directions to practice on their own. Through extensive research Freud invented the theory of the five stages of child development or sometimes referred to as personality development. Starting at birth with oral phase and ending in early adult hood with the genital phase. The oral phase begins at birth and lasts about eight months. The infants primary concern focuses on the mouth and the satisfaction obtained through oral stimuli. The most obvious resulting from eating. This satisfaction however, can also be obtained through sucking, biting and swallowing foreign objects of diverse shapes and sizes. Freud contends that these activities are directly related to the child’s urge to take part in feeding. During this phase the child’s personality is controlled by it needs for immediate satisfaction of its wants and needs. During the anal phase the child’s concern is shifted to the area of the body known as the rectum. Bowel movements become a source of pleasure and the child may defecate often to achieve this pleasure. This new found pleasure could change quickly when the parents are able to influence this behavior. This leads the child to enter the first stages of forming the ego. The child begins to learn that it cannot do what it wants when it wants. Once reaching an age to reason this idea the child gradually understands his parents’ demands. This phase takes place between the ages of two and three. The phallic phase introduces the child to the genital region and becomes aware of their sexual organs. The male child may form an Oedipus complex during this phase and become resentful and envious of his father and may feel the need to compete for his mothers attention. The female child may also experience a similar situation known as the Electra complex. Once she realizes she does not have a penis she forms penis envy and her attention turns toward attracting her fathers affection. Eventually both t...
