A person displays hand-to-mouth actions and heavy smoking; Freud would link this to unresolved issues from which stage?

• A. Anal stage
• B. Phallic stage
• C. Latency stage
• D. Oral stage

Answer: (D)

Oral-stage fixation explains these behaviors. In Freud’s theory, conflicts or friction during the first year of life around feeding and weaning can be unresolved, leading to fixation at the oral stage. When fixation persists into adulthood, the person may seek oral gratification through activities that involve the mouth—such as chewing, sucking, or biting, and smoking provides a persistent mouthful of stimulation. Frequent hand-to-mouth actions are another expression of that same drive.

Other stages wouldn’t typically account for this pattern: the anal stage centers on control and independence during toilet training; the phallic stage involves early psychosexual conflicts related to gender and self-identity; the latency stage is a period of relative calm in sexual development. So the observed behavior aligns with unresolved issues from the oral stage.