What Is Psychosexual Development?
Psychosexual development is a theory credited to Sigmund Freud, a neurologist who became well known for his psychological theories. According to Freud, a person’s experiences at an early age dramatically influence both his personality and his future actions. Freud’s psychosexual development theory focuses on psychosexual stages, with each focused on a particular part of the body capable of producing pleasant or pleasurable feelings, and each playing a role in the development of sexual instinct. Freud asserted that sexual instinct was the most important influence on personality. He claimed this instinct was present when a child was born and continued to develop through the psychosexual stages.