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The [[concept]] of '''[[psychosexual ]] [[development]]''' began with [[Sigmund Freud]] when he developed his theories of [[psychoanalysis]] in the late [[19th century|19th]] and early [[20th century|20th centuries]]. In the development of his theories, [[Freud]]'s main concern was with [[sexual desire]], defined in [[terms ]] of formative [[drives]], [[instinct]]s and [[appetite]]s that [[naturally ]] determined one's behaviours and beliefs, even as those behaviours and beliefs are continually [[repressed]].

Freud also believed that the [[libido]] developed in individuals by changing its [[object]], through the [[process ]] of ''[[Sublimation (psychology)|sublimation]]''. He argued that [[humans ]] are [[born ]] ''polymorphously [[perverse]]'', [[meaning ]] that any [[number ]] of [[objects ]] could be a source of [[pleasure]]. Following a [[biological ]] [[logic]], Freud established a rigid [[model ]] for that "normal" [[sexual development]] of the [[human being]], or the "libido development". Each [[child ]] passes through five psychosexual [[stages]]. During each [[stage]], the id focuses on a distinct [[erogenous zone ]] on the [[body]]. According to Freud, [[suffering ]] from [[trauma ]] during any of the first [[three ]] stages may result in [[fixation]]. Freud related the resolutions of the stages with [[adult ]] personalities and [[personality ]] disorders.

Despite their popularity among [[psychoanalytical ]] psychologists, Freud's psychosexual theories are commonly criticized as sexism, for example, Freud stated that young females develop "[[penis ]] [[envy]]" toward the males during their psychosexual development. In response, Karen Horney, a [[German ]] [[Freudian ]] [[psychoanalytic]], argued that young females develop "[[power ]] envy" instead of "penis envy" toward the [[male]].

Freud's stages of psychosexual development is culturally popular in American [[society]], for example, commonly [[people ]] refer to [[others ]] with obsessive compulsive disorder as [[anal]].

[[Passive ]] [[dependence ]] or excessive smoking/eating

[[Obsession ]] with organization or excessive neatness<br>

[[Electra complex]] (in girls according to Freud, termed by [[Jung]])

! [[Child sexuality#Middle_childhood:_Ages_9_-_19|Latency ]] || 6 [[year|years]]-[[puberty]] || Dormant [[sexual ]] [[feelings ]] || (People do not tend to fixate at this stage.)

From [[birth ]] to approx. 18 months the child is in the [[oral ]] stage. Here they are primarily focused on the mouth and lips this includes sucking and feeding. If the child feels [[frustration ]] due to feeding [[being ]] restricted or late they can become fixated on this stage. In [[adulthood ]] this can develop into [[pessimism]], envy, suspicion and sarcasm. If food is given too readily and overindulgence occurs the fixation can result in optimism, gullibility, and admiration for others in later [[life]]. In both cases the adult oral [[character ]] can often find themselves eating or drinking excessively, [[thumb sucking ]] or even smoking as a release for their oral [[energy]].

From 18 months to 24 months the child is in the [[anal stage]]. In this stage they are learning to [[control ]] the [[expulsion ]] of faeces so the libidal energy is focused in their bowel movements. Two types of characters can develop from this. The expulsive character would have been prone to malicious excretion either just before they were placed on the toilet or just after they were removed from the toilet. In this [[case ]] the expulsive characters can develop if the [[parents ]] are too lax with [[discipline]]. In adulthood it can result in messy or disorganised people who are reckless, careless, and defiant.The retentive character takes pleasure in holding in the faeces in spite of the parents [[training]]. These people develop into neat, organised, careful, meticulous, obstinate people often mean with [[money ]] who are passive-[[aggressive]].

This stage has significant effects on the [[future ]] views of [[authority]].

At 24 months to [[about ]] 48 months the libidal energy shifts from the anal region to the [[genital ]] region. This is where the [[Oedipus ]] or Electra [[complex ]] is developed. The young boy falls in [[love ]] with his [[mother ]] and wishes that his [[father ]] was not in the way of his love (the [[Oedipus Complex]]). At this point he notices that [[women ]] have no penis and fears that the [[punishment ]] of his father for being in love with his wife, may be [[castration]]. This [[fear ]] is enhanced if he is shouted at for [[masturbation ]] at this stage. Once the fear of retaliation has subsided the boy will learn to earn his mother's love vicariously by becoming as much like his father as possible. This is where the [[super-ego ]] stems from. He will adopt his father's beliefs and ideals as his own and move on to the [[latency ]] stage.

[[Girl]]'s similarly fall in love with the father and [[wish ]] the mother was not there (the Electra Complex). They also notice that women do not have a penis, they feel angry at their mother for their perceievd castration and develop penis envy. According to Freud, women never really leave this [[phase ]] and so the super-ego is less developed and consequently women have fewer morals than men. However the girl will also learn to love the father vicariously through becoming like her mother and then move into the latency stage.

A fixation on this stage will produce reckless, resolute, [[self]]-assured, vain, proud people and Freud believed that this could be the root of [[homosexuality]]. They can show both [[signs ]] of promiscuity or asexuality, amorality or puritanical. They flip between the behaviours according to the [[doctrine ]] of opposites.If the [[conflict ]] is never resolved the adult can be afraid of or even incapable of developing close loving relationships with [[other ]] people.

The latency stage lasts from the end of the [[phallic ]] stage until puberty. This is not actually a psychosexual stage it is where the libido lies dormant allowing the child to develop same sex friendships as well as [[school]], and athletics. It is the ultimate in sexual [[repression]]

The [[genital stage ]] starts at puberty allowing the child to develop opposite sex relationships with the libidal energy again focused on the genital area. According to Freud if any of the stages are fixated on, there is not enough libidal energy for this stage to develop untroubled. To have a fully functional adulthood the previous stages [[need ]] to be fully resolved and there [[needs ]] to be a [[balance ]] between love and [[work]].

It is important to note that anyone can become arrested at or insufficiently grow out of any of the [[primal ]] stages, leading to various [[symptoms ]] in one's adult life.

Freud's theories were decidedly [[masculine]], which is why he has received a great deal of criticism from Feminists. Freud had difficulty incorporating the [[female]]'s desires into his theories, and even stated late in his life, "[[psychology ]] too is unable to solve the riddle of [[femininity]]". Freud argued that young girls followed more or less the same psychosexual development as boys. Whereas the boy would develop a [[castration complex]], the girl would go on to develop [[penis envy]], "the envy the female feels toward the male because the male possesses a penis." (Shultz 66) After this stage, the [[woman ]] has an extra stage in her development when the [[clitoris]] should wholly or in part hand over its sensitivity, and its importance to the vagina. The young girl must also at some point give up her first object-[[choice]], the mother, in [[order ]] to take the father as her new proper object-choice. Her eventual move into [[heterosexual]] femininity, which culminates in giving birth, grows out of her earlier [[infantile ]] desires, with her own child taking [[place ]] of the penis in accordance with an ancient [[symbolic ]] equivalence. Freud wrote: "girls feel deeply their [[lack ]] of a sexual [[organ ]] that is equal in [[value ]] to the male one; they [[regard ]] themselves on that account as inferior and this envy for the penis is the origin of a [[whole ]] number of characteristic [[feminine ]] reactions" (Freud 1925 quoted in Shultz 67).

*Sigmund Freud, ''[[Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality]]'' (1905), lays out much of his early [[thoughts ]] on psychosexual development