Psychosexual Theory According to Freud, children’s pleasure-seeking urges are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone, at each of the five stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. ORAL STAGE Age range: Birth to 1 year Erogenous Zone: Mouth In this stage, the primary source of pleasure is the mouth. During the first stage, the libido is located in their mouth. “This stage is associated with breastfeeding, biting, sucking, and exploring the world by putting things in the mouth,” says Dr. Dorfman. Freud’s theory says that things like excessive gum chomping, nail biting, and thumbsucking are rooted in too little or too much oral gratification as a child. “Overeating, overconsumption of alcohol, and smoking are also said to be rooted in poor development of this first stage,” she says. ANAL STAGE Age Range: 1 to 3 years old Erogenous Zone: Anus and Bladder In this stage, potty training and controlling the bowel movement and bladder are the major source of pleasure or tension. Harsh potty training is thought to cause adults to be anal retentive: perfectionists, obsessed with cleanliness, and controlling. Liberal training, on the other hand, is said to cause a person to be anal expulsive: messy, disorganized, oversharing, and having poor boundaries. PHALLIC STAGE Age range: 3 to 6 years old Erogenous zones: genitals Boys • Oedipus Complex- It is a greek myth where Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother. “Freud believed that every boy is sexually attracted to his mother." (Mayfield, 2020). Every boy believes that when his father found out that he is sexually attracted to his mother, his father will castrate his penis. Castration Anxiety starts. According to Freud, boys eventually decide to become their fathers — through imitation — rather than fighting them. Freud called this “identification” and believed it was ultimately how the Oedipus complex got resolved. Girls • For young girls, this meant fixation on the fact that they don’t have a penis, an experience he called “penis envy.” Electra Complex Carl Jung, a psychologist, called "Electra Complex" to describe similar sensation in girls. In short, it says that young girls compete with their mothers for sexual attention from their fathers. But Freud rejected this. So, what did Freud believe happened to girls in this stage? He proposed that girls love their moms until they realize they don’t have a penis, and then become more attached to their fathers. Later, they begin to identify with their mothers out of fear of losing their love — a phenomenon he coined the “feminine Oedipus attitude.” He believed this stage was crucial for girls to understand their role as women in the world, as well as their sexuality. LATENCY AGE Age range: 7 to 10 years old, or elementary school through preadolescence Erogenous zone: sexual feelings inactive During the latency stage, the libido is in “do not disturb mode.” Freud argued that this is when sexual energy was channeled into industrious, asexual activities like learning, hobbies, and social relationships. He felt that this stage is when people develop healthy social and communication skills. He believed failure to move through this stage could result in lifelong immaturity, or the inability to have and maintain happy, healthy, and fulfilling sexual and non-sexual relationships as an adult. GENITAL STAGE Age range: 12 and up, or puberty until death Erogenous zone: genitals The last stage in this theory begins at puberty, it’s when the libido reemerges. According to Freud, this is when an individual begins to have strong sexual interest in the opposite sex. And, if the stage is successful, this is when folks have heterosexual intercourse and develop loving, lifelong relationships with someone of the opposite sex.
