Human Growth Development
Abstract
Freud innovated personality development theory that focused on sexual pleasures and its effects on an individual. Along with his study in the course of development, he suggested that there are specific parts of the body that have a quick response to the sensual stimulus, which comprises the oral, anal, and genitalia regions. A kid’s psychosexual energy focuses on the behaviour affecting the central erogenous zone relevant to his age and cannot centre on the central erogenous zones of the following stage without successful resolution of the conflict in development in the previous stage.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Introduction
Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychoanalyst, explains how a human being’s personality develops. According to him, the adult personality develops because of a sequence of psychosexual stages that occur in children (Gehart, 2012). The theory examines personality development during the childhood period. Freud’s theory was controversial in his era and is still is in modern-day psychology despite the familiarity with the theory of personality development (Schacter et al., 2011). One notable factor is that modern personality development’s psychoanalytic theories have assimilated and stressed concepts on assumed relations and interfaces and the multifaceted methods of sustaining feeling one’s self hooked on simulations that originated from Sigmund.
Outline of the psychosexual stages
According to Freud, personality development occurred through a sequence of stages during childhood whereby the id energies that seek pleasure is engrossed on specific erogenous parts. The erogenous zones are the body areas that are predominantly sensitive to stimulus. The psychosexual phases consist of the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital phases, and erogenous zones create a foundation of pleasure in each of the stages (Renkins, 2017). The resulting behaviour resulted from psychosexual energy or libido. The psychoanalytic theory proposed that at the age of five, personality is already established. Personality development is heavily reliant on early experiences, which continue to affect behaviour in later life. There is conflict in each stage that can either aid in growth or suppress development dependent on the ways of resolution. A result is a healthy person upon the successful completion of the psychosexual stages (Levine & Munsch, 2010). Fixation can happen if issues at specific stages receive no address at that point. Fixation is the insistent focus on a previous psychosexual stage, and the individual is “trapped” at that stage until the resolution of conflicts. An instance is of a fixated individual at the oral stage and maybe over-reliant on others hence resorting to stimulating themselves orally through smoking and drinking.
The oral phase
The duration in this stage is from when one is born to a year old, and the pleasure is oral. In this stage, an infant’s major foundation of the interface is orally hence crucially of breastfeeding response. Food is consumed orally; hence, infants’ pleasures originate from this stimulation through the flattering movements of sense of taste and breastfeeding. Caretakers are solely responsible for taking care of the child, including feeding, making the infants very dependent on them, which creates a feeling of trust and comfort in the process (Schacter et al., 2011). The main struggle occurring in this phase revolves around the weaning sub-stage in which the child must not rely entirely on the caretakers. In cases of fixation in this stage, Freud notes that the individual is likely to face dependency issues or aggression. The oral fixation can cause complications of smoking, drinking, eating, and nail-biting.
The anal phase
This stage is within the range of a year old to three, and the pleasure originates from passing urine and stool. He points out that the major emphasis on psychosexual energy is passing urine and stool and control in the phase. This stage has a conflict of toilet training where a child has to learn to control their bowel movements. The ability to develop this control creates a feeling of achievement and individuality. Freud believes that achievement of success at this stage is reliant on the techniques applied in the toilet training (Renkins, 2017). Parents or caretakers who dwell on positivity, such as praises and incentives on their children to use restrooms at a suitable time, enhances progressive results; hence they assist them in building capability and productivity. According to Freud, the positive results from the toilet training stage create the foundation for individuals’ competency, productivity, and creativity in adulthood (Gehart, 2012). Nevertheless, some parents do not offer support and motivation critical to the children at this stage; instead, they ridicule, condemn, and shame the children in cases of inappropriate bowel movements.
Freud believes that unsuitable responses from parents can yield negative results. Nonetheless, if a parent exhibits extreme leniency in the toilet training, Freud explains that there is a high possibility of developing of anal-expulsive personality characterized by a person being untidy, extravagant, and destructive in nature (Schacter et al., 2011). On the other hand, if the parents or caretakers take stringent measures and start the toilet training earlier than expected, Freud notes the development of an anal-retentive personality characterized by a person being stern, orderly, strict, and obsessive in nature.
