NAME: REJEANNE COURTNEY ROSSOUW MODULE: IOP2608 ASSIGNMENT NUMBER 2
UNIQUE NUMBER: 819544 STUDENT NUMBER: 56218435
QUESTION 1 :
(a) Freud’s developmental theory is classified as a psychosexual theory. It focuses on
development of the sex drive and how the child and society deal with the accompanying
problems.
THE FIRST STAGE : THE ORAL STAGE (FIRST YEAR)
This occurs from birth to the end of the first year. The lips and mouth are main erogenous
zones or sources for sexual drive energy. Children suck their mother’s breast to satisfy the
hunger and oral sexual drives, making the mother a crucial figure in the child’s development.
Weaning is accompanied by frustration of the oral sex drive and the baby thus experiences
this as punishment. Babies experience interrupted feeding and impatience of the mother
during feeding as punishment for their sexual sucking actions. Babies then cope with these
frustrations through the defence mechanism of displacement, but these objects do not
provide sufficient satisfaction of the oral sexual drive and face society’s gradual prohibition
of these objects. Due to this, all human beings suffer with the problem of dealing with
excess sexual drive energy. Excessive cuddling and motherly love during the oral stage may
cause the baby to become fixated, due to the next stage feeling threatening because they
don’t want to give up the warmth and pleasure of the present stage. However, during the
oral stage, development of the death drive also occurs. The death drive is initially turned
against the individual and is directed at external objects (the baby bites the mother during
feeding and is then weaned which is interpreted as punishment). During the first year of life,
aggressive drive energy also creates problems. The ego and the superego begin to develop in
contrast to the id, which is inborn. The baby begins to acquire knowledge of the external
reality and learns when feeding times are and what objects are edible or not. This
knowledge and experience then lays the foundation for ego development. Through
punishment and reward, children learn that certain kinds of behaviour are acceptable and
others are not – and the first moral rules are absorbed into the superego. Fixation or partial
fixation results in the oral personality type. Characteristics of the oral personality type are
inordinate dependence on others, narcissism, excessive optimism, jealousy and envy. If
reaction formation is used as a defence mechanism, opposite characteristics can appear
such as selfishness, self-loathing, pessimism and exaggerated generosity.
THE SECOND STAGE : THE ANAL STAGE (SECOND YEAR)
Anus and excretory canal are the sources of sexual drive energy. Children enjoy sexual
pleasure in excretion and in retaining excretion. Toilet-training is very important and
parents’ handling of this issue has an influence on the personality characteristics that the
child will take into his or her adult life. Aggressive urges change during the oral stage and
excretory function can be used for aggressive urges by excreting at the wrong time
(punishment of parents) or by retaining excretion (punishment of themselves). However,
retaining excretion can also be a form of sexual pleasure called masochism – deriving sexual
pleasure from harming oneself. Toilet-training is important for the incorporation of society’s
rules. Superego undergoes further development as a result of parents’ punishment and
rewards during toilet-training. Fixation or partial fixation results in an anal personality and is
characterised by excessive neatness, thriftiness (frugality) and obstinacy (stubbornness) and
if reaction formation occurs, the opposite of these traits take form. As a result of toilet-
training, faeces come to be viewed by children as valuable objects that can be given to
, NAME: REJEANNE COURTNEY ROSSOUW MODULE: IOP2608 ASSIGNMENT NUMBER 2
UNIQUE NUMBER: 819544 STUDENT NUMBER: 56218435
parents as a reward or withheld as punishment. Due to this, faeces have a symbolic
connection with money. The development of sadism and masochism and the development
of obsessive compulsive neuroses are associated with fixation in the anal stage.
THE THIRD STAGE : THE PHALLIC STAGE (3-6 YEARS)
For the first time, the development of boys and girls proceeds along different lines. This
stage derives its name from the male sexual organ, but for girls it is the absence of this organ
that is the basis of psychosexual development. The source of sexual drive energy is no longer
only physical, but deep and complex psychic wishes are now the basis of psychosexual
development, namely sexual wishes related to the parents, sexual wishes related to the
penis (boys), sexual wishes related to the absence of a penis (boys). Fixation or partial
fixation in the phallic stage is related to large variety of neurotic characteristics. Castration
anxiety and penis envy are at the core of problems arising in this stage, such as sexual
adaptation problems and homosexuality. The phallic stage is important in the genesis of
metal disorders, because the superego – involved in all mental disorders – undergoes major
development in this stage. An over strict superego is what causes problems later on in life.
There are three ways in which an overly strict superego can develop such as if the father is
too strict, the son internalises the father’s strict and rigid rules through identification with
the father. If a father is permanently or often not present, an unyielding superego may start
to develop and if a father is not strict enough, a harsh superego may develop. In the latter 2
cases, a strong superego develops as the son cannot express sufficient aggressive drive
energy outwards, which then becomes directed at the child itself.
THE FOURTH STAGE : THE LATENT STAGE (6-12 YEARS)
There is no new source of sexual drive energy. Due to the repression of the Oedipus complex
and the child’s identification with the parent of the same sex, children of both sexes are
concerned with learning their gender roles and show little interest in the opposite sex.
Children play mainly with their friends of the same sex to establish appropriate sex-role
behaviour. This stage is sometimes called the homosexual stage and is relatively problem
free.
THE FIFTH STAGE : THE GENITAL STAGE (PUBERTY ONWARDS)
This is the final stage of psychosocial development and continues for the rest of the
individual’s life. Puberty occurs with physiological changes and increase in the sexual drive
energy. The source of the energy is the sexual apparatus, pre-genital sources (mouth, anus,
and phallus) and the sexual glands. The genital stage is characterised by the reawakening of
sexual wishes of the pre-genital stages (especially phallic stage). Repression of sexual urges
occurring during phallic stage are no longer sufficient to cope with conflict between sexual
urges and moral code of the superego, thus, the sexual urges are now controlled by the use