Electra and oedipus
Definition, Freud, Examples, Symptoms, and More
The Electra complex is a term used to describe the female version of the Oedipus complex.
It involves a girl, aged between 3 and 6, becoming subconsciously sexually attached to her father and increasingly hostile toward her mother. Carl Jung developed the theory in 1913.
Sigmund Freud, who developed the Oedipus complex theory, first developed the idea that a young girl child competes with her mother for the sexual attention of her father.
However, it was Carl Jung — Freud’s contemporary — who first called this situation the “Electra complex” in 1913.
Just as the Oedipus complex was named after a Greek myth, so is the Electra complex.
According to Greek mythology, Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon, Electra persuaded her brother Orestes to help her kill both her mother and her mother’s lover.
According to Freud, all people go through numerous stages of psychosexual development as children. The most important stage is the “phallic stage” between the ages of 3 and 6.
According to Freud, this is when both boys and girls become fixated on the penis. Freud argued that girls fixate on their lack of a penis and, in its absence, their clitoris.
In a girl’s psychosexual development, Freud proposed, she’s first attached to her mother until she realizes she doesn’t have a penis. This causes her to resent her mother for “castrating” her — a situation Freud referred to as “penis envy.” Because of this, she develops an attachment to her father.
Later, the girl identifies more strongly with her mother and emulates her behavior out of fear of losing her mother’s love. Freud called this a “feminine Oedipus attitude.”
Freud believed this was a crucial stage in a young girl’s development, as it leads her to accept gender roles and understand her own sexuality.
Freud proposed that the feminine Oedipus attitude was more emotionally intense than the Oedipus complex, so it was repressed more harshly by the young girl.
This, he believed, led to women being less self-confident and more subservient.
Carl Jung expanded on this theory by labeling it the “Electra complex.” However, this label was rejected by Freud, who said it was an attempt to analogize the Oedipus complex between the sexes.
Since Freud believed there were crucial differences between the Oedipus complex and the feminine Oedipus attitude, he didn’t believe they should be conflated.
Initially, the girl is attached to her mother.
Then, she realizes she doesn’t have a penis. She experiences “penis envy” and blames her mother for her “castration.”
Because she wants to sexually possess a parent and she can’t possess her mother without a penis, she tries to possess her father instead. At this stage, she develops subconscious sexual feelings toward her father.
She becomes hostile toward her mother and fixated on her father. She might push her mother away or focus all her attention on her father.
Eventually, she realizes she doesn’t want to lose her mother’s love, so she becomes attached to her mother again, emulating her mother’s actions.
By emulating her mother, she learns to follow traditional gender roles.
In puberty, she’ll then start becoming attracted to men who aren’t related to her, according to Freud.
Some adults, Jung noted, could regress to the phallic stage or never grow out of the phallic stage, leaving them sexually attached to their parent.
The Electra complex isn’t widely accepted in psychology nowadays. As with many of Freud’s theories, the feminine Oedipus attitude complex and the notion of “penis envy” is also widely criticized.
Very little data actually supports the idea that the Electra complex is real. It’s not an official diagnosis in the the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
As a 2015 paper points out, Freud’s ideas about psychosexual development have been criticized as outdated because they rely on century-old gender roles.
The concept of “penis envy” has, in particular, been criticized as sexist. The Oedipus and Electra complexes also imply that a child needs two parents — a mother and a father — to develop properly, which has been criticized as heteronormative.
That said, it’s possible for young girls to experience sexual attraction toward their fathers. It’s just not as universal as Freud and Jung believed it to be, according to many in the field.
The Electra complex is no longer a widely accepted theory. Most psychologists don’t believe it’s real. It’s more a theory that’s become the subject of jokes.
If you’re concerned about your child’s mental or sexual development, reach out to a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or child psychologist. They can help guide you in a way that may settle your concerns.
What is the Difference Between Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex
The main difference between Oedipus complex and Electra complex is that Oedipus complex is relevant to both girls and boys while Electra complex is specifically relevant to girls.
Sigmund Freud developed the concept of Oedipus Complex to describe a child’s sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex.
Later, Carl Jung introduced Electra complex, which is the female equivalent of Oedipus complex. However, we often use Oedipus complex as a general term to describe both Oedipus and Electra complexes.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Oedipus Complex
– Definition, Characteristics, Development
2. What is Electra Complex
– Definition, Characteristics, Development
3. What is the Difference Between Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Carl Jung, Electra Complex, Oedipus Complex, Sigmund Freud
What is Oedipus Complex
Oedipus complex is a term Sigmund Freud used in his psychoanalytic theory of sexual drive. This term refers to a child’s sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex. According to Freud, this complex occurs during the phallic stage of development (around 3 – 6 years) in children.
Although these feelings and desires are unconscious and involuntary, they have a major impact on a child’s development.
Freud first talked about this concept in his book The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), but it was in the 1910s that this term actually began to be used. This term is named after the titular protagonist in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, who killed his father, married his mother unknowingly.
