Electra Complex

Does anyone know what are the possible results of an unresolved electra complex ? Opposite of Oedipus complex (boy wants to marry his mother)

<div class="foot">(Edited by leela on 08/27/04 09:10 PM.)</div>

Leela,

My guesses would be maybe feelings of guilt and maybe looking for potential companions who are either just like dad, or possibly the opposite. How the feelings would play out into thoughts and behavior probably wouldn't be the same for any two people.

Rap

<font color=orange>"If a light beckons to you, follow it. If it leads you into the quagmire, you'll probably find your way out of it again; but if you don't follow it, you'll be plagued for the rest of your life by the thought that perhaps it was your star." Friedrich Hebbet</font color=orange>

Im sorry, but ive never heard of that?

This is from my college psychology study guide:

"In the Electra conflict, the girl lustfully desires her father, especially his penis, since she doesn't have one. Hence the term, penis envy. But the girl only passively identifies with the mother as a way of symbolically possessing the father and his penis, because she lacks the driving force of castration anxiety that boys experience. In the end, without that terrible fear, girls don't develop superegos as strong as those of boys..."

(Barron's EZ-101 Study Keys, Psychology)

My psych textbooks says:

"In Freud's view, healthy psychosexual development hinges on the resolution of the Oedipal conflict. Why? Because continued hostility toward the same-sex parent may prevent the child from identifying adequately with that parent. Freudian theory predicts that without such identification, many aspects of the child's development won't progress as they should."

(here they use the term Oedipal for both Oedipal and Electra complexes.)

(Psychology Themes and Variations by Weiten)

That's all I got. Sorry they're so general!

Good luck.

-apislily

Leela,
It depends on what age context you are talking about. If it is a small child then there is nothing that you should worry about...it is common for a girl to want to marry her father. Eventually she will grow out of it. If it is an older girl you are talking about then that might be an issue for a therapist.

Jessica

"Take these chances. Place them in a box until a quieter time..." ~DMB