Sigmund Freud- (1856-1939) is probably the most well known theorist when it comes to

the development of personality. Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development are, like other
stage theories, completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful
completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an unhealthy personality.
This theory is probably the most well known as well as the most controversial, as Freud believed
that we develop through stages based upon a particular erogenous zone. During each stage, an
unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that particular erogenous zone
and either over– or under-indulges once he or she becomes an adult

Freud advanced a theory of personality development that centered on the effects of the sexual
pleasure drive on the individual psyche. At particular points in the developmental process, he
claimed, a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation. These
erogenous zones are the mouth, the anus, and the genital region. The child's libido centers on
behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age; he cannot focus on the primary
erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate
one.

A child at a given stage of development has certain needs and demands, such as the need of
the infant to nurse. Frustration occurs when these needs are not met; Overindulgence stems from
such an ample meeting of these needs that the child is reluctant to progress beyond the stage.
Both frustration and overindulgence lock some amount of the child's libido permanently into the
stage in which they occur; both result in a fixation. If a child progresses normally through the
stages, resolving each conflict and moving on, then little libido remains invested in each stage of
development. But if he fixates at a particular stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction which
characterized the stage will dominate and affect his adult personality.

 Personality Theory According to Freud

Personality is defined as:
◦ Our characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.(Myers, David G.,
Psychology)
Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious
motivations influence personality. Freud called his theory and associated techniques
psychoanalysis.

Freud Psycho-Sexual Theory

 Advanced a theory of personality development that centered on the effects of the sexual
pleasure drive on the individual psyche.
 He claimed, in the developmental process, a single body part is particularly sensitive to
sexual, erotic stimulation.
 These erogenous zones are the mouth, the anus, and the genital region. The child's libido
centers on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age;
An individual may not able to focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without
resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate one.

Freud proposed that there were 5 stages of development. Freud believed that few people
successfully completed all 5 of the stages. Freud felt that most people tied up their libido at one
of the stages, which prevented them from using that energy at a later stage.

 Libido means sex drive

THE 5 STAGES;
 ORAL Stage
◦ This occurs from birth to about 1 year, and the libido is focused on the mouth.
◦ The individual may be frustrated by having to wait on another person, being
dependent on another person.
◦ Being fixated at this stage may mean an excessive use of oral stimulation, such
as cigarettes, drinking or eating.

*The oral stage begins at birth, when the oral cavity is the primary focus of libidal
energy. The child, of course, preoccupies himself with nursing, with the pleasure of
sucking and accepting things into the mouth. The oral character who is frustrated at this
stage, whose mother refused to nurse him on demand or who truncated nursing sessions
early, is characterized by pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm. The overindulged oral
character, whose nursing urges were always and often excessively satisfied, is optimistic,
gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him. The stage culminates in the
primary conflict of weaning, which both deprives the child of the sensory pleasures of
nursing and of the psychological pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held. The
stage lasts approximately one and one-half years.

 ANAL Stage This period occurs about age 2 and 3 yrs. Here individuals have their first
encounter with rules and regulations, as they have to learn to be toilet trained. This
encounter with rules and regulations will dictate the later behavior with rules and
regulations.
◦ The libido is focused anally, and frustration may arise from having to learn a
somewhat complex cognitive and motor response. Being fixated at this stage can
result in stinginess, stubbornness, or orderliness, as well as messiness. Essentially,
behavior related to retention and expulsion may be related to experiences at this
stage.
 At one and one-half years, the child enters the anal stage. With the advent of toilet
training comes the child's obsession with the erogenous zone of the anus and with the
retention or expulsion of the feces. This represents a classic conflict between the id,
which derives pleasure from expulsion of bodily wastes, and the ego and superego, which
represent the practical and societal pressures to control the bodily functions. The child
meets the conflict between the parent's demands and the child's desires and physical
capabilities in one of two ways: Either he puts up a fight or he simply refuses to go. The
child who wants to fight takes pleasure in excreting maliciously, perhaps just before or
just after being placed on the toilet. If the parents are too lenient and the child manages to
derive pleasure and success from this expulsion, it will result in the formation of an anal
expulsive character. This character is generally messy, disorganized, reckless, careless,
and defiant. Conversely, a child may opt to retain feces, thereby spiting his parents while
enjoying the pleasurable pressure of the built-up feces on his intestine. If this tactic
succeeds and the child is overindulged, he will develop into an anal retentive character.
This character is neat, precise, orderly, careful, stingy, withholding, obstinate,
meticulous, and passive-aggressive. The resolution of the anal stage, proper toilet
training, permanently affects the individual propensities to possession and attitudes
towards authority. This stage lasts from one and one-half to two years.
◦
 PHALLIC Stage This period starts about age 4-5 years. Some critical episodes for
development occur during this stage, but these episodes occur differently for boys and
girls.
◦ Oedipus conflict - the boy begins to have sexual desires for his mother, and sees
his father as a rival for her affections. The boy begins to fear that his father is
suspicious of his longing for his mother, and that the father will punish him for his
desires. That punishment, the boy fears, will be castratation, which brings us to
the second critical episode for this stage.
Castration anxiety. The fear of castration make the boy anxious. This
anxiety begun with the fear of punishment from the father leads to the boy
thinking that the father hates him eventually becomes unbearable and the boy
renounces his sexual feelings for his mother and chooses instead to identify with
his father, and hopes to someday have a relationship with a woman (though not
his mother) just like dear old dad has with his mother.

