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Freud believed that as a child developed from infancy, the libido moved around the several different areas of the body called erogenous zone which becomes one’s pleasure and dominant source of sexual arousal. He noted that if a child received too much or too little gratification during any stage, the result could be mental disturbance as an adult. He also said the conflicts between sex drive and rules of the society are present at every stage.
For proper
understanding, it will be imperative to look at these stages in one by one in
detail as follows:
The oral stage
Oral stage is the first stage of development that occurs during
the first
18 months of a baby’s life. The infant at this stage gets pleasure
mostly around the mouth. Therefore,
the oral activities such as chewing, sucking and biting bring about sexual
gratification and nourishment to an infant and so reduces tension. It is better
to note that early weaning may lead to frustration and excessive gratification
may lead to a high expectation on the part of an infant with a tendency of
being handed everything in life.
The anal stage
The anal stage is the second stage of development that occurs between
1 year and a half and 3 years of age. During this stage, the child’s
greatest pleasure involves the anus or
the elimination of faeces from the bowels. Toilet training occurs during
this stage. Fixation may occur in this stage when there is conflict between the
child and caretakers.
The phallic stage
Phallic stage is the third stage of development that occurs when
the child is between 3-6 years of age. During this stage, a child’s pleasure
is focused on the genitals as the
child discovers that self-manipulation is enjoyable.
According
to Freud, a child at this stage fantasies about sexual, pleasure with the
parent of the opposite sex and tends not to prefer the parent of the same sex.
Freud refers to this conflict in boys as the Oedipus complex.
“Oedipus to perish on a mountainside in order to thwart a prophecy. Shepherds discovered the infant, but King Polybus and Queen Merope raised it as their own. Oedipus travelled for Thebes after learning from the oracle at Delphi that he would eventually kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus was unaware of his true paternity and thought he was destined to kill Polybus and wed Merope. In an altercation with an older man he encountered while travelling, Oedipus killed the outsider. Upon arriving in Thebes, he discovered that the city's ruler (Laius) had recently been assassinated and that it was now at the mercy of the sphinx. Oedipus successfully solved the monster's riddle, vanquishing it, and obtaining the kingdom of the deceased king as well as the hand of the king's widow and—unbeknownst to him—his mother Jocasta.
Years later, in order to put an end to a disease in Thebes, Oedipus looked for Laius' killer and found that it was himself. Jocasta hanged herself after learning that she had married both her own son and her husband's murderer. Then Oedipus took two pins from her garment and used them to blind himself”.
This takes place
when a boy seeks sexual pleasure by associating with his mother but hates his
father and sees him as a rival. On the other hand, Freud referred to the feeling of
sexual pleasure in girls towards their fathers as the Electra complex
(In Greek mythology, Elektra (Greek: Ἠλέκτρα, Ēlektra "amber")
was the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus princess of
Argos. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother
Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father.)
The Electra
complex takes place when a girl seeks sexual pleasure by associating with her
father but hates her mother and sees her as a rival. She develops penis envy, consisting in a girl's belief that she once had a penis which
was just cut off. In order to compensate for this feeling, a child wants to have a
child with the father. A counterpart for the girl’s penis envy is castration anxiety which comes as a fear of punishment from their
father for the desire of their mother. The complexes may be resolved when a
child realises that his or her same-sex parent punishes him or her for the
incestuous wishes. So, a child ends up identifying with the same-sex parent in
order to avoid being punished or reprimanded.
The latency stage
Latency stage is the fourth stage of development that occurs between
6 years of age and puberty. Puberty sets in girls between 9-11 years
and between11-12 in boys, though there may be individual variations. This is
the stage when sexual feelings remain unconscious and are repressed into
latency. During this stage the children exert their energies on school work and
concentrate on helping their parents. Consequently, a child gets motivated to
take part in social skills and intellectual skills such as schoolwork and
role-playing based on one’s gender.
The Genital stage
Genital stage is the
fifth and final stage of development that occurs from puberty onwards.
This is the time when sexual urges reappear as a source of pleasure but are now
redirected to someone outside the family. It
is the culminations of the long journey from autoerotic sexual activity where
children seek pleasure from their own bodies to heterosexual activity where
they seek pleasure from the body of another person. They become capable of
developing mature love relationship and function independently as an adult. It
is important to note that many psychology theorists do not support Freud’s
ideas of sexual instinct as a determinant of an individual’s development and
instead propound the role of cultural experiences.
APPLICABILITY TO EDUCATION SYSTEM
Freud gave
an idea about inner conflicts that can affect one’s behaviour. These conflicts
are important in that they must be solved in order for one to successfully and
normally move from the next level of development and also to avoid fixation.
Therefore, our pupils/ students may be categorised into phallic, latency or
genital stage of psychosexual development. In this case, our role as teachers
is to assist our pupils to resolve or go through the inner conflicts which they
may have so that they concentrate with learning. This can be done through
guidance and counselling or just giving them enough attention for their needs.
Among their
busy schedule, pupils should be given entertainment or allowed to play. This is
because play is an outlet among children where the sexual drive is directed to the latency stage. If this is suppressed, there is a possibility for a child to
fixate or will continue to play even to the extent of doing something beyond
one’s age in future.
The
application of Freud to teaching and learning is that it gives teachers an explanation of some of the pupils’ behaviours that are manifested in the
classroom.
A school
teacher has a special responsibility in not only the intellectual, but the
social development of his student. Therefore, using psychoanalysis is
beneficial in seeing symbolic signs in a student’s actions or his work. For
instance when a child is caught in a situation where he is at some fault, a
child will sometimes succumb to lying and that to a teacher should be seen as
defence mechanism where the child is trying to resolve his fear of being
punished. For that reason, as a teacher, it is your duty to explain that there
is nothing to fear and that the truth is always the best option.
Having the knowledge that psychoanalysis places great emphasis on one’s early experiences, a teacher will strive to be as patient with his/ her pupils, caring, understanding and being firm at the same time. He/she will allow pupils to explore their stages of development with a lot of understanding.
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