Arjun is a 21-year-old engineering student in Pune. In school he put most of his energy into cricket and exams and showed little interest in romance. Now he is in a steady relationship with a classmate, Kavya. He treats her as an equal, respects her choices and talks through their disagreements calmly. Some childhood fears and feelings he had pushed aside for years have come up again, and he discusses them openly with the college counsellor.
In terms of Freud's stages of psychosexual development, Arjun's present behaviour belongs to which stage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Genital stage
Option (1) Latency stage — Incorrect. The latency stage lasts from about seven years until puberty, when sexual urges are relatively inactive and energy goes into social or achievement-related activities. That fits Arjun's school years.
Option (2) Phallic stage — Incorrect. The phallic stage comes in early childhood, around four to five years, when children notice the differences between males and females and face the Oedipal complex. Arjun is an adult, so this stage is long past.
Option (3) Genital stage — Correct. In the genital stage the person attains maturity in psychosexual development. Arjun relates to Kavya in a socially and sexually mature way, and his earlier fears and pushed-aside feelings come up again, as Freud describes for this stage.
Option (4) Anal stage — Incorrect. The anal stage comes around two to three years, when the child learns to control bodily functions as society demands. It has nothing to do with adult relationships like Arjun's.
NCERT (2026-27): “Greek king who unknowingly killed his … |