Psychosexual Stages Analysis

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Psychosexual Stages Freud (1905) proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place in a series of fixed stages. 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 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…show more content…
Gratification centers of different areas of the body at different stages of growth, making the conflict at each stage psychosexual. 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 expenditure 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…show more content…
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 developscastration 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

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