A series of stages from infancy to adulthood, relatively fixed in time, determined by the interaction between a person’s biological drives and the environment. With resolution of this interaction, a balanced, reality-oriented development takes place; with disturbance, fixation and conflict ensue. This disturbance may remain latent or give rise to mental disorders. In the theory of classical psychoanalytic psychology, the stages of development are as follows:
- Oral the earliest of the stages of infantile psychosexual development, lasting from birth to 12 months or longer. Usually subdivided into two stages: the oral erotic, relating to the pleasurable experience of sucking; and the oral sadistic, associated with aggressive biting. Both oral eroticism and oral sadism continue into adult life in disguised and sublimated forms, such as the character traits of demandingness or pessimism. Oral conflict, as a general and pervasive influence, has been hypothesized to underlie the psychological determinants of addictive disorders, depression, and some functional psychotic disorders.
- Anal the period of pregenital psychosexual development, usually from 1 to 3 years, in which the child has particular interest in and concern with the process of defecation and the sensations connected
with the anus. The pleasurable part of the experience is termed anal eroticism. - Phallic the period, from about ages 2½ to 6 years, during which sexual interest, curiosity, and pleasurable experience in boys center on the penis and in girls, to a lesser extent, the clitoris.
- Oedipal overlapping to some extent with the phallic stage, this phase (ages 4–6 years) represents a time of inevitable conflict between the child and parents. The child must desexualize the relationship to both parents in order to retain affectionate kinship with both of them. The process is accomplished by the internalization of the images of both parents, thereby giving more definite shape to the child’s personality. With this internalization largely completed, the regulation of self-esteem and moral behavior comes about.
In psychoanalytic theory, the description of the progressives stages in the way a child gains his or her main source of pleasure as he or she grows into adulthood, defined by the zone of the body through which this pleasure is derived, and the object toward which this pleasurable feeling is directed, psychosexual stages.
The development of human personality in stages based upon the ability to experience sexual pleasure, and the way in which sexuality plays a role in a person’s life.
In psychoanalytic theory, the process during childhood and adolescence by which personality and mature sexual behavior emerge. The process is divided into stages, each characterized by sexual interest and gratification centered on a particular part of the body; the stages are the oral phase, anal phase, phallic phase, latency phase, and genital phase.
The process by which an individual becomes more mature in his sexual feelings and behavior. Gender identity, sex-role behavior, and choice of sexual partner are the three major areas of development. The phrase is sometimes used specifically for a sequence of stages, supposed by psychoanalytic psychologists to be universal, in which oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages successively occur. These stages reflect the parts of the body on which sexual interest is concentrated during childhood development.
Evolution of personality through infantile and pregenital periods to sexual maturity.