In Freudian theory, neurotic personality results from what?

• A. Incomplete Resolution Of One Of The Stages Of Psychosexual Development
• B. An Overdeveloped Ego
• C. Dominance Of The Real Self Over The Ideal Self
• D. Excessive Social Conformity

Answer: (A)

Neurosis, in Freudian theory, comes from fixation: unresolved conflicts during a psychosexual stage leave lingering energy tied to that stage. When a child doesn’t successfully move beyond a stage, libido remains invested there, shaping adult behavior and producing anxious, neurotic symptoms. That’s why the best answer is incomplete resolution of a psychosexual development stage—the fault lies in unresolved development, not in the structure of the ego or in modern self-concept ideas.

The idea of an overdeveloped ego describes a different kind of personality issue, not the Freudian mechanism behind neurosis. Concepts like dominance of the real self over the ideal self belong to other theories and don’t explain neurotic symptoms within Freud’s framework. Excessive social conformity isn’t a Freudian explanation for neurosis either.