Which description would Freud give for a child who exhibits biting, sarcastic behavior?

Which description would Freud give for a child who exhibits biting, sarcastic behavior?

• A. Fixated in the anal stage
• B. Fixated in the oral stage
• C. Fixated in the phallic stage
• D. Fixated in the latency stage

Answer: (B)

In Freud’s theory, personality can become stuck at a psychosexual stage if needs are overly satisfied or frustrated, shaping behaviors that echo that stage later on. The mouth-centered oral stage, spanning infancy, is all about gratification through activities involving the mouth—sucking, chewing, and biting. If this stage is unresolved, a child may develop an oral fixation, continuing to seek mouth-related pleasures or ways to express themselves verbally through the mouth. Biting is a primal example of oral activity, and sarcasm can be seen as a way to express verbal aggression that originates from that same mouth-centered energy. The other stages—anal deals with control and toilet training, leading to traits around cleanliness or obsessiveness; the phallic stage relates to gender identity and interpersonal relationships; the latency stage is a period of relative quiet with reduced psychosexual focus. So, describing the child as fixated at the oral stage best accounts for biting and the associated verbal, mouth-driven expressions.

In Freud’s theory, personality can become stuck at a psychosexual stage if needs are overly satisfied or frustrated, shaping behaviors that echo that stage later on. The mouth-centered oral stage, spanning infancy, is all about gratification through activities involving the mouth—sucking, chewing, and biting. If this stage is unresolved, a child may develop an oral fixation, continuing to seek mouth-related pleasures or ways to express themselves verbally through the mouth. Biting is a primal example of oral activity, and sarcasm can be seen as a way to express verbal aggression that originates from that same mouth-centered energy. The other stages—anal deals with control and toilet training, leading to traits around cleanliness or obsessiveness; the phallic stage relates to gender identity and interpersonal relationships; the latency stage is a period of relative quiet with reduced psychosexual focus. So, describing the child as fixated at the oral stage best accounts for biting and the associated verbal, mouth-driven expressions.