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Freud: Oral Stage vs. Anal Stage

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Please discuss Freud's stages: oral stage vs. anal stage.

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This solution describes and differentiates two stages of Freud's psycho-sexual theory of development: Oral Stage vs. Anal Stage.

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1. Freud's stages. Oral stage vs. Anal stage

Freud's theory of personality development focused on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on the individual psyche. At certain points in the developmental process, according to Freud, one body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation. These are referred to erogenous zones, which are the mouth, the anus, and the genital region. The child's libido centers on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age; he cannot focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate one. In each stage, a child has certain needs and demands, such as the need of the infant to nurse. Frustration occurs when these needs are not met; Overindulgence stems from such an excess meeting of these needs that the child is reluctant to progress beyond the stage. Both frustration and overindulgence lock some amount of the child's libido permanently into the stage in which they occur; both result in a fixation. If a child progresses normally through the stages, resolving each conflict and moving on, then little libido remains invested in each stage of development. But if she fixates at a particular stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction which characterized the stage will dominate and affect her adult personality, according to Freud (Stevenson, 1996, http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/develop.html).

1. The Oral Stage

?The oral stage begins at birth, when the oral cavity is the primary focus of libidal energy.
?The child preoccupies himself with nursing, with the pleasure of sucking and accepting things into the mouth.
?The oral character who is frustrated at this stage, whose mother refused to nurse him on demand or who truncated nursing sessions early, is characterized by pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm.
?The overindulged oral character, whose nursing urges were always and often excessively satisfied, is optimistic, gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him.
?The ...

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