the appropriate times encourages positive outcomes. This will help reinforce the feeling that the child is capable of controlling their bladder. The parents help make the outcome of this stage a positive experience which in turn will lead to a competent, productive, and creative adult. This stage is also important in the child's future relationships with authority. According to Freud's Psychosexual Theory, parents need to be very careful in how they react to their children during this sensitive stage. During this stage children test their parents, the authority figures, on how much power they really have as opposed to how much room the child has to make his or her own decisions. Anal-retentive personality Negative parent-child interactions in the anal stage, including early or harsh toilet training, can lead to the development of an anal-retentive personality. If the parents are too forceful or harsh in training the child to control their own bowel movements, the child may react by deliberately retaining their bowel movements in rebellion. They will form into an adult who hates mess, and is obsessively tidy, punctual, and respectful to authority. These adults can sometimes be stubborn and be very careful with their money. Anal-expulsive personality Overly passive parent-child interactions in the anal stage lead to the development of an anal-expulsive personality. Because the child's parents were inconsistent or neglectful in teaching the child to control their own bowel movements, the child may relieve themselves at inappropriate times and soil their pants in rebellion against using the toilet. As adults, they will want to share things with their peers and give things away. They can sometimes be messy, disorganized, and rebellious. They may also be inconsiderate of others' feelings. Successful resolution of the anal stage A child who has successfully completed this stage will be characterized as having used proper toilet training techniques throughout toilet training years and will successfully move on to the next stage of Freud's psychosexual developmental stages. Although the anal stage seems to be about proper toilet training, it is also about controlling behaviors and urges. A child needs to learn certain boundaries when he or she is young so that in the future there will not be contention regarding what is overstepping the boundaries. Related to cognitive psychology According to the field of cognitive psychology, Freud's anal stage falls into the category of internal mental states. These internal mental states are referring