◦ Electra Complex- The story for girls is slightly different. The oral and anal stages
are the same for both girls and boys, so the focus of affection and attention is on
the mother for both. But this focus changes, for girls, from the mother to the
father, when the girls realize that they don't have penises, so they develop penis
envy. This realization coupled with the knowledge that her mother doesn't have a
penis leads to her thinking her mother unworthy, and becoming attracted to her
father, as he does have a penis.
 Just as with boys, girls begin to suspect the same sex parent knows about their
attraction to the opposite sex parent, and they hate them for it. These feelings go round
and round for awhile until the point when the girls renounce their feelings for their
fathers and identify with their mothers.

Fixation at the phallic stage develops a phallic character, who is reckless, resolute, self-
assured, and narcissistic--excessively vain and proud. The failure to resolve the conflict
can also cause a person to be afraid or incapable of close love; Freud also postulated that
fixation could be a root cause of homosexuality.

 LATENCY Stage This period occurs after the Oedipus conflict has been resolved and
the feelings that were aroused during that time have subsided. This lasts from about the
age of 7 until puberty, and this is a period of rest where there are no developmental
events.

During the latency period, children pour this repressed libidal energy into asexual
pursuits such as school, athletics, and same-sex friendships.

 GENITAL Stage Begins at puberty involves the development of the genitals, and libido
begins to be used in its sexual role. However, those feelings for the opposite sex are a
source of anxiety, because they are reminders of the feelings for the parents and the
trauma that resulted from all that.

In the genital stage, as the child's energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns
to heterosexual relationships. The less energy the child has left invested in unresolved
psychosexual developments, the greater his capacity will be to develop normal
relationships with the opposite sex. If, however, he remains fixated, particularly on the
phallic stage, his development will be troubled as he struggles with further repression and
defenses.

Personality Structure according to Freud

ID-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives to
survive, reproduce, and aggress.

The id operates on the pleasure principle: If not constrained bu reality, it seeks

immediate gratification.

Ego-the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates the
demands of the id, superego, and reality.

The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will
realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
Superego-represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscious) and
for future aspirations.

 Topographical Model of Personality

 Unconscious

• Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying
emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. 
• He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our UNCONSCIOUS.
 
 Conscious

• Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious. 
• Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we are.
• At any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our
personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible.

 Preconscious or Subconscious
 The part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious.

   Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it.

 Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of
your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious

• Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small
conscious at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast
majority is buried beneath the water's surface.  The water, by the way, would represent
everything that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been
integrated into our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious.

Sources

 Myers, David, G. “Psychology.” 2004. Worth Publishers.

 http://allpsych.com/psychology101/ego.html
 http://www.essort
www.a2zpsychology.com/...psychologists/freud_psychosexual_thoery.htm -
ment.com/freuds-personality-theory-21639.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
 wiki.computing.hct.ac.uk/lib/.../fetch.php?...8...freud_psychosexual.ppt
 www.a2zpsychology.com/...psychologists/freud_psychosexual_thoery.htm -