Sigmund Freud's Five Stages Of Development

Running Head: INFANCY DEVELOPMENTAL PROFILE There are many different perspectives on how people develop, one of these is that of Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theory of development is called Psychoanalytic theory. In the Psychoanalytic Theory, Freud has five stages he says children go through in development. The first of these stages is the oral stage, the second is the anal stage, the third is the phallic stage, and the fourth is the latency stage and the fifth is the genital stage (Boundless Open Textbook. n.d.). The oral stage is the one most closely associated with infancy, according to Freud in this stage. The lips, tongue, and gums are the focus of pleasurable sensations in the baby’s body, and sucking and feeding are the most stimulating …show more content…
The germinal stage is the first 14 days of pregnancy (Berger, K. (2004) pg. 94). This stage begins at conception and goes all the way through to implantation. Conception is where the egg and the sperm unite to form the zygote, the zygote then travels to the uterus through the fallopian tube. In the uterus, the zygote goes through the process of cell division. After completing cell division, the zygote attaches to the uterine wall, in a process called implantation this ends the germinal stage (Cherry, K. n.d.). The next stage is the embryonic stage, which last from the third through the eighth week (Berger, K. (2004) pg. 95). During this stage, the cells begin to form a body system, the neural tube forms, the head, eyes, nose, and mouth begin, as well as the cardiovascular system and the legs and arms (Cherry, K. n.d.). The last stage of prenatal development is known as the fetal stage. This stage occurs from the ninth week until birth. During this stage, the brain, and spinal cord form as well as the appearance of sex organs. This stage is mostly for the growing and preparation of the baby entering the world (Cherry, K.