Thumb sucking is considered as emotional disturbance according to which psychological study?

 # Thumb sucking is considered as emotional disturbance according to which psychological study?

A. Classical conditioning

B. Operant conditioning

C. Freudian theory

D. Pavlov Theory

The correct answer is C. Freudian theory.

In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, thumb sucking is viewed as an oral-stage fixation or regression, stemming from unresolved emotional conflicts or disturbances during infancy, where sucking provides instinctual gratification but persists as a self-soothing mechanism indicative of underlying anxiety or unmet needs. This contrasts with classical conditioning (Pavlov's theory, option D) focused on stimulus-response associations, operant conditioning (option B) on reinforcement of behaviors, and lacks direct ties to emotional disturbance in those frameworks. Modern views often see it as normal self-soothing, but Freud's perspective pathologizes prolonged habits as symptomatic of psychosexual development issues.