Psychoanalytic theory originated with Sigmund Freud from (1856- 1939), and Austrian physician who treated patients suffering from mental illness. He listened to their accounts of dreams and fantasies, as well as to their “uncensored” streams of thought, and constructed an elaborate, multifaceted theory. According to Freud, development in the first six years occurs in three stages, each characterized by sexual interest and pleasure centered on a particular part of the body. One of Freud’s, most influential ideas was that each stage includes its own potential conflicts. Conflict occurs, for instance, when parents try to wean their babies (oral stage) or teachers except six year olds to become independent of their parents (phallic stage). According to Freud, how people experience and resolve these conflicts-especially those related to weaning, toilet training, and sexual pleasure-determine personality patters, because “the early stages provide the foundation for adult behavior”(Salkind) Although they may not realize it, adults may have unconscious conflicts rooted in a childhood stage if they smoke cigarettes or keep careful track of money or are romantically attracted too much older partners. Freud put forward many other ideas about personality and psychopathology that are influential for interpreting adult behavior. However, his ideas about stages and parenting in the first five years are most relevant to child development. Many of Freud’s followers became famous psychoanalytic theorists themselves. Although they all acknowledge the importance of unconscious, irrational forces and early childhood, each of these neo Freudians expanded and modified Freud’s ideas. The most notable was Erik Erikson (1902-1994), who formulated his own version of psychoanalytic theory and applied it, to human development. Erikson described eight developmental stages, each characterized by a particular challenge, or developmental crisis. Although Erikson named two polarities at each...