Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

Freud claims that all human beings goes through a certain development in childhood. This development can either leave traces in our behavioral pattern or not, depending on how our different stages of crisis are met.

A claim is that all people will have some traces of some of these"symptoms" in their personality, variating in degree and outcome.

Curious about yourself?:
The Freud Test

Oral stage

Adult character: highly dependent/highly independent. If baby becomes fixated at this stage Freud felt that he or she would grow to be an oral character. Mostly these people are very dependent and passive people who want everything done for them.
The Oral receptive personality is preoccupied with eating/drinking and reduces tension through oral activity such as eating, drinking, smoking, biting nails. They are generally passive, needy and sensitive to rejection. They will easily 'swallow' other people's ideas.

However Freud also suggests that another type of oral character is the person who is highly independent and that when under stress the orally fixated person may flip from one type to the other. This exemplifies FreudÂ’s doctrine of opposites.
The Oral aggressive personality is hostile and verbally abusive to others, using mouth-based aggression.

Anal Stage

Adult character:
anally retentive : rigid, overly organised, subservient to authority.
The Anal retentive personality is stingy, with a compulsive seeking of order and tidiness. The person is generally stubborn and perfectionist.
Phallic Stage
Adult character: promiscuous and amoral/ asexual and puritanical (Doctrine of opposites again) Sexual fixation.
vs. anally expulsive : little self-control,disorganizedd, defiant, hostile.
The Anal expulsive personality is an opposite of the Anal retentive personality, and has a lack of self control, being generally messy and careless.

Phallic Stage

Adult character: promiscuous and amoral/ asexual and puritanical (Doctrine of opposites again) Sexual fixation.

Genital stage

Adult character: The genital character is not fixed at an earlier stage. This is the person who has worked it all out. This person is psychologically well-adjusted and balanced. According to Freud to achieve this state you need to have a balance of both love and work

If you have had problems during any of the psychosexual stages which are not effectively resolved, then you will become fixated at one of the earlier stages and when under stress will regress more and more to characteristics of that stage.

Related link: Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

• Denial: claiming/believing that what is true to be actually false.
• Displacement: redirecting emotions to a substitute target.
• Intellectualization: taking an objective viewpoint.
• Projection: attributing uncomfortable feelings to others.
• Rationalization: creating false but credible justifications.
• Reaction Formation: overacting in the opposite way to the fear.
• Regression: going back to acting as a child.
• Repression: pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the subconscious.
• Sublimation: redirecting 'wrong' urges into socially acceptable actions.