Understanding the Oedipal and Electra Complex

643 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Strengths and weaknesses of sigmund freud's theory of psychosexual development

Understanding the Oedipal and Electra Complex Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory on human sexuality introduces the Oedipal and Electra complexes as a psychological approach in understanding the origins of sexual orientation. Most people disagree with his theory and throw out the concept of the Oedipal and Electra conflicts altogether. This is because many are misinformed about the subject or do not completely understand it. Both the Oedipal and Electra complex play a vital role in the psychoanalysis of human behavior and appear in myths, fairy tales, and contemporary films. Freud believed that the experiences during childhood were important predictors of later adult personality. Each of us, he said, passes through five psychosexual stages during the first twelve or so years of life: the Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital stages. Freud also believed that movement through all five stages is motivated by strong biological drives, but he also suggested that if a child's needs are not met or are overindulged at one particular stage the child may fixate and a part of the personality may remain stuck at that stage (Huffman 453). Even of they make it throughall five stages, people may return (or regress) to a stage at which earlier needs were badly frustrated or overgratified. During the phallic stage (from three to six years of age), the major center of pleasure is the phallus (penis) for boys and the clitoris for girls. Children develop a desire for the opposite-sex parent and a wish to displace the same-sex parent. This attraction creates a conflict, the Oedipus complex for boys and the Electra complex for girls, that must be resolved. In Freud's view, young boys desire their mother and unconsciously want to replace their father, but, recognizing the father's power, they fear he will punish them by castration. This castration anxiety and the Oedipus conflict are resolved when the boy represses his sexual feelings for his mother, gives up his rivalry with his father, and begins to identify with him (Rathus 284). In the case of young girls , Freud believed they desire their father and unconsciously want to replace their mother.

Show More
Related

  • Joocasta In Oedipus The King

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story of Oedipus the king led to The Oedipus Complex. This is described as, " a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex" (www.britanica.com).

    Read More

  • The Oedipus Complex

    1749 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Oedipus complex was developed by the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The complex describes Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages of development in children, particularly boys. It denotes a boy’s feelings of lust and desire for the mother, and jealousy and envy for the father. The boy views the father as a rival for possession of his mother’s love and affection (Cherry).

    Read More

  • Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    The oral stage takes place from birth until age 1, which involves the infant’s mouth as the focus of gratification derived from the pleasure of oral exploration of his or her environment and receiving primary nourishment from one’s mother’s breast. In addition to this, the anal phase takes place from age 1 until age 3, which involves the infant’s more erotic zone changing from the mouth to the anus. Finally, the phallic stage takes place from age 3 until age 6, which involves the child’s genitalia becoming his or her primary aphrodisiacal zone. It is in this third infantile development stage that children become aware of their bodies and the bodies of others. They gratify physical curiosity by undressing and exploring each other and their genitals, and so learn the physical and sexual differences between genders. These stages reflect base levels of desire, but they also involve fear of loss and mistreatment. To keep all of this conflict buried in one’s unconscious, Freud argued that one develops defenses: selective perception, selective memory, denial, displacement, projection, regression, fear of intimacy, and fear of death, among

    Read More

  • The Obsessive Impulsive's Style Of Behavior

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    VIII. the Oedipus complex occurs during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. a boy's decisive psychosexual experience is the Oedipus complex son–father competition for possession of mother. In third stage of psychosexual development that the child's genitalia are his or her primary erogenous zone; thus, when children become aware of their bodies, the bodies of other children, and the bodies of their parents, they gratify physical curiosity by undressing and exploring themselves, so learning the anatomic differences between the gender differences between boy and girl.

    Read More

  • Psychodynamic Theory

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through case study, the psychodynamic approach was developed by Sigmund Freud. Freud visited Charcot’s, a laboratory in Paris investigating people suffering from hysteria. There, Freud began patient case studies (Crain, p. 254). Freud developed 5 stages of human development known as the Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital stages. The Oral stage is from the ages of birth to 18 months. This stage engages in oral activities such as sucking. Next the Anal stage begins around age 18 months to 3 years of age. Freud suggests that during the Anal stage a child focuses on the pleasure of purging from the rectal area. The Phallic stages, none as the masturbation stage, when a child get’s pleasure from focusing on his genital areas usually happens during ages 3 years to 6 years of age. After the Phallic stage come the Latency stages. Latency is when children at the ages of 6 to 12 years old work to develop cognitive and interpersonal skills suppressing sexual interests but those 12 years and older fall into the Genital stages. During the Genital stage those suppressed sexual interests re-occur and the need to find gratification dependent on finding a partner (Craig & Dunn, p 12)

    Read More

  • Examples Of Indecisiveness In Hamlet

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to psychologist Sigmund Freud, who is known for his theory of psychoanalysis, the human mind contains “a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories” (Meyers 597). These unconscious desires then resurface and develop into the impulses for one’s actions and thoughts. Moreover, one of the most prominent and often times controversial ideas of this theory is the Oedipus complex. In Meyer’s textbook of psychology, the Oedipus complex is described as affecting young males by causing the development of sexual desires for their mothers and also jealousy towards their fathers

    Read More

  • Middle Childhood to Adolescents

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory labeled this period of life the latency stage, a time when sexual and aggressive urges are repressed. Freud suggested that no significant contributions to personality development were made during this period; therefore, middle childhood was not considered an important stage in human development according to Freud’s analytical theory. However, more recent theorists have recognized the importance of middle childhood for the development of cognitive skills, personality, motivation, and inter-personal relationships. Erikson's conception of middle childhood is the industry/inferiority stage were children begin to develop an attitude about themselves, develop self-esteem, internalize society's standards, and develop an evaluation of socially relevant emotions of shame and pride.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Freud And Bandura

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Phallic Stage =) the child learn to differentiate between the male and the female gender and becomes aware of sexuality. He clarified during that stage a child experience the Oedipus complex, meaning that young boys have very strong feelings toward their mother and as a result, they developed jealousy toward their father. They feeling can be so strong that they want to kill their father. The Elektra complex which reveals girl attraction for the father will result in a feeling of distaste for toward their mother.

