Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory posits that developmental change happens because internal drives and emotions influence behaviour. Freud argued that personality develops through a series of stages in which the energies are focused on certain erogenous areas (Kilborne, 2008). This psychosexual energy or libido is described as the driving force behind behaviour. On this basis, Freud developed his theory of Psychosexual development. In the development of his theories, Freud's main concern was with sexual desire, defined in terms of formative drives, instincts and appetites that result in the formation of an adult personality (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2003). He also argued that personality has three parts. The Id is the part of the personality that is entirely unconscious and compromises a person’s basic sexual and aggressive impulses and it contains the libido and stimulates a person to gain pleasure immediately. Next, the Ego is the thinking element of the personality, located in the conscience, preconscious and unconscious mind. Lastly, the Superego is the part of personality that is the moral judge. The Ego is responsible for keeping the three components of personality in equilibrium. Freud’s patients had memories of sexual feelings which he saw as important to personality development. Based on his patients’ childhood memories, Freud proposed a series of psychosexual stages. The psychosexual stages of personality development through which humans move in a static order determined by maturation are: oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency and, and the genital stage. (Newman & Newman, 2011)
The first stage of psychosexual development is the Oral Stage and it occurs during the first year of life. The infant's mouth is the only focus of libidinal gratification derived from the pleasure of feeding from their mother's breast. The infant also gains