Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development

A familiar proverb states, ―As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.‖ Meant to apply as a metaphor to the raising of children, this saying contains within it an entire justification for the study of developmental psychology. Every adult was once a child, and the adult was shaped and formed by experiences during childhood. Psychologists as far apart in many of their assumptions and conclusions as Sigmund Freud and John Watson subscribed to the general view that in order to understand adult behavior it is necessary to study child behavior.

The contemporary approach to developmental psychology expands the concept of development well past childhood and adolescence. There are also developmental stages associated with adulthood.