An Introduction to Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

855 Words4 Pages
One of the most important building blocks of human growth and development is the psychoanalytic theories. The psychoanalytic theories were thought out by physician Sigmund Freud. In his concept of the human minds evolution he concluded behavior traits such as the id, the ego, the superego, and how they are governed by the conscious and unconscious processes, being one of these processes the libido. “Which he believed was the driving force behind behavior”. Furthermore, he projected a series of psychosexual stages which are the essential steps in progression to maturity. These steps consist of the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, and the genital stage. First we will discuss the 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 becomes important as sources of potential frustration (erogenous zones), pleasure or both. 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 ego and superego develop in order to exercise this control and direct the need for gratification into socially acceptable channels. Gratification centers of different areas of the body at different stages of growth, making the conflict at each stage psychosexual”. (McLeod 2008) (Cherry) If these psychosexual stages are completed successfully, the result is a healthy personality. If certain issues are not resolved at the appropriate stage, Fixation can occur. The word Fixation can be defined as “a very strong interest in someone or something” (Longman 2004). In the Oral Stage, from birth to age 2, infant’s source of
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