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Hannah Floyd

EDUC 121- Child Adolescent and Development

Sharie Richter

December 17, 2015

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Child Development Theorist Paper

Sigmund Freud did many unique things to contribute to and impact child
development. Born in 1856, this Viennese doctor came to believe that the way a childs
parent dealt with their sexual and aggressive desires would determine how their
personalities developed; as well as whether they would become well-adjusted as adults.
Freud described children as going through multiple stages of sexual development, which
he labeled Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital. (Oswalt, 2008, p. 1).
In his way of viewing, each of these stages that Freud developed focused on
sexual activity and also the pleasure that they received from a certain area of the body. In
the oral phase, children are sucking and biting with their mouth and are focused on this
pleasure that they get from it. For example when you have a toddler and they are
constantly putting things in their mouth to chew on or constantly have their fist in their
mouth to suck on. Many parents would say that this is due to the fact that their child is
teething but Freud did not think this way. He believed that there was a reason behind
why these children were doing this.
In the anal phase, this shifts to the anus as children begin to toilet train and
attempt to control their bowels. As many people know, not all children potty train at the
exact same time. They all develop and choose to do this on their own. Though, a lot of it
has to do with how much the parent is encouraging the child to actually sit on the toilet
and praising them or giving them a reward when they go on the toilet. Freud would say
that the reason they are the way they are would be partially because of how they react in
these situations. If your child refuses to sit on the toilet and does not want anything to do

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with it, Freud would most likely say it has something to do with development, even
though that is not necessarily true.
In the phallic stage, the focus moves to genital simulation and the sexual
identification that comes with having or not having a penis. During this phase, Freud
thought that children turn their interest and love toward their parent of the opposite sex
and begin to strongly resent the parent of the same sex. (Oswalt, 2008, p. 1). He had a
name for this idea. He called it the Oedipus complex because it closely resembled the
events of a Greek play in which a king with the name Oedipus managed to marry his
mother and kill his father. Many people would say that this stage could go either way; it
really depends on the child that you are dealing with. There are many children that love
both parents and there are some that seam to favor their mom over their dad or their dad
over their mom. There are a lot of ways as to why this could be.
The phallic stage was thought to be followed by latency, which is the next stage of
sexual development in Freuds theory. During this stage, sexual urges and interest were
nonexistent. For example, even though Freud is talking about sexual development, he is
not referring to urges, but rather talking about how the child develops physically and
mentally. He also says how they react to the situations that he presents in his theories.
The last stage of sexual development is genital. During this stage, children were
thought to enter and remain in a final genital stage in which adult sexual interests and
activities came to dominate. (Oswalt, 2008, p.1). This stage of development usually
begins around puberty until adulthood. This is when adolescents direct their urges onto
opposite sex peers.

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Another part of Freuds theory was about identifying the parts of consciousness.
He thought that all babies are dominated by unconscious, instinctual and selfish urges,
which he labeled the Id. As babies attempt and fail to get all their whims met, they
develop a more realistic appreciation of what is realistic and possible, which Freud called
the Ego. (Oswalt, 2015, p. 1). Babies also learn about and represent their parents values
and rules. These rules are what Freud called the super-ego. This is the basis for
developing a childs conscience that deals with the concepts of right and wrong and also
works with the Ego to then control the urges of the Id.
Freud also believed that all children should smoothly transition their way through
these stages of sexual development. He said that the children, who transition smoothly
through all of his stages of development, grow to be very calm and well centered adults.
He believed that an unsuccessful competition meant that a child would become fixated
on that particular phase and either over or under-indulge throughout adulthood. (2011, p.
1). Many people who believe in Freuds theories of child development must now be very
careful. They must take their children through each of these stages, and allow the child to
go on with these feelings without any guilt or pressure.
So then how would Freud recommend his theories to todays parents? He would
most likely recommend to them to encourage their childrens natural tendencies to focus
on the above body parts and functions without allowing the children to overindulge.
(2011, p.1). A lot of parents now try to guide their children naturally to moderation when
it comes to all things, but if you believe in Freuds theories parents will then be limited by
their own things left from when they were a child. This makes it hard to steer their
children to do different types of things. This being said then, parents need to be educating

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themselves more. They need to know and understand what is normal and healthy for their
child and then balance their own parental style with those of child development
professionals.
Freud also had something else that he did that was very interesting. He had a
dream analysis. He considered dreams to be the royal road to the unconscious. Dreams
are very important when it comes to the unconscious mind and they serve as clues as to
how the mind operates. On July 24, 1895, Freud had his own dream that was to form the
basis of his theory. (McLeod, 2013, p.1). Freud proposed a theory that a function of
dreams was the fulfillment of many wishes. He distinguished between what the dreamer
remembers and the meaning of the dream. In Freuds later work on dreams he explored
the possibility of universal symbols in dreams. (McLeod, 2013, p. 1). However, Freud
said that general symbols are more personal rather than universal.
Even though he has been gone for almost 70 years, Freuds theories are still a
huge part of psychology, neuroscience, and culture; despite that many of his ideas were
wrong. His legacy has become a part of science. People are always using some term that
is from his work whether they realize it or not. Though some say he is very important,
others argue that some of his theories are dangerous. The main issue with Freud is that
even though his ideas seam very interesting he has no evidence to back it up. Even
though some of his stuff was wrong, he did get some things right. He showed that
human experience, thought and deeds are determined not by our conscious rationality, but
by irrational forces outside of our control. (Dvorsky, 2013, p.1).
Even though Freuds stages of sexual development are not very accurate, it is still
very important and influential today because it was the first theory that gained real

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attention. His work allowed for other psychologists to use his work as a starting point to
help them understand their own practices and theories that would lead to greater
developments of their own.

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Works Cited
"Sigmund Freud And Child Development." Mental Help Sigmund Freud and Child
Development Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.
"Sigmund Freud and Child Development - Child & Adolescent Development:
Overview." Sigmund Freud and Child Development - Child & Adolescent
Development: Overview. Angela Oswalt, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.
"Sigmund Freud's Theory of Child Development and Mental Disorders."Catatan Ku Seorang
Doktor. N.p., 07 Sept. 2011. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.
"Sigmund Freud's Theories | Simply Psychology." Sigmund Freud's Theories | Simply
Psychology. Saul McLeod, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.
"Why Freud Still Matters, When He Was Wrong About Almost Everything."Io9. George
Dvorsky, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.