Personality and Counseling Theory Practice Exam

Freud's theory posits that maladaptive behaviors are often the result of internal conflicts and fixations that arise during early childhood development, specifically during psychosexual stages. According to Freud, these stages—oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital—are critical for personality formation. If conflicts or frustrations occur at any of these stages, they may lead to fixation, which can manifest as maladaptive behaviors in adulthood.

The idea is that when an individual has not successfully navigated a particular stage, unresolved issues can linger in the unconscious mind. This can lead to anxiety or other behavioral issues later in life as the individual struggles to cope with the repercussions of these early conflicts. For instance, someone fixated at the oral stage may develop dependency issues or other related maladaptive behaviors.

This understanding is foundational to Freudian psychoanalysis, where the exploration of these early experiences and conflicts is crucial for resolving present-day issues. The other options, while they may touch upon relevant concepts, do not capture the specific reasoning Freud provided for the emergence of maladaptive behaviors as succinctly as the first statement about conflicts and fixations during early development.