the patriarchal nature of his experimenting, and the gaps of knowledge in his study, this paper

attempts to understand the whole picture behind this theory.

The Basics of Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development

When filtered out, Freud’s theory, and all aspects of it, stand on the principle of

gratification. According to Freud, our personality develops on the basis of our libido (sexual

energy), and how much of it is discharged in different phases of our lives, specifically during the

initial childhood years. He proposed five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital), where

each stage has a particular erogenous zone, or an area where pleasure can be derived from.

Upon failure of a healthy expulsion of that libido, fixation may occur. Fixation is what

Freud described as being stuck in a stage, which later developed some part of the personality. For

example, one person who is fixated in the oral stage might end up with habits of smoking, biting

one’s nails, or thumb sucking. Fixation can occur through frustration, lack of expenditure of the

libido, or through over-indulgence, excess expenditure of the libido. In each stage, there is a

particular conflict to be resolved, which leads to psychological maturation. It is only after the

resolution of a conflict at a particular stage that the person can move to the next stage.

To combat the need to gratify, and meet the expectations of society so that no norms are

broken, Freud introduced the concept of id, ego, and superego. Id is the part of the mind which is
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focused on what is needed for pleasure. This part doesn’t care about anything else. The superego

is the part which focusses on the moral expectations, and societal norms. The ego is the part of

the mind which tries to meet the needs of both, id and superego. Upon failure to meet the need of

the superego, we create our defense mechanisms. The stages are:

Oral Stage: (0-1 years) Fixated on the mouth. Sucking and eating are two main ways of

deriving pleasure. Conflict of this stage lies in being overdependent on other. Fixation leads to

smoking, nail-biting, codependent behavior, etc.

Anal Stage: (1-3 years) Fixed on bowel movements. Retention or expulsion of faeces

gives pleasure. Conflict of this stage lies in the way one is trained to deal with this, as the person

develops their way of dealing with authority during this stage. Supportive and calm teaching

leads to resolution of the conflict, while harsh, angry, or ignorant behavior results in rebellion,

competitive, and/or aggressive behavior. Fixation in this stage leads to anal-retentive

(excessively tidy, stringent, rigid) or anal-expulsive (excessively rebellious, messy, destructive)

personalities as well. Ego is developed by this stage.

Phallic Stage: (3-6 years) The child discovers genitalia, which becomes the erogenous

zone. Self-pleasuring activities take place. Child starts to understand the difference between male

and female. The infamous Oedipus complex (which is the conflict in this stage as well) develops

during this stage. Oedipus complex is the phenomena of developing sexual feelings towards the

opposite sex parent. For example, boys develop sexual attraction towards their mother, and want

to possess them but fear their father’s reaction, which Freud termed as ‘castration anxiety’, so to

resolve this issue, boys start emulating behaviors of their fathers so as to vicariously romanticize

and own their mothers through them. Freud believed that girls only developed penis envy, which

was based on feeling inadequate compared to boys and wishing they were one. This also leads to
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having hateful feelings towards their mothers for making them this way. Carl Jung later

introduced Electra complex in young females, which is the counterpart version of the Oedipus

complex.

Latency Stage: (6 to puberty) The child represses all forms of sexual feelings and forms

defense mechanism, sublimating their desires into other socially acceptable ways. Superego is

formed during this stage. Schoolwork, friendships, and hobbies become more important as the

libido, which is still present, gets expressed in ways that are deemed valuable by parents,

teachers, and other role models. Fixation in this stage leads to immature behavior and inability to

form relationships later into adulthood.

Genital Stage: (Puberty onwards) The adolescent rediscovers all the sexual feelings and

the sexual attraction towards the opposite sex begins. This stage continues on till death. The

outlet of this stage is via heterosexual intercourse, instead of self-pleasuring like in the phallic

stage. Successful resolutions from the previous stages leads to a healthy sexual feelings, and

later, childbirth.

From the origin of id, ego, and superego, to defense mechanisms, to the five stages of

development, all of these stem from one’s need to satisfy one’s libido. Freud believed all our

issues stem from two main emotions, sexual emotions and anger. It was later found that human

mind also developed feelings of pain, ambition, pride, etc. which could’ve been the cause of

some issues, as the human mind isn’t as simple as Freud might’ve made it out to be.

Discussion
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This theory was one of the most influential ones that enabled psychologists to understand

personality, hierarchy of development, and issues pertaining to one’s childhood, but still had

huge gaps which caused a lot of criticism of the theory.

• Unscientific: The theory claims to understand libido, but since it cannot be

measured or tested, it deems this theory unfalsifiable, which means it can neither

be proven, nor be rejected. It is unscientific in nature.

• Research Bias: Freud seems to have also shown ignorance towards information

that didn’t fit his criteria. He only included what further proved his theory.

• Sexist: Only males were considered and tested for this theory, which leaves out

other genders and their psychosexual development. This gap in the knowledge

leaves this theory unreliable for everyone.

• Even though his theory is based on the developmental stages of children, Freud

only studied troubled adults. Children were never brought in for any kind of

research. (Except one, Little Hans.)

• There is no proof that the cause and effect relationship between a problem and

one’s childhood issues construed by Freud is legit. There is too long a gap

between the incidences that behavior cannot be predicted.

• Homosexuality, and other forms of sexuality that are recognized today don’t seem

to have a place in Freud’s theory. Even though he didn’t deem homosexuality a

sin, he did believe that successful resolution of conflicts in all the stages lead to

heterosexual attraction and homosexuality was a deviant reaction. He does not

explain how sexuality and sexual preferences are formed either.