    Read More

  • Weakness in Sigmound Freud’s Theories

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another weakness in Freud’s theories was on his biased, sexist male view on female inferiority such as his idea of “penis envy”. Although Carl Jung developed the Electra complex, expressing girls do have sexual desires for their fathers. Resenting their mothers in the process. Freud became outraged by this concept, claiming that it was misleading to imply that both genders experiences are similar.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Freud And Erikson

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Freud’s psychosexual theory and Erikson’s psychosocial theory are two very renowned developmental concepts. Erikson was persuaded by Freud’s ideas but he elaborated on the theory differently.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sigmund Freud's Psychoosexual Stages Of Development

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    During this stage focus on the development when one starts to show interest in their sexual body parts, gender identity, the first interest in the opposite sex. Freud states that children during this stage often struggle with desires toward their parents of the opposite sex. During this stage children develop a curiosity towards their genitals and my also learn that the there is a difference in size among each individual. Freud developed the term Oedipus and Electra complex, which described the difference in the phallic stage between male and females. Oedipus, which refers to the story of how a man killed his father unknowingly and eventually marrying his own mother that he was also unaware of. Freud states that during the phallic stage boys fall in love with their mothers, they view their mothers as love objects. Though Freud emphasizes that boys saw mothers as love object he had a different opinion of girls and fathers. He referred to the Electra complex as girl seeking for their father’s attentions and openly seeks their father’s approval. I would say Freud might be the cause of the terms mamma’s boy and daddy’s girl. The oral, anal and phallic stage plays major parts of development especially in the development of trust, gender identity, positive and negative emotions. Freud stresses that during this stage it’s important for parents to respond positively to children during this time where sexuality will be

    Read More

  • The Confessional Poetry Of Anne Sexton And Sylvia Plath

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The term Electra complex which according to Freud is ‘feminine Oedipus attitude’ is for the first time coined by C. G. Jung as ‘Electra complex’. This term refers to “a type of arrested development in an older female child or woman, in which the daughter adulates the father and scorns the mother” (Swiontkowski 31) for she lacks a penis which is a phallus, a symbol of power and authority. While Freud sees the complex from anatomical and sexual point of view, Jung sees it from symbolic point of view where biological father is often absent. If we read the poems identified with the Electra complex written by Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, we will notice that both the poets represent an imaginary image of the fathers to symbolize patriarchal power what they want to gain not to see their position as victim in the patriarchal social structure any more. Gale Swiontkowski clearly points out why a daughter shows her excessive psychological attachment towards her father and denying her mother. She

    Read More

  • A Comparison Between Freud and Erikson

    1947 Words  | 4 Pages

    From a Freudian perspective, human development is based on psychosexual theory (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Psychosexual theory indicates that maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). It was Freud’s perspective that there are three components of personality (the id, ego, and superego) that become integrated into his five stage theoretical model. The id was the biological or drive component that is innate from birth. The sole purpose of the Id is satiate an individual’s internal drives (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). The ego is the conscious portion of our personality that mediates between our id and superego. Throughout development the ego reflects the child’s emerging ability to...

    Read More

  • Sigmund Freud's Theory Of Psychoosexual Development

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    Freud believed that humans develop through stages based on particular erogenous zones. Freud theorized that to gain a healthy personality as an adult, a person would have to successfully complete a certain sequence of five stages. Within the five stages of Freud’s psychosexual development theory, Freud assumed there would be major consequences if any stage was not completed successfully. The stages, in order, were the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage. In general, Freud believed that an unsuccessful completion of any stage would make a person become fixated on that particular stage. The outcome would lead the person to either over indulge or under indulge the failed stage during adulthood. Freud truly believed that the outcomes of the psychosexual stages played a major part in the development of the human personality. Eventually, these outcomes would become different driving forces in every human being’s personality. The driving forces would determine how a person would interact with the world around them. The results from Freud’s theory about the stages of psychosexual development led Freud to create the concept of the human psyche; Freud’s biggest contribution to

    Read More

  • The Three Elements of Personality by Sigmund Freud

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theory does a good job at delineating the stages of psychosexual development; our childhood has a great influence on our personalities. Referring to Freud’s ‘psychosexual stages’, it is very clear that parents’ role in an infant’s life is the foremost step to structure the personality. Not to forget, the oral and anal stages are focal fundamental to character traits in a person’s behavior. The inner ‘instincts’ of sexuality and aggression meeting with the socially acceptable norms creates a conflict zone, wherein it is decided what we are to do and what we would become.

    Read More

More about Understanding the Oedipal and Electra Complex

Open Document