The first stage is the oral stage. An infant is in this stage from birth to eighteen months of age. The main focus in the oral stage is pleasure-seeking through the infant’s mouth. During this stage, the need for tasting and sucking becomes prominent in producing pleasure. Oral stimulation is crucial during this stage; if the infant’s needs are not met during this time frame, he or she will be fixated in the oral stage. Fixation in this stage can lead to adult habits such as thumb-sucking, smoking, over-eating, and nail-biting. Personality traits can also develop during adulthood that are linked to oral fixation; these traits can include optimism and independence or pessimism and hostility.
The second stage is the anal stage, which lasts from eighteen months to three years of age. During this stage, the infant’s pleasure seeking centers are located in the bowels and bladder. Parents stress toilet training and bowel control during this time period. Fixation in the anal stage can lead to anal-retention or anal-expulsion. Anal retentive characteristics include being overly neat, precise, and orderly, while being anal expulsive involves being disorganized, messy, and destructive.
The third stage in psychosexual development is the phallic stage. This stage begins at 3 years old and ends when the child reaches six years of age. The phallic stage focuses on the genitals as pleasure-seeking areas of the body. Boys in this stage experience the Oedipus complex, while girls experience the Electra complex. In both cases, the child develops incestuous feelings for the parent of the opposite sex. Children tend to develop characteristics of the same-sex parent during this stage. Fixation in the phallic stage has different personality traits depending on one’s gender. Males may take great pride in their masculinity and their sexuality, while women may become flirtatious and promiscuous. In both instances, these personality traits are a sign of low self-esteem and self-worth.
The fourth stage is the latency stage which begins at the age of six and continues until the age of eleven. During this stage there is no pleasure-seeking region of the body; instead all sexual feelings are repressed. Thus, children are able to develop social skills, and find comfort through peer and family interaction.
The final stage of psychosexual development is the genital stage. This stage begins at the age of eleven, lasts through puberty, and ends when one reaches adulthood at the age of eighteen. The onset of puberty reflects a strong interest from one person to another of the opposite sex. If one does not experience fixation in any of the psychosexual stages, once he or she has reached the genital stage he or she will grow into a well-balanced human being.
Freud proposed a set of defense mechanisms in one’s body. These set of defense mechanisms occur so one can hold a favorable or preferred view of themselves. For example, in a particular situation when an event occurs that violates one's preferred view of themselves, Freud states that it is necessary for the self to have some mechanism to defend itself against this unfavorable event; this is known as defense mechanisms. Freud’s work on defense mechanisms focuses on how the ego defends itself against internal events or impulses, which are regarded as unacceptable to one’s ego. These defense mechanisms are used to handle the conflict between the id, the ego, and the superego.
Freud noted that a major drive for people is the reduction of tension and the major cause of tension was anxiety. He identified three types of anxiety: reality anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety. Reality anxiety is the most basic form of anxiety and is based on the ego. It is typically based on the fear of real and possible events (for example, being bit by a dog or falling off of a roof). Neurotic anxiety comes from an unconscious fear that the basic impulses of the id will take control of the person, leading to eventual punishment from expressing the id's desires. Moral anxiety comes from the superego. It appears in the form of a fear of violating values or moral codes, and appears as feelings like guilt or shame.
When anxiety occurs, the mind's first response is to seek rational ways of escaping the situation by increasing problem-solving efforts, and a range of defense mechanisms may be triggered. These are ways that the ego develops to help deal with the id and the superego. Defense mechanisms often appear unconsciously and tend to distort or falsify reality. When the distortion of reality occurs, there is a change in perception which allows for a lessening in anxiety resulting in a reduction of tension one experiences. Sigmund Freud noted a number of ego defenses which were noted throughout his work. His daughter, Anna Freud, developed and elaborated on them. The defense mechanisms are as follows:
These defenses are not under our conscious control, and our unconscious will use one or more to protect one’s self from stressful situations. They are natural and normal. Without these, neurosis develops (such as anxiety states, phobias, obsessions, or hysteria).
Sigmund Freud was born to Jewish parents in a heavily Roman Catholic town. Freud desired to understand religion and spirituality and deals with the nature of religious beliefs in many of his books and essays. He regards God as an illusion, based on the infantile need for a powerful father figure. Freud believed that religion was an expression of underlying psychological neuroses and distress. In some of his writing, he suggests that religion is an attempt to control the Oedipal complex, as he goes on to discuss in his book "Totem and Taboo".
In 1913, Freud published the book "Totem and Taboo". This book was an attempt to reconstruct the birth and the process of development of religion as a social institution. He wanted to demonstrate how the study of psychoanalysis is important in the understanding of the growth of civilization. This book is about how the Oedipus complex and incest taboo came into being and why they are present in all human societies. The incest taboo rises because of a desire for incest. The purpose of the totemic animal is not for group unity, but to re-enforce the incest taboo. The totemic animal is not a symbol of God, but a symbol of the father and it is an important part of religious development. Totemism originates from the memory of an event in pre-history where the male group members eat the father figure due to a desire for the females. The guilt they feel for their actions and for the loss of a father figure leads them to prohibit incest in a new way. Totemism is a means of preventing incest and as a ritual reminder of murder of the father. This shows that sexual desire, since there are many social prohibitions on sexual relations, is channeled through certain ritual actions and all societies adopt these rituals so that sexuality develops in approved ways. This reveals unconscious desires and their repression. Freud believes that civilization makes people unhappy because it contradicts the desire for progress, freedom, happiness, and wealth. Civilization requires repression of drives and instincts - such as sexual, aggression, and death instincts - in order for civilization can work.