Development of Personality

The structures of personality are the same for all persons, they perform the same functions, but
their content is different. This is because they are formed through experience and no two
individuals have the same experience.
Each individual develops a consistent pattern of behavior that defines them.
Freud was the first psychologist to theorize on the developmental aspects of personality and to
give importance to the stages of infancy and childhood in laying the foundations for the
personality of an individual.
Freud observed that there are strong sexual conflicts in the child and these conflicts are resolved
around specific parts of the body. The specific body part assumes importance as the centre of
conflict at a different age. Such observations led Freud to propose a theory of psychosexual
stages of development. These stages are called psychosexual, as sexual urges drive the
acquirement of psychological characteristics. (when Freud was referring to the term ‘sexuality’
he was not referring only to genital sexuality, but the sexual forces that drive the developmental
stages in order to obtain a diffused form of bodily pleasure.)
Each stage represents a standard series of different methods for gratifying sexual instincts.
Fixation: The conflict in each stage must be resolved before the individual can move on to the
next stage. Sometimes the conflict remains unresolved, or the parent of the child is so indulgent
that the child does not want to move on to the next stage. In either of these instances, the
individual is said to be fixated at that stage. During fixation, part of the libido remains invested
in that stage resulting in less energy for the following stages. If a child fixates at a particular
stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction, which characterizes the stage, will dominate and
affect their adult personality.
1. Oral Stage:
Lasts from birth until some time during the second year of life.
The principle source of pleasure is the mouth and the infant derives pleasure from first sucking,
biting, and them swallowing.
Though the mouth is used for ingesting food, Freud placed greater emphasis on the erotic
satisfaction that results from other activities.
Infant dependent on mother – chief object of its libido.
These feelings of dependency endure throughout life and comes into open when the individual is
anxious or insecure. The most extreme form of dependency is a desire to return to the mother’s
womb.
Two ways of behaving during this stage:
 Oral incorporative (taking in) behavior:
occurs first and involves pleasurable stimulation of mouth by food and people.
At this stage, if a baby is given too little or excessive opportunity to suck or even made
anxious about it, it may acquire oral fixation results in oral behavior.
As an adult, this person becomes excessively dependent on others and may resort to
activities such as smoking, which give oral pleasure.
 Oral aggressive (spitting out) behavior:
Second part of oral stage.
In this part, child begins to enjoy biting and chewing as teeth start developing.
Fixation at this stage – individuals biting the ends of pens and pencil as an adult, prone to
pessimism, hostility, and aggressiveness, tend to be jealous of other people, and try to
dominate them by exploitation and manipulation.
2. Anal Stage:
At about the age of 18 months to 3 years.
Libido separates from the oral zone and cathects the anus, with the child receiving erotic
gratification from the bodily sensations involved in excretion.
During this period, child finds pleasure in
 Holding feces
 Expelling feces
Parental outlook especially the mother’s approach and feelings concerning excretion and toilet
training strongly influence the child’s adjustment at this stage.
 Anal-Retentive Reaction:
Show their anger by refusing to let go.
It tends to show up in the adult personality as characteristics marked by stubbornness and
stinginess. Such persons tend to hoard or retain things because of feelings of security depend
on this. Likely to be rigid and compulsively neat.
 Anal Expulsive Reaction:
 Show anger and frustration by expelling the feces at inappropriate times and places. This is
reflected in adult personality as cruelty, destructiveness, messiness, and angry outbursts.
3. Phallic Stage
Spans at about three to six years
At the age of two to three years, the Child becomes aware of the pleasurable sensations and
aggressive feelings associated with the functioning of genital organs. Child also begins to notice
anatomical differences between sexes.
This sexual awakening then results in the child developing a sensual feeling towards the parent
of the opposite sex, and a feeling of hostility towards the parent of the same sex.
 Oedipus Complex:
Boy perceives his father as a rival for his mother’s affection; at the same time, he starts fearing
the consequences if his intentions were discovered by the father.
He starts feeling that the father has a special relationship with the mother in which he is not
allowed to participate. This results in feelings of jealousy and hostility towards the father.
The boy thus wishes to replace him while at the same time fearing that his father would retaliate.
This fear of father is interpreted in genital terms as a fear that the father might castrate him:
castration anxiety.
To overcome this anxiety, child abandons his Oedipal wishes and replaces them with a
complicated set of attitudes. He strengthen his identification with his father, wishing to be like
him rather than replace him.
In this process of identification, the boy also imbibes his father’s ideas of right and wrong,
making the beginning of the formation of the superego.
 Electra Complex
During the phallic stage, the father becomes the girl’s chief object of love. This shift mainly
occurs because the girl discovers that she lacks the male sexual organ.
According to Freud, girls regard themselves as inferior because of this, and as the envy for the
penis becomes the origin for a whole number of characteristic feminine reactions.
The girl develops penis envy, the counterpart of male castration anxiety. She holds her mother
responsible for this and resents, but eventually she identifies with her mother, hoping that if she
starts being more like her mother she might stand a better chance of attracting her father.
In this process of identifying with her mother, she incorporates her mother behavior and values,
developing her superego.
Fixation at this stage – result in the development of phallic character. Such a person is reckless,
resolute, self-assured, and narcissistic.
Failure to resolve the conflict can also result in a person being afraid or incapable of close love.
In males, it could result in a concern with proving one’s masculinity, and in females, it results in
an attempt to probe that they are equal or even superior to Men in all endeavors.
Freud postulated that fixation could also be the root cause of homosexuality.
4. Latency Stage:
Spanning from six years to puberty.
The child’s erotic drives become less emphasized and relatively inactive.
Maturation of the ego and consolidation of superego take place.
Smooth passage of this stage leads to effective ways of coping with the physical and social
environments.
Individuals start getting involved in the activities of school, associates with peers and joins in
extra-curricular activities with children of same sex.
5. Genital Stage:
This stage is the goal of normal development and represents true maturity.
The concept of fixation does not apply to this stage or to the latency stage.
Final stage of development and begins at puberty.
A reawakening of sexual interests marks this stage.
As the child’s energy is once again focused on the genital organs, interest in heterosexual
relationships develops.
The sexual energy is now expressed through the pursuit of socially acceptable substitutes and
later, through a committed relationship with a person of the opposite sex.