FREUD’S

PERSONALITY AND
PSYCHOSEXUAL
DEVELOPMENT

REPORTER;
ELLY MAE BULAON
 Sigmund freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality
argues that human behavior is the result of the
interactions among three component parts of the mind;
the id, ego and superego.
 This theory know as freud’s structural theory or
personality, places great emphasis on the role of
unconscious psychological conflicts in shaping behavior
and personality
 Dynamic interactions among these fundamental parts of
the mind are thought to progress though five distinct
psychosexual stages of development. Over the last
century, however, freud’s ideas have since been met with
criticism, in part because of his singular focus on sexuality
as the main driver of human personality development.
SIGMUND FREUD'S
FREUD'S STRUCTURE OF THE
HUMAN MIND
 According to freud’s, our personality develops from the
interactions among what he proposed as the three
fundamental structures of the human mind; the id, ego and
superego. Conflict among these three structure, and our
efforts to find balance among what each of them “desires”
determines how we behave and approach the world.
 What balance we strike in any given situation determines
how we will resolve the conflict between two overarching
behavioral tendencies; our biological aggressive and
pleasure-seeking drives vs. our socialized internal control
over those drives.
THE ID
 The id the most primitive of the three structures, is
concerned with instant gratification of basic physical
needs and urges. It operates entirely unconsciously
(outside of conscious thought)

CONFLICT WITHIN THE MIND

 According to freud, the job of the ego is to balance the
aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of the id with the
moral control of the superego.
THE SUPEREGO
 The superego is concerned with social rules and
morals—similar to what many people call their ”
conscience ” or their “moral compass.” It develops as a
child learns what their culture considers right and
wrong. If your superego walked past the same stranger,
it would not take their ice cream because it would
know that that would be rude. However, if both your
id and your superego were involved, and your id was
strong enough to override your superego’s concern,
THE EGO
 In contrast to the instinctual id and the moral superego, the
ego is the rational, pragmatic part of our personality. It is
less primitive than the id and is partly conscious and partly
unconscious.
 It’s what Freud considered to be the “self,” and its job is to
balance the demands of the id and superego in the practical
context of reality. So, if you walked past the stranger with
ice cream one more time, your ego would mediate the
conflict between your id (“I want that ice cream right now”)
and superego (“It’s wrong to take someone else’s ice cream”)
and decide to go buy your own ice cream. While this may
mean you have to wait 10 more minutes,
 which would frustrate your id, your ego decides to
make that sacrifice as part of the compromise–
satisfying your desire for ice cream while also avoiding
an unpleasant social situation and potential feelings of
shame.
 Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in
constant conflict and that adult personality and
behavior are rooted in the results of these internal
struggles throughout childhood. He believed that a
person who has a strong ego has a healthy personality
and that imbalances in this system can lead to neurosis
(what we now think of as anxiety and depression) and
unhealthy behaviors.
 
Psychosexual Stages of Development

 The id, ego, and superego: According to Freud’s structural

model, the personality is divided into the id, ego, and
superego. On this diagram, the smaller portion above the
water signifies the conscious mind, while the much larger
portion below the water illustrates the unconscious mind.
 Freud believed that the nature of the conflicts among the id, ego,
and superego change over time as a person grows from child to
adult. Specifically, he maintained that these conflicts progress
through a series of five basic stages, each with a different focus:
oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. He called his idea the
psychosexual theory of development, with each psychosexual
stage directly related to a different physical center of pleasure.
Across these five stages, the child is presented with different
conflicts between their biological drives (id) and their social and
moral conscience (supereg0) because their biological pleasure-
seeking urges focus on different areas of the body (what Freud
called “erogenous zones”). The child’s ability to resolve these
internal conflicts determines their future ability to cope and
function as an adult. Failure to resolve a stage can lead one to
become fixated in that stage, leading to unhealthy personality
traits; successful resolution of the stages leads to a healthy adult.
 
FREUD'S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES
OF DEVELOPMENT
 Freud proposed that psychological development in childhood
takes place during five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic,
latency, and genital.
 These are called psychosexual stages because each stage
represents the fixation of libido (roughly translated as sexual
drives or instincts) on a different area of the body. As a person
grows physically certain areas of their body become important as
sources of potential frustration (erogenous zones), pleasure or
both.
 Freud (1905) believed that life was built round tension and
pleasure. Freud also believed that all tension was due to the
build-up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from
its discharge.
In describing human personality development as
psychosexual Freud meant to convey that what
develops is the way in which sexual energy of the id
accumulates and is discharged as we mature
biologically. (NB Freud used the term 'sexual' in a very
general way to mean all pleasurable actions and
thoughts).
Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial
to the formation of adult personality. The id must be
controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets
up a conflict between frustrated wishes and social
norms.
THE ROLE OF CONFLICT
Each of the psychosexual stages is associated with a particular
conflict that must be resolved before the individual can
successfully advance to the next stage.
 The resolution of each of these conflicts requires the
expeditor of sexual energy and the more energy that is
expended at a particular stage, the more the important
characteristics of that stage remain with the individual as
he/she matures psychologically.
 To explain this Freud suggested the analogy of military troops
on the march. As the troops advance, they are met by
opposition or conflict. If they are highly successful in winning
the battle (resolving the conflict), then most of the troops
(libido) will be able to move on to the next battle (stage).
 
But the greater the difficulty encountered at any particular
point, the greater the need for troops to remain behind to
fight and thus the fewer that will be able to go on to the
next confrontation.
Frustration, Overindulgence, and Fixation Some people do
not seem to be able to leave one stage and proceed on to
the next. One reason for this may be that the needs of the
developing individual at any particular stage may not have
been adequately met in which case there is frustration
possibly the person's needs may have been so well satisfied
that he/she is reluctant to leave the psychological benefits
of a particular stage in which there is overindulgence.
Both frustration and overindulgence (or any combination
of the two) may lead to what psychoanalysts call fixation at
a particular psychosexual stage.
 
