Introduction Freuds Anal Stage is part of the Psychosexual Development theory, which was developed by psychologist Sigmund Freud.

The anal stage is the second stage in Sigmund Freuds theory of psychosexual development, lasting from age 18 months to three years. According to Freud, the anus is the primary erogenous zone and pleasure is derived from controlling bladder and bowel movement. The major conflict issue during this stage is toilet training. A fixation at this stage can result in a personality that is too rigid or one that is too disordered[1] . According to Freuds theory, personality developed through a series of stages throughout childhood. These stages are focused on erogenous areas. Freud believed in the libido, which he referred to as psychosexual energy. To Freud the libido was the driving force behind all of our behaviors. .

About the Anal Stage

The anal stage, in Freudian psychology, is the period of human development occurring at about one to three 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 erogenous zone is focused on the bowel and bladder control. Therefore, Freud believed that the libido was mainly focused on controlling the bladder and bowel movements. The anal stage coincides with the start of the childs ability to control their anal sphincter, and therefore their ability to give or withhold gifts at will. If the children during this stage can overcome the conflict it will result in a sense of accomplishment and independence. [2]

The Conflict in The Anal Stage

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 times 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.

Anal Stage Related to Cognitive Psychology

According to the field of Cognitive Psychology which acknowledges the existence of internal mental states, Freuds Anal Stage falls right into this category. These internal mental states are referring to belief, idea, motivation, and knowledge. Freud revolves the basis of his stages around these main ideas also. The result of whether a child completes this stage successfully or becomes fixated has a lot to do with the childs knowledge of his or her past with their toilet training experience, the motivation he or she received from the parents during the stage, and the childs own belief in how they should react to the situation. Cognitive psychology also focuses and studies on how people perceive, remember, and learn their surroundings, environment, and experiences. These are the three main reasons as to why a child will later on become either anal-retentive or anal-expulsive as an adult [1]. According to a study done by Adelson and Redmond consisting of 61 female students at Bennington College where they compared the ability for anal-retentive and analexpulsive memory. In order to diagnose the anal fixation the Blacky Test was administered to the subjects. The recall tests were given to five freshman literature classes in which the researcher explained to the students to read the papers carefully because they will be asked questions on them. The class had ten minutes in order to read the papers. In order to test immediate recall, the subjects were asked to write down everything they could remember right after reading the papers. A week later the researchers returned to the classrooms and asked the same students to write down everything they still remembered. At a first glance, psychoanalytic theory seems to offer no explicit statement on the problem, but a closer examination yields this hypothesis: individuals fixated at the late anal phase (the so called anal retentives) have a greater ability to recall verbal material than those fixated at the early anal phase (anal-expulsives) [3]. Anal-retentive individuals were found to have a better memory for verbal recall compared to those who were anal-expulsive. Anal retentives significantly show a better recall for both the immediate and delayed verbal material. Their results are consistent over time. The ability for a child to successfully complete the Anal Stage affects their life as an adult not only in the way they interact with others, but how they function intellectually and on a daily basis.