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• While Freud believed these stages to exist and progress in a form of hierarchy, it

was later found that the phases could not only overlap, but also coexist.

• Some of the data could have been skewed due to Freud’s experimenter bias as he

was found to not quote the patient verbatim, but later made notes by himself.

Which could indicate that he accepted and recalled what suited him and ignored

what didn’t.

• The theory is also based on a very small group belonging to a particular

geographical area, with particular norms. It doesn’t have enough credibility to be

applied to everyone.

The biggest issue found within this theory given by Freud is the propagation of

patriarchy. As believed and observed by many, Freud did not consider females to be important

enough, and always perceived them to be morally inferior to men, harboring a ‘penis envy’

which lead to women feeling less than and wanting to bear children, especially sons, as it was the

closest they could come to having a penis. Karen Horney responded to this by saying that there

was a ‘womb envy’ in men as well which stemmed from not being able to give birth to children.

Freud wrote back to her proposition by saying that her need to invent such a claim was also

indeed stemmed from the penis envy she harbored. And this was an issue that could never be

cured.

It was later discussed that it wasn’t penis envy in the literal sense but more symbolic in

nature, as to how men were given much more freedom and power, and women desired the same,

instead of literally wanting to have a penis.

Another patriarchal issue found within Freud’s theory was the blatant ignorance of sexual

abuse in children which could’ve been, and probably was, the reason for ‘hysteria’ (now realized
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as PTSD) in many of his patients, especially women. Freud was particularly averse to the idea of

fathers being wrong so much so that he even published wrong information pertaining to a case,

deeming the uncle of the patient as an abuser, when it later was found out to be the father, only to

protect his own fragile ideas. Freud suppressed his findings about trauma, and his research about

abusers because of his own issues with his father, and the possibility that him and his siblings

could’ve been abused as well, as they portrayed similar symptoms, and the fact that the accused

were noblemen and often his friends as well. He might’ve invented Oedipal complex as a way to

cope since this was less shocking of a news than the alternative of his family’s possible truth.

Later, it has been found out that Oedipal complex isn’t as sexual in nature as Freud made it out to

be, but in fact just playful competitiveness.

Freud also invented the idea of having a ‘rape fantasy’ in women so as to combat the

sexual abuse they experienced in their childhood, to blame it on their imagination and suppressed

desires. He has even planted memories of child abuse in his patients to prove his theories.

“Freud claimed that a high percentage of his female clients had experienced sexual abuse

as children, often by their fathers. Some have suggested that Freud used suggestive or even

coercive procedures to elicit or plant memories of child sexual abuse in his patients. Freud

himself later acknowledged that some recollections by his patients may have been fantasies they

imagined. He even left the door open to the possibility, though he did not explicitly state it as

fact, that he may have influenced their recollection in a coercive way.” (Other criticisms of Freud

and psychoanalysis, 2020)

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Freud’s theory, however controversial, did lead to a huge change in the field of

psychology and how problems are perceived, how psyche is developed, and how issues can be

resolved.

“Freud's developmental theories form the basis for psychoanalysis, and psychoanalysis

has gone on to form the basis of a broad spectrum of modern talk therapies. Several concepts

developed by psychoanalysis contributed to form the basis of psychodynamic psychotherapy.

These core concepts include the importance of the therapeutic alliance, shared goals in therapy,

and active listening by the therapist. All of which are present in any successful psychotherapeutic

approach.” (Lantz, 2020)

He revolutionized looking at one’s past to find a connection to the problem in the present,

his levels of consciousness are still deemed important in studies of dreams, and personalities.

Even his Freudian cover ups give us an estimate of the political and social climate of his time

and age. Since Freud had the courage to put forth his controversial ideas, sexual desires were less

of a taboo, and mental illness could be considered curable, instead of having the patient to lead a

life of an outcast.

Conclusion

Even though Freud is known as the father of psychoanalysis, his theory wasn’t scientific,

highly controversial, sexist, and failed to predict future behavior. His theory had patriarchal

tones, and gave a reflection of the norms surrounding him. But it is one of the most

revolutionizing theories pertaining to dealing with mental illness, and their causes being rooted

in one’s past. His theory of psychosexual stages of development isn’t to be considered successful

as a whole with the giant gaps of knowledge in the middle, since he did not have any pre-existing

theory on personality to refer, but some aspects of can be, and have been taken in consideration
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which lead to them paving the way further into helping people understand their psyche and areas

of personality that might need work.

References

Cherry, K. (2019, July 14). What Are Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development? VeryWell
Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/freuds-stages-of-psychosexual-development-
2795962.

Lantz, S. E. (2020, May 10). Freud Developmental Theory. StatPearls [Internet].

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557526/.

McLeod, S. A. (2019, July 18). Psychosexual stages. Simply Psychology.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html

Yadav, R. (2018, June). Freud and penis envy – a failure of courage? Freud and penis envy – a
failure of courage? | The Psychologist. https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-31/june-
2018/freud-and-penis-envy-failure-courage.

WowEssays. (2020, March, 28) Freuds Theory Of Psychosexual Development Research Papers
Example. Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.wowessays.com/free-
samples/freuds-theory-of-psychosexual-development-research-papers-example/

Kubota, T. (2016, May 7). Is Penis Envy Real? LiveScience.

https://www.livescience.com/54682-is-penis-envy-real.html.
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