Electra complexes
Summary
In Freud's psychosexual theory, the Electra complex is a girl's unconscious desire for her father and rivalry with her mother during the phallic stage (about ages 3–6). The name comes from Jung, as a counterpart to the Oedipus complex. It resolves through identification with the same-sex parent.
Detail
Meaning: The complex belongs to the phallic stage (roughly ages 3–6), when libido centers on the genitals. In the psychoanalytic account, a girl unconsciously directs desire toward her father and sees her mother as a rival. Freud's version links this to penis envy. The conflict is resolved when the child identifies with the same-sex parent, taking on that parent's values and gender role. This identification helps form the superego. Unresolved conflict is thought to cause fixation at the phallic stage, which can shape adult personality.
On the MCAT: Expect a vignette of a young child showing affection for the opposite-sex parent and hostility toward the same-sex parent. You then name the stage (phallic, not oral, anal, latency, or genital) or the mechanism that resolves it (identification). Questions may also ask you to put the stages in order (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) or to link the superego to this resolution.
Common confusion: The term is Jung's, not Freud's. Freud rejected it and described the Oedipus complex as the central conflict of this stage, with a different path for girls. Students also read the desire as conscious or literally sexual. In the theory it is unconscious and symbolic. It is a psychoanalytic concept with limited empirical support, so the exam asks what the theory claims, not whether it is proven.
Sources
- Psychology (Myers)
- Psychology (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.