Editing Developmental psychology (section)

===Psychosexual development===
{{Main|Psychosexual development}}
[[Sigmund Freud]] developed a theory that suggested that humans behave as they do because they are constantly seeking pleasure. This process of seeking pleasure changes through stages because people evolve. Each period of seeking pleasure that a person experiences is represented by a stage of psychosexual development. These stages symbolize the process of arriving to become a maturing adult.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lantz |first1=Sarah E. |last2=Ray |first2=Sagarika |title=StatPearls |date=2025 |publisher=StatPearls Publishing |chapter-url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557526/ |chapter=Freud's Developmental Theory |pmid=32491458 }}</ref>

The first is the ''oral stage'', which begins at birth and ends around a year and a half of age. During the oral stage, the child finds pleasure in behaviors like sucking or other behaviors with the mouth. The second is the ''anal stage'', from about a year or a year and a half to three years of age. During the anal stage, the child defecates from the anus and is often fascinated with its defecation. This period of development often occurs during the time when the child is being toilet trained. The child becomes interested with feces and urine. Children begin to see themselves as independent from their parents. They begin to desire assertiveness and autonomy.

The third is the ''[[phallic stage]]'', which occurs from three to five years of age (most of a person's personality forms by this age). During the phallic stage, the child becomes aware of its sexual organs. Pleasure comes from finding acceptance and love from the opposite sex. The fourth is the ''latency stage'', which occurs from age five until puberty. During the latency stage, the child's sexual interests are repressed.

Stage five is the ''[[genital stage]]'', which takes place from puberty until adulthood. During the genital stage, puberty begins to occur.<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = McLeod S |title=Psychosexual Stages|url=http://www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219093455/http://www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html|archive-date=2014-12-19|access-date=2014-11-10|website=SimplyPsychology}}</ref> Children have now matured, and begin to think about other people instead of just themselves. Pleasure comes from feelings of affection from other people.

Freud believed there is tension between the conscious and unconscious because the conscious tries to hold back what the unconscious tries to express. To explain this, he developed three personality structures: id, ego, and superego. The id, the most primitive of the three, functions according to the pleasure principle: seek pleasure and avoid pain.<ref name="Theories2">{{cite book|title=Theories of personality: understanding persons| vauthors = Cloninger SC |date=29 June 2012|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=978-0-205-25624-2|edition=6th|location=Boston|pages=19–101}}</ref> The superego plays the critical and moralizing role, while the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the superego.<ref name="Snowden2">{{cite book|title=Teach Yourself Freud| vauthors = Snowden R |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]|year=2006|isbn=978-0-07-147274-6|pages=105–107}}</ref>