Arrange the following experiences of Meera in the order of Freud's st…

Arrange the following experiences of Meera in the order of Freud's stages of psychosexual development.

(A) Meera's energy goes into school projects and games while her sexual urges stay relatively inactive.
(B) Meera finds pleasure in moving her bowels while her parents train her to control urination and defecation.
(C) Meera gets gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling.
(D) Meera learns to deal with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually mature way.
(E) Meera begins to realise the differences between males and females and grows attached to her father.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → C, B, E, A, D

(C) Meera gets gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling. — First. This is the oral stage of the newborn. The mouth is the main pleasure-seeking centre, so it comes first.

(B) Meera finds pleasure in moving her bowels while her parents train her to control urination and defecation. — Second. This is the anal stage, around ages two and three. Parents demand control of urination and defecation, so it comes second, right after infancy.

(E) Meera begins to realise the differences between males and females and grows attached to her father. — Third. This is the phallic stage, around ages four and five. The child notices sex differences and, as a girl, attaches her love to the father (Electra complex), so it comes third, before latency.

(A) Meera's energy goes into school projects and games while her sexual urges stay relatively inactive. — Fourth. This is the latency stage, from about seven years until puberty. Sexual urges are relatively inactive and energy goes into social or achievement-related activities, so it comes fourth.

(D) Meera learns to deal with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually mature way. — Fifth. This is the genital stage. The person attains maturity in psychosexual development, so it comes last.

Note: Students often swap the phallic and latency stages; latency comes after the phallic stage and lasts until puberty.

NCERT (2026-27): “Stages of Personality Development …
Oral Stage : A newborn’s instincts are focused on the mouth. This is the infant’s primary pleasure seeking centre. It is through the mouth that the baby obtains food that reduces hunger. The infant achieves oral gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling. It is during these early months that people’s basic feelings about the world are established. Thus, for Freud, an adult who considers the world a bitter place probably had difficulty during the oral stage of development.”

“Anal Stage : It is found that around ages two and three the child learns to respond to some of the demands of the society. One of the principal demands made by parents is that the child learns to control the bodily functions of urination and defecation. …”

“Latency Stage : This stage lasts from about seven years until puberty. During this period, the child continues to grow physically, but sexual urges are relatively inactive. Much of a child’s energy is channelled into social or achievementrelated activities.”

“Genital Stage : During this stage, the person attains maturity in psychosexual development. The sexuality, fears and repressed feelings of earlier stages are once again exhibited. People learn to deal with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually mature way. However, if the journey towards this stage is marked by excessive stress or over-indulgence, it may cause fixation to an earlier stage of development.”