1 Psychology and human development1.12 Stages of human development
1.12.1 Psychoanalytic theories of development
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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published
New in the 2027 syllabus
The College added this topic for exams from January 2027.
Freud: drives and the structure of the mind
Freud's psychosexual model is a sequence of stages. At each stage a different part of the body is the main source of gratification. Freud explained later patterns through fixation (getting stuck at a stage) or regression (slipping back to an earlier one).
Stage | Approximate period | Proposed focus |
|---|---|---|
Oral | Infancy | Feeding and pleasure through the mouth |
Anal | Toddler years | Holding on, letting go and control |
Phallic | Preschool years | Rivalry, identification and the Oedipus complex |
Latency | School years before puberty | Drives relatively quiet, with wider activities |
Genital | Puberty onwards | Mature sexual and relationship interests |
The structural model divides the mind by function into id, ego and superego. It is different from the topographic model, which divides it into conscious, preconscious and unconscious.
Object relations and separation
In this language, an "object" usually means an important person, such as the caregiver.
Theorist | Concept | Proposed developmental change |
|---|---|---|
Klein | Paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions | From splitting people into all good or all bad, to recognising a whole loved person and tolerating mixed feelings (ambivalence) |
Mahler | Separation-individuation | Developing a separate self and an inner image of the caregiver that gives emotional support |
Winnicott | Good-enough care and transitional phenomena | Coping with manageable frustration while moving towards independence |
Bion | Containment | Another mind takes in overwhelming feelings and helps make them thinkable |
Two terms are easily confused:
Object constancy is emotional: the child holds a stable image of the caregiver while the caregiver is away.
Object permanence is Piaget's cognitive concept: knowing that an object still exists when out of sight.
Erikson extended psychoanalytic thinking into psychosocial tasks across the whole lifespan, including identity, intimacy and generativity.
Using the theories with care
These are historical and clinical frameworks, not proven universal stages. They cannot establish the cause of an individual's illness.
Mahler's historical phrase "normal autism" does not describe autism spectrum conditions. Do not use it as a modern developmental diagnosis.
Retrospective interpretation (reading back into someone's childhood) cannot establish that a particular parenting experience caused a symptom or personality trait.