Introduction

Freud's major contribution to psychology was in the structure and development of personality.   part of this can be thought of as the id, ego and superego which develop from a baby within the individual, in that order.   this however, is not strictly part of Freud’s developmental theory. According to the freudian theory of infantile sexuality,  Sexuality is not confined to physically mature adults, but is apparent from the moment of birth.  So, babies and young children have sexual experiences and are capable of sexual pleasure.  different parts of the body (the erogenous zones) are particularly sensitive as different times during infancy and childhood, and become the focus of sexual pleasure and frustration.

Whilst the sequence of these psychosexual stages is determined by maturation (a programmed biological process), what is crucial is how a child is treated by others, especially the parents.  Both excessive gratification and extreme frustration can result in an individual getting emotionally fixated (stuck) at a particular stage at which this occurs, producing adult personality traits.   These will be discussed later.

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