Developmental Influences

• Freud believes that early childhood influences determined the adult personality.– Parental behaviour is crucial to normal

development– Personality and mental health problems in

adulthood can usually be traced back to the first five years.

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Psychosexual Development

• People – including children – are basically hedonistic – they are driven to seek pleasure by gratifying the Id’s desires.

• Sources of pleasure are determined by the location of the libido (life-force).

• As a child moves through different developmental stages, location of libido and hence sources of pleasure change.

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Psychosexual Stages

Oral

Anal

Phallic

Latent

Genital

The mouth – sucking, swallowing etc.

The anus – withholding or expelling faeces

The penis or clitoris - masturbation

Little or no sexual motivation present

The penis or vagina – sexual intercourse

EGO develops

SUPEREGO develops

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Fixation

Oral

Anal

Phallic

Forceful feeding

Deprivation

Early weaning

Toilet training:

Too harsh

Too lax

Abnormal family set-up leading to unusual relationship with mother/father

Oral activities (e.g. smoking), dependency, aggression.

Obsessiveness, tidiness, mean-ness; untidiness, generosity

Vanity, self-obsession, sexual anxiety , inadequacy, inferiority, envy

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psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk