Unresolved conflict during the Anal stage is associated with which possible outcome?

Unresolved conflict during the Anal stage is associated with which possible outcome?

• A. Anal retentive
• B. Anal expulsive
• C. Phallic personality
• D. Genital stage

Answer: (A)

During the anal stage of Freud's psychosexual development, around ages 1–3, the key issue is toilet training and control. If this conflict isn’t resolved, fixation can develop and show up later as an analytic-retentive personality—people who are highly organized, precise, and sometimes stingy or stubborn. This pattern reflects a defensive attempt to maintain order and control that wasn’t achieved during early training. If the training hadn’t been strict enough, the opposite tendency—anal expulsive, marked by messiness and a lack of self-control—might emerge. The phallic and genital stages involve different conflicts and outcomes, so they don’t account for this particular pattern.

During the anal stage of Freud's psychosexual development, around ages 1–3, the key issue is toilet training and control. If this conflict isn’t resolved, fixation can develop and show up later as an analytic-retentive personality—people who are highly organized, precise, and sometimes stingy or stubborn. This pattern reflects a defensive attempt to maintain order and control that wasn’t achieved during early training. If the training hadn’t been strict enough, the opposite tendency—anal expulsive, marked by messiness and a lack of self-control—might emerge. The phallic and genital stages involve different conflicts and outcomes, so they don’t account for this particular pattern.