Freud' Stages of Development

The original concept of “psycho-dynamics” was developed by physician Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud suggested that psychological processes are flows of psychological energy in a complex brain, establishing “psycho-dynamics” on the basis of psychological energy, which he referred to as libido. 

When Sigmund Freud, introduced the psycho-dynamic theory, he grouped together theories to explain it, these include: ID, Ego, Super-Ego; aka: Psychic Analysis.

Freud described ID to be – ‘It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learnt from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of this is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego.’ The id is mainly responsible for our basic drives such as; food, drink and other general impulses.



The Ego comprises, the organized party of personality structure; the defensive, intellectual-cognitive, perceptual. Freud explained: ‘The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions …’ The Super-ego comprises of one’s inner-ambitions, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency (commonly called conscience) fantasies, feelings, and actions. Freud’s theory implies that the super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure, and cultural regulations. The super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining a good sense of morality.

The Oedipus complex, introduced by Frued, Freud developed the Oedipus complex as an explanation of the formation of the super-ego. The theory was based on the Greek myth of a son who kills his father and marries his mother.

The Electra complex is the psychoanalytic theory that a female’s psycho-sexual development involves a sexual attachment to their father, and is analogous to a boy’s attachment to his mother that forms the basis of the Oedipus complex. The Electra complex is largely based on an idea by Sigmund Freud, with the original term coming from Carl Jung in 1913.

According to Freud, a girl, like a boy, is originally attached to the mother figure. However, during “the phallic stage”, when she discovers that she lacks a penis, she becomes attached to the father figure, like a type of favouritism towards her father, whilst being resentful towards her mother.

Now we turn to developmental theories, and the most famous, historically, is psychoanalytic or Freudian theory. This theory sprung from Freud's observations of adults' recollections in therapy of their lives. Children were not directly observed. Although Freud's theory has been roundly criticized for its lack of scientific character, it does stand however as a grand metaphor for describing personality.

Freud's theory has three main parts, the stages of development, the structure of the personality, and his description of mental life. Here, the stages of the personality will be discussed.

Again, only from adult recollections did these stages emerge. The first stage is the Oral Stage. It runs from birth to age 2. In the oral stage infants and toddler explored the world primarily with their most sensitive area, their mouths. They also learn to use their mouths to communicate. The next stage is the Anal Stage. In the anal stage, children learned to control the elimination of bodily wastes.

The Phallic Stage (3-5 years of age) is probably the most controversial. The word phallic means penis-like. In this stage, children discover their sexual differences. The controversy comes from Freud's description of the Oedipus (for males) and Electra (for females) complexes, with their attendant concepts of castration anxiety and penis envy, respectively. Those complexes lead, according to Freudian theory, to normal differentiation of male and female personalities. The defense mechanism of repression was invoked to explain why no one could remember the events of this stage.

The phallic stage is followed by a Latency Period in which little new development is observable. In this stage, boys play with boys, and girls with girls, typically. Sexual interest is low or non-existent.

The final stage is the Genital Stage. It started around 12 years of age and ends with the climax of puberty. Sexual interests re-awaken at this time (there were sexual interests before, dormant and repressed from the phallic stage).

Neo-Freudian approaches added more stages (Erikson) and/or altered Freud's emphasis on psychosexual development. Those approaches will be discussed on a below.