Fixation refers to the theoretical notion that a portion
of the individual's libido has been permanently‘
Invested' in a particular stage of his development. Oral
Stage (Birth to 1 year)In the first stage of personality
development, the libido is centered in a baby's mouth.
It gets much satisfaction from putting all sorts of
things in its mouth to satisfy the libido, and thus its id
demands. Which at this stage in life are oral, or mouth
orientated, such as sucking, biting, and breastfeeding.
 Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an oral
fixation in later life. We see oral personalities all
around us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers,
and thumb suckers. Oral personalities engage in such
oral behaviors, particularly when under stress.
 
ORAL STAGE (BIRTH TO ONE YEAR)

In the first stage of personality development,

the libido is centered in a baby's mouth. It
gets much satisfaction from putting all sorts
of things in its mouth to satisfy the libido,
and thus its id demands. Which at this stage
in life are oral, or mouth orientated, such as
sucking, biting, and breastfeeding.

Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an

oral fixation in later life. We see oral
personalities all around us such as smokers,
nail-biters, finger-chewers, and thumb
suckers. Oral personalities engage in such
oral behaviors, particularly when under
stress.
ANAL STAGE (1 TO 3 YEARS)
The libido now becomes focused on the anus,
and the child derives great pleasure from
defecating. The child is now fully aware that
they are a person in their own right and that
their wishes can bring them into conflict with
the demands of the outside world (i.e., their
ego has developed).

Freud believed that this type of conflict tends

to come to a head in potty training, in which
adults impose restrictions on when and where
the child can defecate. The nature of this first
conflict with authority can determine the
child's future relationship with all forms of
authority.
Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming
an anal-retentive personality who hates mess, is obsessively
tidy, punctual and respectful of authority. They can be
stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and possessions.
This is all related to pleasure got from holding on to their
faces when toddlers, and their mum's then insisting that
they get rid of it by placing them on the potty until they
perform!
Not as daft as it sounds. The anal expulsive, on the other
hand, underwent a liberal toilet-training regime during the
anal stage.
In adulthood, the anal expulsive is the person who wants to
share things with you. They like giving things away. In
essence, they are 'sharing their s**t'!' An anal-expulsive
personality is also messy, disorganized and rebellious.
 PHALLIC STAGE (3 TO 6 YEARS)
Sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the
genitals and masturbation (in both sexes)
becomes a new source of pleasure.

The child becomes aware of anatomical sex

differences, which sets in motion the conflict
between erotic attraction, resentment, rivalry,
jealousy and fear which Freud called the
Oedipus complex (in boys) and the Electra
complex (in girls).
 
This is resolved through the process of
identification, which involves the child adopting
the characteristics of the same sex parent.
 OEDIPUS COMPLEX
The most important aspect of the phallic stage is the
Oedipus complex. This is one of Freud's most controversial
ideas and one that many people reject outright.
The name of the Oedipus complex derives from the Greek
myth where Oedipus, a young man, kills his father and
marries his mother. Upon discovering this, he pokes his eyes
out and becomes blind. This Oedipal is the generic (i.e.,
general) term for both Oedipus and Electra complexes.
In the young boy, the Oedipus complex or more correctly,
conflict, arises because the boy develops sexual (pleasurable)
desires for his mother. He wants to possess his mother
exclusively and get rid of his father to enable him to do so
Irrationally, the boy thinks that if his father were to find out
about all this, his father would take away what he loves the
most. During the phallic stage what the boy loves most is his
penis. Hence the boy develops castration anxiety.

The little boy then sets out to resolve this problem by

imitating, copying and joining in masculine dad-type
behaviors. This is called identification, and is how the three-
to-five year old boy resolves his Oedipus complex.

Identification means internally adopting the values, attitudes,

and behaviors of another person. The consequence of this is
that the boy takes on the male gender role, and adopts an ego
ideal and values that become the superego.
LATENCY STAGE (6 YEARS TO
PUBERTY)
No further psychosexual development takes
place during this stage (latent means hidden).
The libido is dormant.
Freud thought that most sexual impulses are
repressed during the latent stage, and sexual
energy can be sublimated (re: defense
mechanisms) towards school work, hobbies,
and friendships.
Much of the child's energy is channeled into
developing new skills and acquiring new
knowledge, and play becomes largely
confined to other children of the same
gender.
Freud (1909) offered the Little Hans case
study as evidence of the Oedipus complex. 
ELECTRA COMPLEX
For girls, the Oedipus or Electra complex is
less than satisfactory. Briefly, the girl desires
the father, but realizes that she does not have
a penis. This leads to the development of
penis envy and the wish to be a boy.
The girl resolves this by repressing her desire
for her father and substituting the wish for a
penis with the wish for a baby. The girl
blames her mother for her 'castrated state,'
and this creates great tension.
The girl then represses her feelings (to
remove the tension) and identifies with the
mother to take on the female gender role.
GENITAL STAGE (PUBERTY TO
ADULT)
This is the last stage of Freud's psychosexual
theory of personality development and begins in
puberty. It is a time of adolescent sexual
experimentation, the successful resolution of
which is settling down in a loving one-to-one
relationship with another person in our 20's.
Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual
pleasure, rather than self-pleasure like during the
phallic stage.
For Freud, the proper outlet of the sexual instinct
in adults was through heterosexual intercourse.
Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the
consequence that sexual perversions may
develop.
For example, fixation at the oral stage may result
in a person gaining sexual pleasure primarily
from kissing and oral sex, rather than sexual