Moreover, it is also important to note that people use Oedipus complex as a general term to describe both Oedipus and Electra complexes. However, Oedipus complex particularly refers to a boy’s erotic desire for his mother and resentment, envy and rivalry towards his mother. Moreover, Freud describes how the boy wishes to possess his mother and take the position of his father, who he views as a rival for the mother’s affections.
These hostile feelings towards the father gradually lead to castration anxiety, which the boy’s irrational fear that the father will castrate him as punishment.
Then the boy gradually starts to identify with the father as a way to cope with this castration anxiety. He starts to adopt the values, attitudes and characteristics of his father, for example, gender roles and masculine personality. Through this process, the father becomes a role model instead of a rival, and boys acquire their superego and the male sex role. Moreover, boys’ desire for mother is substituted with the desire for other women.
What is Electra Complex
Electra complex is the female equivalent of the Oedipus complex. Carl Jung introduced this concept in his Theory of Psychoanalysis in 1913; however, Freud did not accept this theory as he believed that Oedipus complex applies to both boys and girls although they experience it differently.
What happens in the Electra complex is that girls aged 3 to 6 years become unconsciously attracted to their father and develop hostile feelings towards mothers, seeing them as their rivals. Penis envy is an element in female psychosexual development, where the daughter blames the mother for depriving her of a penis.
Eventually, this resentment leads the girl to identify with and emulate the mother, incorporating many of the mother’s characteristics into her ego.
Difference Between Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex
Definition
Oedipus Complex is a Freudian concept that describes a child’s sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex while Electra complex is a non-Freudian concept that describes a girls’ adoration and attraction to their fathers and resentment, hostility and rivalry towards their mothers.
Introduction
Sigmund Freud introduced Oedipus complex in 1899; Carl Jung introduced Electra complex in 1913 by Carl Jung as a female counterpart of Oedipus complex.
Sex
Moreover, Oedipus complex is traditionally used to describe a boy’s attraction towards the mother and sense of rivalry with father. In contrast, Electra complex describes a girl’s attraction towards the father and sense of rivalry with mother.
Associated Anxiety
In Oedipus complex, boys experience castration anxiety while in Electra complex, girls experience penis envy.
Conclusion
Oedipus Complex is a Freudian concept that describes a child’s sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex. In contrast, Electra complex is a non-Freudian concept that describes a girls’ adoration and attraction to their fathers and resentment, hostility and rivalry towards their mothers. Thus, this is the main difference between Oedipus complex and Electra complex.
Reference:
1. Cherry, Kendra. “What Is the Electra Complex in Psychoanalytic Theory?” Verywell Mind, 12 Aug. 2019, Available here.
2. McLeod, Saul. “Oedipal Complex.” Simple Psychology, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “young, girl, daughter, kid, child, dad, father, grandfather, family, holding hands” (CC0) via Pxfuel
2. “woman kissing boy, woman, black, bubble, jacket, carrying, boy, kissing, lips, daytime” (CC0) via Pxfuel
Oedipus and Electra Complex, attracting children to parents
Children from an early age are more inclined by one of the parents than the other, and it always develops in the same way, that is, children are much closer to their mothers, and girls are much closer to their fathers.
All this has a scientific explanation, called theory of sexuality .
This theory was described by Sigmund Freud , which stated that the development of a person is connected with his sexuality. But this sexuality did not refer to the concept of the genital zone, but rather covered a wider range of human affectivity. nine0003
One of these three phases is the one that basically explains this theory of sexuality, the so-called phallic phase , that is, from 3 to 5 years, when children are already interested in their own body, explore it and discover their genitals. In addition, they will be attracted to the difference between their gender and the gender of other people.
Index
- 1 Oedipus complex
- 2 Electra Complex
- 3 How should parents act in the face of these complexes?
Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex refers to the complex the love a child feels for his mother .
The child experiences an erotic desire for his mother to see his father as a rival. Freud defined this complex as the child's unconscious desire to maintain a sexual relationship with a parent of the opposite sex (mother) and eliminate the parent of the same sex (father).
He named it after the Oedipus complex according to the Greek myth of Oedipus the king who killed his father and then married his mother. nine0003
Child adopts possessive attitude prevent their parents from showing affection to each other. This is because the child is looking for identification and a pattern of behavior. At the end of this stage, the child will try to be like his rival, identifying himself with him and becoming a model of life.
Elektra Complex
In this case, it is that the girl feels love for her father , seeing her mother as a rival. This name was given by Carl Gustav Jung to refer to the counterpart of the Oedipus complex, with which Freud did not much agree.
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El Elektra complex is very common in girls at some point in childhood. However, this daughter's infatuation with her father may go even further, generating rivalry with her mother. However, this stage goes unnoticed as the girls maintain a very close bond with their mother, making it difficult to compete with her.
Therefore, if the phase resolves normally, the girl will accept her defeat assuming that his father's love is his mother, and she will be ready to seek love in another man. However, if this is not resolved, a pathological deviation may occur. nine0003
How should parents act in the face of these complexes?
