Anal stage
Encyclopedia
The anal stage, in Freudian
psychology
, is the period of human development
occurring at about one to two years of age. Around this age, the child begins to toilet train, which brings about the child's fascination in the erogenous zone of the anus. The anal stage coincides with the start of the child’s ability to control their anal sphincter, and therefore their ability to give or withhold gifts at will.
This is the second stage of Freud's psychosexual stages
. This stage represents a conflict with the id
, ego, and superego. The child is approached with this conflict with the parent's demands. A successful completion of this stage depends on how the parents interact with the child while toilet training. If a parent praises the child and gives rewards for using the toilet properly and at the right time then the child will successfully go through the stage. However, if a parent ridicules and punishes a child while he or she is at this stage, the child can respond in negative ways. The child can respond to the harsh demands by refusing to use the toilet or by excreting maliciously. This behavior from a child can lead to an anal expulsive
character. A child who has not successfully completed this behavior will become an adult who has an anally expulsive character. His or her personality will be characterized as disorganization, messiness, recklessness, carelessness, and defiance. If the child's tactics are overindulged, then he or she can form an anal retentive
character as an adult. The anal retentive character is the opposite of an anally expulsive character. This child will find pleasure in withholding faeces in the body. However, a child who has successfully completed this stage will be characterized as having used proper toilet training techniques throughout toilet training years and will successfully move on to the next stage of Freud's psychosexual developmental stages. Although the stage seems to be about proper toilet training, it is also about controlling behaviors and urges. A child needs to learn certain boundaries when he or she is young so that in the future there will not be contention regarding what is over-stepping the boundaries.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, is the period of human development
Child development
Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
occurring at about one to two years of age. Around this age, the child begins to toilet train, which brings about the child's fascination in the erogenous zone of the anus. The anal stage coincides with the start of the child’s ability to control their anal sphincter, and therefore their ability to give or withhold gifts at will.
This is the second stage of Freud's psychosexual stages
Psychosexual development
In Freudian psychology, psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory, that human beings, from birth, possess an instinctual libido that develops in five stages. Each stage — the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital — is characterized...
. This stage represents a conflict with the id
Id, ego, and super-ego
Id, ego and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described...
, ego, and superego. The child is approached with this conflict with the parent's demands. A successful completion of this stage depends on how the parents interact with the child while toilet training. If a parent praises the child and gives rewards for using the toilet properly and at the right time then the child will successfully go through the stage. However, if a parent ridicules and punishes a child while he or she is at this stage, the child can respond in negative ways. The child can respond to the harsh demands by refusing to use the toilet or by excreting maliciously. This behavior from a child can lead to an anal expulsive
Anal expulsive
The term anal-expulsive refers to a personality trait present in people fixated in the anal stage of psychosexual development.In the psychology of Freud, the anal stage is said to follow the oral stage of infant/early-childhood development...
character. A child who has not successfully completed this behavior will become an adult who has an anally expulsive character. His or her personality will be characterized as disorganization, messiness, recklessness, carelessness, and defiance. If the child's tactics are overindulged, then he or she can form an anal retentive
Anal retentive
The term anal-retentive , commonly abbreviated to anal, is used conversationally to describe a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others, and can be carried out to the detriment of the anal-retentive person. The term derives from Freudian...
character as an adult. The anal retentive character is the opposite of an anally expulsive character. This child will find pleasure in withholding faeces in the body. However, a child who has successfully completed this stage will be characterized as having used proper toilet training techniques throughout toilet training years and will successfully move on to the next stage of Freud's psychosexual developmental stages. Although the stage seems to be about proper toilet training, it is also about controlling behaviors and urges. A child needs to learn certain boundaries when he or she is young so that in the future there will not be contention regarding what is over-stepping the boundaries.
See also
- Psychosexual developmentPsychosexual developmentIn Freudian psychology, psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory, that human beings, from birth, possess an instinctual libido that develops in five stages. Each stage — the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital — is characterized...
- Oral stageOral stageIn Freudian psychoanalysis, the term oral stage denotes the first psychosexual development stage wherein the mouth of the infant is his or her primary erogenous zone...
- Phallic stagePhallic stageIn Freudian psychology, the Phallic stage is the third stage of psychosexual development, spanning the ages of three to six years, wherein the infant’s libido centers upon his or her genitalia as the erogenous zone...
- Genital stageGenital stageThe genital stage in psychology is the term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the final stage of human psychosexual development. This stage begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their...
- Oral stage