Psychosexual Stages

Old
Age
Pensioners
Like 
Guiness 

Oral 
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital 

• 0-1 years
• Focus of the libido= Mouth:  Breastfeeding, dummies, bottles. The key factor is weaning
• Healthy Outcomes: 
  • Child learns that they don’t control their environment
  • Learn independence and delayed gratification
  • Develop the ability to wait and delay their pleasure 
  • Grow into mature and trusting adults 
• Possible Conflict: 
  • Weaning too early or late 
  • Inconsistently remove dummies (too early or late)
  • Can become frustrated and/or anxious from removing a dummy or weaning 
• Consequence: 
  • Can become orally fixated e.g. biting nails, biting pens, smoking and an immature personality

• 1-3 years
• Focus of the libido is the bowels and anus:
  • Gains pleasure from expelling and withholding faeces. The key factor is toilet training

Healthy Outcomes 

•  Gradual and psychologically uneventful toilet training can lead to a child that is able to cope with parental demands and delayed gratification (leading to a mature adult)

• As an adult they will understand that it is important that you keep yourself and your environment clean and it is solely down to yourself 

Possible Conflict

•  Parents enforce it too soon
• Parents are too strict
• Punishments are given for being unclean

Consequece

• This can lead to a compulsive personality e.g. worried about neatness and is a perfectionist)
• However, if parents are too lenient then the adult will not be concerned about environmental order (will be disorganised and messy)

• 3-5 year
• Genitals:
  • Become aware of the differences between boys and girls

Healthy Outcomes

• Resolving the Oedipus and Electra complexes. 
• Parents must handle the child in a satisfactory manner if in order for the complex to be resolved and if the super ego is to be formed 
• By identifying with the same sex parent the child will learn morality and to comply with societal rules 
• Both sexes use defence mechanisms to resolve the conflict between the Id and Ego
• Repression is used to remove unpleasant memories to push them down into unconscious 
• When the child identifies with the same sex parent They learn personality characteristics 
• By identifying with the same sex parent the boy reduces his anxiety to be castrated as being like his father will protect him from the father’s wrath of being in love with his mother 
• The girl accepts that the fact that she doesn’t have a penis nor does her mother so identifies with her mother. 

Possible Conflict

• Won’t use the defence mechanisms effectively
• Conflict will continue 

Consequence 

• If a girl becomes fixated in this stage, then she may become a woman who insistently tries to dominate men by becoming unusually seductive (high self-esteem) or submissive of men (low self-esteem).
• On the other hand, if a boy becomes fixated at this stage then he is more likely to become aggressive, over ambitious and vain.

• 5-Puberty
• Learning who they are and ensuring that all stages have been passed through without problems

Healthy Outcomes

• Focus their energy towards outside activities e.g. friends and school.

• During this time they may become more argumentative and value friends opinions more than their own 

Possible Conflict 

• If previous stages have not been resolved then passing this stage will be harder as they will be fixated in a previous stage

Consequence 

• Unable to participate in necessary social activities in a socially acceptable manner e.g. school

• Puberty-Death
• Focus of the libido is genitelia 

Healthy Outcomes

• Gratify their desire through love, relationships and friendships
• This is generally the time that a person will focus on finding love and possibly having a family 

Possible Conflict

• If previous stages have not been resolved then passing this stage will be harder as they will be fixated in a previous stage

Consequence 

• Unable to participate in necessary social activities in a socially acceptable manner e.g. relationships