Polymorphous perversity is the ability of finding sexual pleasure from any part of the body. This is contrary to the normal life of adults who view this ability of a child as being erotic in nature. According to Freud theory, a child is born with unfocused pleasure thus they can derive pleasure from any part of the body. Polymorphous perversity in children can be suppressed through civilized education. Freud argues that this ability to derive pleasure from any part of the body can have an impact in the adulthood life of an individual. The oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital are the major stages that Freud used to explain his theory of sexuality in human life.
Freud describes the oral stage as the first phase of child development. In this stage, the libido is centered in the baby’s mouth. The baby will struggle to satisfy this urge by putting anything in the mouth. Further, Freud describes that this urge needs to be neutralized at an early stage since it may have an overall oral fixation in the later life. The anal stage is the next transitional phase of child development. In this stage, the child is able to draw sexual pleasure from the anal region. Freud argues that, early potty training can help groom a relentless individual who hates mess. In the phallic stage, the child’s sexual urges are now centered at the genital area. Freud describes the child’s behavior of identification. In this stage, the boy child will become jealous of the father. The child is able to envy his father by adopting the masculine traits of a man. In the latency stage, the psychosexual development ceases to occur. The child is able to channel the energy into other skills. Finally the genital stage, describes the personality development phase. Freud describes puberty as the main phase where an individual gathers the sense of responsibility.
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During the early stages of undifferentiated pleasure, the bisexual urges are considered normal. Though certain modes of behavior in a child are forbidden but they normally occur in nature. For example in the oral phase, the child tends to have a libidinal bond with the mother. With further development, the child tends to control the sexual drives which may eventually cease to occur with age.
According to Freud, the mental disturbance of an adult could be an inherent problem from his or her childhood days. The libido moves to different areas of the body as the child matures. Little or excessive gratification in this early stages of development could have an impact in adulthood days ( Holt, 1989). The child-like traits of an adult like being dependent could be derived from little or too much oral stimulation during childhood phase. Also, the adult could strive to recapture the lost childhood days by chewing gum a lot or smoking just to satisfy his or her oral pleasures. Therefore, Freud stresses on the proper neutralization of this urges at an early stage for proper nurturing of a child into a responsible adult.
The anal stage is another psychosexual stage, where sensational pleasures become centered at the anal area. In this stage the child becomes fascinated by his or her bowling activities or bathrooms. According to Freud, a child who less enjoys the anal sensations may become a tidy and neat adult. On the opposite, the one who inappropriately enjoy the anal sensations may become a messy adult.
Other than the Freud’s theory, there are other alternatives which explain the adulthood psychological difficulties. Vygotsky’s and Behaviorism theories are other alternatives to the Freud’s theory of child development. According to the Vygotsky’s theory, the development of a child’s behavior is based on how he or she interacts with adults for example parents or teachers Scaffolding is the cultural shaping of a child based on how he or she interacts with the elderly. A child learns from the adults, and whatever is learnt will be replicated in his or her behavioral changes. It is therefore important for parents to model the behavior of their children by exposing them to rather modest environments. According to this theory, a child who gets proper scaffolding is likely to be a productive adult ( Leong & Bodrova, 1996).
Behaviorism theory focuses on the allowed behavior of a child. This can be implemented through either positive or negative reinforcements. According to this theory, a child needs proper corrective measures to become a well behaved adult. The brain of a child is conditioned to behave in a certain manner. For example, if a child cries he or she will automatically expect a response. This reinforcement of a child’s behavior helps to condition the brain to act in a given manner ( Eron, 1987) . The child will grow knowing what is expected of him or her. At this early stages the kind of reinforcements to be used need to be evaluated with thorough strictness. This theory focuses on the behavior rather than sexuality as exhibited by the Freud’s theory. Though behavior can be reinforced, the environmental factors also have an impact on the child development. The environmental factors may act as a limiting factor in the success of this theory. Parents may want their children to act in a certain manner, but what a child is exposed to while playing with others reduces the impact of the reinforcing activity.
In summary, Freud’s theory has greater importance to the daily lives. The correct modeling of an adult is based on how the early stage urges are repressed. In support of the Freud theory, the other alternative theories do not focus on sexuality but rather offer perspectives of adult sexuality development. Positive or negative reinforcements to a child’s behavior have greater impact to the adulthood life. Even though the Freud’s theory is criticized for being sexually censored, it offers insights of human behavior.
References
Leong, D., & Bodrova, E. (1996). Tools of the mind the Vygotskian approach to early childhood education.
Eron, L. D. (1987). The development of aggressive behavior from the perspective of a developing behaviorism. American psychologist , 42 (5), 435.
Holt, R. R. (1989). Freud reappraised: A fresh look at psychoanalytic theory . Guilford Press.
