He called these stages psychosexual development; Oral 0-18 months; medium of life through mouth, Anal 18 – 36 months; Toilet training and learning self-control, Phallic 3 – 6 years; discovery of genitals, Latency 6 – puberty; nothing emotionally happens here; and Genital puberty onwards; sex and independence. It was his belief that if any of these stages were over or under gratified then individuals would be fixated on that stage and as an adult would focus on the needs that were not met or over compensated. For example, over gratification in the oral stage could result in an adult who excessively smokes or overeats. It is during the phallic stage that Freud believed boys develop Oedipus complex; at the age of six, boys fall in love with their mothers and become resentful towards their fathers. When a boy saw a girl naked for the first time, he would believe that their penis had been cut off, leading to castration anxiety. A boy would then believe his father would do this to him; it is through this process that the boy identifies with his father, becoming less fearful of him. Freud believes it is then that the super ego …show more content…
He disagreed with Freud; he did not think that sexual or aggressive urges were motivators in behaviour, rather a drive for superiority was. He called his theory Individual Psychology, claiming that children feel weak or lacking when comparing themselves to adults. The feeling of inferiority is what drives an individual to learn and excel. Alder claimed that inferiority complex could develop from being either spoiled or neglected by parents as a child, leading individuals to compensate by focusing on superior things like status, wealth and