#Resource # Conscientiousness > You’re right that Freudian anal retentiveness has largely fallen out of serious psychological use — it belongs to a theoretical framework (psychosexual development stages) that modern psychology has mostly moved away from for lack of empirical support. But the personality cluster it was pointing at is very real and well-documented — it just lives under different names now. ### What Replaced It > Conscientiousness — Big Five > The most scientifically robust modern equivalent. High Conscientiousness — particularly the Orderliness facet — captures precisely what people mean colloquially by anal: a strong preference for structure, rules, correct procedure, and things being done the right way. It is one of the most reliably measured personality dimensions in psychology and has decades of empirical backing. > The cutlery situation is almost textbook high-Orderliness — a specific, rule-governed standard for how things should be arranged, with genuine discomfort when it isn’t met. ### Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder — OCPD > At its more extreme end, the cluster of traits Freud was gesturing at maps onto what the DSM now calls OCPD — distinct from OCD, which is about intrusive thoughts and compulsive acts. OCPD is a personality style characterised by: • Preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control • Rigidity around rules, lists, and correct procedure • Difficulty delegating because others won’t do things correctly • A moralistic quality — the right way isn’t just preferred, it feels ethically important Research by Samuel Pollak and others has documented this cluster reliably. Importantly OCPD exists on a spectrum — most people with strong orderliness traits don’t meet clinical threshold, but the research describes the same underlying psychology. Perfectionism Research Gordon Flett and Paul Hewitt have done extensive work on perfectionism as a measurable personality dimension — specifically socially prescribed perfectionism (believing others must meet one’s standards) and other-oriented perfectionism (imposing perfectionistic standards on others). This is arguably the most precise modern research frame for what you’re describing — the cutlery criticism is essentially other-oriented perfectionism in action. Flett and Hewitt’s research shows this dimension to be distinct from healthy conscientiousness — it carries a more evaluative, critical quality and tends to damage relationships over time precisely because it frames others’ natural behaviour as deficient. So Is Anal Still Usable? As casual shorthand in everyday conversation — yes, most people still understand it and it communicates something real. As a precise psychological term — no, it carries too much theoretical baggage from a framework that hasn’t held up empirically. The more accurate modern phrase for what you’re experiencing from Lucy would be something like high other-oriented perfectionism or simply high Orderliness — both of which have solid research behind them and neither of which requires Freud. Worth noting: on your own Big Five results, your Orderliness score was very low (6). Lucy’s is almost certainly very high. That gap alone — independent of any other dynamic — predicts exactly the kind of friction you’re experiencing around domestic habits and standards.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​