Transcription
Hi, my name's Brian Colin, and this video is on Freud's theory of psychosexual development. Click in the link in the description to take a practice test that I made on this material, and also material from our other videos using the Learn My Test study tool.
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If you haven't watched it yet, you may want to watch our other video on Freud's psychoanalytic theory before you watch this one. Freud believed that there were conflicts between the id, or your natural impulses, and the super-ego, the moral principle, or what society says is okay, and your ego, the reality principle, or what you end up choosing to do in that situation. How these conflicts are resolved, or not resolved in some cases, can affect future development, or at least that's what Freud believed.
Specifically, Freud defined unresolved conflicts as a fixation.
Stage one is the oral stage, and goes from birth to one year. During the oral stage, infants only have an id because they have not yet developed an ego or a super-ego. And so, usually, they develop an or they can use their mouth by sucking on their mother's breasts or by sucking on other objects, such as a pacifier. Sucking too much can lead to what Freud defined as an oral fixation. The consequences of an oral fixation could be: number one, if they're oral aggressive and they chew too much, they could chew on objects such as pens or t-shirt collars. An oral passive is taking up other oral activities such as smoking, eating, drinking, or kissing too much. Freud believed that individuals that have an oral fixation may have a passive or manipulative personality.
Stage two is the anal stage, and lasts from one to three years. During the stage, toilet-training is the primary task. It involves a competition between the id impulses that say to go to the bathroom and the ego or the super-ego to not get embarrassed for soiling one's pants. Parents who overemphasize toilet training and cleanliness during the anal stage may get a child that Freud would call anal retentive, or obsessed with cleanliness. Freud believed that children who struggled with toilet training may have difficulty controlling their impulses and could often get in trouble at school.
Stage 3 is the phallic stage, and lasts from 3 to 6 years. The focus is on the genitals. Freud argued that during this stage, boys see their fathers as competition for the affection of their mothers. He defined the attraction that boys have to their mothers as the Oedipus complex. Freud argued that the reason males did not express their attraction to their mother with their father is because of the fear that their larger father would castrate them. Freud defined this as castration anxiety. Freud believed that boys who get fixated, or stuck, in the Oedipus complex in the phallic stage may be aggressive or jealous as adults. Freud defined the Electra complex as girls competing with their mothers for their father's affection. A very controversial, and what many would believe to be a sexist belief that Freud had, is that girls developed penis envy, or jealousy of boys because they had a penis. Freud believed that girls fixated in the phallic stage may keep penis envy, so as a result may have a desire to dominate men or be passive towards men. Freud believed that the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex were repressed from our conscious mind, so we didn't think about it. However, these concepts both were criticized because they are sexist and are also not supported or testable by research.
The latency stage occurs from ages 6 through puberty. Freud indicated that there were no conflicts in the latent stage. Any abnormal behavior, he argued, was due to fixations in the prior stages of development. During the latent stage, the child is learning hobbies, developing friendships, and growing.
Stage 5 is the genital stage, and occurs from puberty through adulthood. Freud would argue that the goal of this stage is psychological detachment and independence from parents. The individual attempts to resolve issues that were caused during earlier stages of development.
Freud's stages of psychosexual development:
Stage one is the oral stage. It is from 0 to 1 year of age.
Stage two is the anal stage, and occurs from ages 1 to 3, where the child can become anal retentive if he is fixated on cleanliness, or if the child struggles with toilet training, can become anal explosive. Anal explosive means the child may have difficulty controlling his or her id impulses.
Stage 3 is the phallic stage, and occurs from ages 4 to 6. Freud believed that during the stage, children developed the Oedipus and Electra complexes, which means that they are competing with the same-sex parent for the affection of the opposite-sex parent. For that controversial, and what many defined as sexist beliefs, during the stage, in that girls have penis envy, or jealousy of boys because they don't have a penis, and boys are afraid that their father will castrate them if they tell their father about their affection for their mother. He defined this as castration anxiety.
Stage 4 is the latent stage, and lasts from ages 6 to puberty.
Stage 5 is the genital stage, and lasts from puberty through death.
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