The phallic phase
The duration in this stage is the years between three and six, and the pleasures come from their genitals. According to Freud, the major focus of psychosexual energy is genitals. It is at this stage that children start to notice by and girl differences. In addition, males start to see their superior males as an opponent in their affection of the mother. The Oedipus complex explains the sense of the need to own the mother and urge to substitute the father (Levine & Munsch, 2010). However, the child has a fear of possible punishment from the father due to the senses in what Freud called castration anxiety. The feeling is similar to girls in what identifies as Electra complex. He also adds that girls are envious of the penis. Ultimately, kids start to recognize with parents of similar sex as a way to own different-sex parents (Renkins, 2017). Yet, in girls, Freud ascertains that penis envy was an unresolved issue; hence all females are, to some extent, hooked in this phase. However, Karen Horney, a psychologist, tend to disagree with Freud’s theory, saying it is incorrect and degrades women. Alternatively, Horney suggested that men go through feelings of inferiority due to the inability to sire children, a notion called womb envy.
The latent period.
The age for this period from years six to adolescence, and the pleasure is the sensual urges that are dormant. At the phase, there is the development of the superego and the suppression of psychosexual energies (Gehart, 2012). The children inhibit social abilities, values, and interactions with their mates and adults external to the family. Experience of calm due to the presence of the ego and superego and onset of the stage happens when the children start school and concentrate more on their friends’ relationships and varying interests. This period is characterized by exploration and suppression of sexual energy though it is in existence but channelled towards other areas such as interactions and intelligence (Schacter et al., 2011). Social and communication skills develop at this stage. Freud asserts that children can be fixated in this phase and is characterized by immaturity and inability to create satisfying relationships in adulthood.
The genital stage
The duration for this period is from adolescents and throughout life, and the pleasure is the growing sensual urges. The start of puberty results in the reactivation of puberty. In this final stage of the psychosexual stages, strong sexual interests of the opposite sex develop in individuals, and it starts in puberty and present for a lifetime. In the earlier stages, the emphasis was on the needs of an individual while in this stage, interest in the wellbeing of others develops too hence the necessity of a balance between the different interests (Levine & Munsch, 2010). The successful completion of other stages suggests that an individual is well-coordinated and caring. Freud argues that it is at this stage that the full formation and functioning of the ego and superego happen. The psychosexual energy rule the children; hence their essentials must be met. Teenagers in this phase can create an equilibrium of the growing pleasures and societal norms and demands.
Evaluating Freud’s Psychosexual Stage
There are many controversies surrounding Freud’s theory, which has led to developments of observations and criticisms on several grounds of science and feminism.
Criticism
This concept predominantly focuses on the growth of a boy child while giving little attention to the females’ aspect. The concepts are not methodically testable as ideas such as libido cannot be measured hence other researches carried out majorly disregards Freud’s theory (Gehart, 2012). There is ambiguity in future predictions as it is difficult to assess that the present behaviour results from childhood experience since the long duration of the cause and effect makes it hard to draw assumptions of the correlation of the two variables. Freud’s theory derived its basis on the case studies of his patients and not empirical research. The study was reliant on the adult patients’ recalls and not real surveillance of kids.
Additional disapproval of Freud’s theory puts focus on heterosexual development and pays no attention to homosexual development. In his explanation of sexual preferences, he states that heterosexual preferences are a representation of the normal result of development and that the nonconformity to this course results in homosexual development. He, at times, explains homosexuality from a biological perspective and at other times from a psychological or social perspective (Levine & Munsch, 2010). He believed that homosexuality did not represent a pathology and added that any attempts to change one’s sexuality were often unsuccessful and frequently harmful.
Conclusion
Few people currently strongly support the concepts by Sigmund Freud though his labour is significant in the understanding of human development. One of the key contribution was the concept of the unconscious effects and its influence on the human behaviour. The theory acknowledges the value of the early experiences in human development. As experts try to find consensus of the early and later experiences, it is universally agreeable that occurrence of earlier life has a crucial role in the course of development and can instil permanent effects on an individual.
References
Gehart, D. R. (2012). Theory and treatment planning in counseling and psychotherapy. Cengage Learning.
Levine, L. E., & Munsch, J. (2010). Child development: An active learning approach. SAGE.
Renkins, J. (2017). Freud’s theory for beginners: About dreams, psychosexual stages, id, ego and superego. Lulu Press.
Schacter, D., Gilbert, D., Wegner, D., & Hood, B. (2011). Psychology. Macmillan International Higher Education.