Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud's major theory is the psychoanalytic theory. The psychoanalytic theory is a grand theory of human development that holds that irrational, unconscious, drives and motives, many of which originate in childhood, underlie human behavior. The project of the psychoanalytic theory is to describe how the gendered and sexual object is formed. Based on the psychoanalytic theory, how an individual experiences and resolves conflicts such as weaning, toilet training, and sexual curiosity determines that individuals lifelong personality and patterns of behavior.

The psychoanalytic theory sees these drives and motives as the foundation for the stages of development that every human experiences in sequence, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that particular sexually sensitive zone and either over or under indulges once he or she becomes an adult.

According to Freud, development in the first six years occurs in three stages, each characterized by sexual interest and pleasure centered on a particular part of the body. In infancy, that body part is the mouth (the oral stage); in early childhood, it is the anus (the anal stage); in the preschool years, it is the penis (the phallic stage). Then come latency and, beginning at adolescence, the genital stage.

Oral stage (birth to one year) the mouth, tongue and gums are the focus of pleasurable sensations in the baby's body. During the oral stage one of the child's pleasures is sucking. Too much or too little gratification can result in an oral fixation or oral personality. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Also, these individuals may become excessively dependent on others, deceitful, and constant followers. Anal stage (one to three years) The anus is the focus of pleasurable sensations in the baby's body. The most important activity is toilet training to eliminate feces. The child has to learn to control anal stimulation, through pressure from society and mainly parents. When it comes to personality, after effects of an anal fixation can result in an obsession with cleanliness and perfection. As a result of anal-retentive the individual may become uptight and controlling. As a result of anal expulsive an individual may become messy and disorganized in the future.

Phallic stage (three to six years) In the time of the phallic stage the child's pleasure is his/her genitals. Freud believed that during this stage, boys develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Usually, boys become rivals with their father and see him as competition for the mother's affection. Also, boys develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings. This group of feelings is known as