In order for a boy and a girl to overcome this stage without any injuries, parents are a key support for them in finding their way. correct sexual role . Therefore, this stage should be treated positively, without attaching special importance to it.
You must live like something temporary , although without hurting children's feelings.
You must help him by doing all kinds of activities with the whole family, as well as with other children, so that they communicate with people who are not part of his circle. nine0003
As for the children, they will continue to cling to the love of their mothers, but jealousy towards their parents will decrease when they discover common hobbies with him, such as football. As for girls 5-6 years old, they will start to realize that they are very much like their mother, so they will start imitating her and identifying with her. thus forgetting this attraction to his father .
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Oedipus and Electra: old complexes in the new world
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Oedipus and Electra: old complexes in a new world
Oedipus and Electra: old complexes in a new world
Oedipus and Electra: old complexes in a new world
Oedipus and Electra complexes, thanks to Sigmund Freud, became symbols of certain stages of sexual development.
But life makes its own adjustments.
psychology of age crises
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), an Austrian psychiatrist, created the theory that natural instincts and repressed desires govern human behavior. He considered the energy of sexual desires ("libido") as the driving force behind the formation of personality. nine0003
Stages of development of sexuality
According to Freud, sexual development begins from the first days of life. And childhood impressions, usually bright and strong, influence our adult life. Freud identified different stages of sexual development: oral (breastfeeding), anal (potty training), phallic (from Greek phallos - male sexual organ in a state of erection), at which the Oedipus complex arises - from 3 to 5-6 years; latent (hidden, from 6 to 12 years old) and genital (from 12 to 18 years old). nine0003
Crisis age
However, Freud paid special attention to the crisis at 3-6 years old, when the child is aware of his gender (sex) identity.
At this age, interest in the genitals awakens for the first time and it turns out that they can be a source of pleasure. At the same time, an attraction to a parent of the opposite sex appears. At this moment, a dichotomy (bifurcation) appears: parents, on the one hand, remain a source of satisfaction of needs (not only everyday ones, as it was before, but also existential ones - in attention and love), and on the other hand, they become rivals. nine0003
Oedipus and Electra
Such conflicts, which take place differently for boys and girls, are called the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex, respectively. At this time, the boy wants to completely capture the attention of his mother, to oust his father from her life, and the girl, on the contrary, seeks to take the place of her mother and always be close to her father. But at the same time, what is happening causes the child to feel guilty. As a result, at this stage, children learn to cope with their own desires and refuse those that are forbidden.
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Rivalry with a parent of the same sex should lead the child to imitation, and, consequently, to sexual identification, the choice of one or another type of sexuality: masculine or feminine.
Freudian theory and patriarchy
The theory of Sigmund Freud changed European culture in many ways, but it is relevant specifically for a patriarchal society, while modern society has ceased to be patriarchal. Although Freud himself was an opponent of gender equality and feminism, it was his ideas about the innate sexuality of infants that hastened the sexual revolution and destroyed the notion of obligatory monogamy and the primacy of the man in the family. nine0003
Modern look
If in Freud’s time the father was a figure who unequivocally “takes away” the mother from the child (in the morning and afternoon she is with the child, and in the evening the husband comes and the child loses his primacy in the struggle for her attention), in our time the father more often symbolically “returns” mother to a child (when coming home from work, the father joins in everyday activities, unloading the mother and allowing her to pay more attention to the child).
Even more often, the child "gets" mom and dad almost at the same time when he is taken from kindergarten. nine0003
The father is no longer the dominant figure: all decisions regarding the child are made by both parents. And the activities of the parents, which the child can observe, are no longer divided into “male” and “female”.
If a mother raises a child alone, it is enough for her to have serious interests and hobbies, that is, what her desires are directed to besides the child. After all, the father is the third person who stands between the mother and the child, allowing him to stand apart.
The collapse of the patriarchy
Trying to keep the ground under their feet, many seek to return some semblance of patriarchy, at least for a child. The decision is absolutely impossible, because the child sees not only parents, but also other adults who do not live by patriarchal rules. If the child is isolated from the whole world, then he will have almost no chance of normal socialization in adulthood.
Only the feeling of the subjective well-being of parents and the child can become the basis for the successful formation of the personality and the passage of the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex. nine0003
Yevgeny Kulgavchuk, sexologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist: “Psychoanalysis, of course, had a huge impact on psychotherapy and understanding of the human soul. Some positions can be considered relevant to this day. The works of Z. Freud were once paid attention to by the founder of domestic sexology, Professor G. S. Vasilchenko.
In my work, I often interpret the dreams of my patients. Nevertheless, I would not recommend taking psychoanalysis too seriously, considering the world only through the prism of interpretations. And I want to remind you of one playful story on this topic. nine0003
Once, daughter Anna came up to Sigmund Freud and told him: “I had a dream. Uncle Jung comes to me and gives me a banana. And the banana is so green, so unripe and somehow even nasty.
