Age | Stage | Description |
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Birth to age 1 | Oral | The mouth is the primary focus of pleasurable and gratifying sensations, which the infant achieves via feeding and exploring objects with his or her mouth. |
Ages 1 to 3 | Anal | The anus is the primary focus of pleasurable sensations, which the young child derives through developing control over elimination via toilet training. |
Ages 3 to 6 | Phallic | The genitals are the primary focus of pleasurable sensations, which the child derives through sexual curiosity, masturbation, and sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent. |
Ages 7 to 11 | Latency | Sexual impulses become repressed and dormant as the child develops same-sex friendships with peers and focuses on school, sports, and other activities. |
Adolescence | Genital | As the adolescent reaches physical sexual maturity, the genitals become the primary focus of pleasurable sensations, which the person seeks to satisfy in heterosexual relationships. |