Synonyms
Definition
Anal expulsive and anal retentive personalities are forms of sadistic and rigid personality that are associated with the psychoanalytic theory of personality development.
Introduction
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory proposes that children progress through a series of psychosexual stages, each associated with a particular “erotogenic” part of the body. Each body part – mouth, anus, and genitals for the oral, anal, and phallic stages, respectively – provides a source of bodily pleasure as well as a set of developmental challenges for the child to master. If the child encounters difficulties in a particular stage, perhaps because of conflicts with parents or others that arise from expressing or inhibiting its desires, a fixation may result. Fixations at a developmental stage create points of vulnerability in later life. The insufficiently resolved psychosexual stage may leave its mark on adult personality and create vulnerability for particular...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Abraham, K. (1923). Contributions to the theory of the anal character. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 4, 400–418.
Freud, S. (1959). Character and anal erotism. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 9, pp. 167–175). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1908).
Haslam, N. (2011). The return of the anal character. Review of General Psychology, 15, 351–360.
Jones, E. (1950). Anal-erotic character traits. In Papers on psychoanalysis (5th ed., pp. 413–437). London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox. (Originally published 1918).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Haslam, N. (2016). Anal Expulsive/Anal Retentive Personality. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1357-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1357-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences