The Complex: A Psychological Concept Of The Oedipus Complex

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Skyler Crane Hon 101 Professor Joseph Atkins 23 September 2015 The Oedipus Complex The Oedipus complex is an interesting psychological concept. Sigmund Freud first started using the term “Oedipus complex” around 1910 referencing Oedipus Rex by ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles (Wikipedia.org). When introduced to society, the Oedipus complex was greeted by many people as somewhat controversial. The theory was expanded upon by Freud to include female children, as the original Oedipus complex only related to the male sex, by creating the term “feminine Oedipus attitude”, but the term would be forgotten for the most part since Carl Jung’s “Electra complex” was better received. (Wikipedia.org). Jung’s theory was eventually grouped together with …show more content…

To put it simply, the Oedipus complex attempts to explain the psychological processes that cause a male child to feel emotions of sexual desire towards a parent of the opposite sex (Wikipedia.org). The Oedipus complex, lesser known as the Oedipal complex, is reserved for male children; however, there is a female equivalent for the psychological theory. The female counterpart to the Oedipal complex was called the first devised by Carl Jung in 1913 and was dubbed the Electra complex. (Wikipedia.org). The Electra complex attempts to explain the psychosexual competition between a female child and her mother. It basically follows the same process as the Oedipus complex with a one of the few alterations between the two theories being the sex of the …show more content…

It is this struggle of feelings between love and hate that causes feelings of guilt to take hold in the child. Caught between two distinct emotions, the child will either continue to compete with the parent of the opposite sex or he or she will continue on to the next stage of the Oedipus or Electra complex. Assuming that the child continues to compete with the parent of the same sex, he or she would eventually withdraw their efforts once they realize that their rival is the preferred mate and focus their efforts on the next step in either of the two processes which is known as

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