ELECTRA COMPLEX (PSYCHOLOGY): HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The Electra complex is a daughter's love obsession with her father, occurring between the ages of 4 and 6. This infatuation leads her to compete with her mother, considering her a rival. This phenomenon is resolved when the girl begins to fear losing her mother's love, and begins to identify with her.

The Electra complex generally arises between 3 and 6 years of age, during the phallic stage defined by Sigmund Freud. It is comparable to the Oedipus complex, in a way that Freud called it "female Oedipus".

The concept "Electra complex" was established by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist, in 1913. It is framed in psychoanalytic theory, and has been used to address issues of female development.

Jung defined the Electra complex as the unconscious sexual desire that the girl feels towards her father. Despite seeming to be the same theory, Freud and Jung highlighted different aspects of this phenomenon.

For example, Freud stressed the importance of a girl's inclination toward the mother early in development. Furthermore, it places the phallus in a central role in the development of both the boy and the girl. Jung, on the other hand, did not agree with these ideas.

In general, the Electra complex was not widely accepted by psychoanalysts.

History: Greek mythology

The complex term Electra comes from a 5th century BC Greek myth. In this story Electra and her brother Orestes join forces to take revenge on their mother, Cythemnestra, and her stepfather for having murdered Agamemnon (her father).

Electra appears as the main character in different classic works: "The Trilogy of Orestes" by Aeschylus, "Electra" by Sophocles, and "Electra" by Aeschylus. Jung never mentioned which of these works he relied on to describe the complex.

Electra Complex Features

For Freud the anatomy of the genitalia is decisive for psychosexual development. He indicates that in the minds of children there is only one complete genital, the "phallus". They think that everyone has a phallus. It is necessary to emphasize that, during the phallic stage, the phallus acquires a meaning. That is, it symbolizes law and power.

Another aspect that must be taken into account is that Freud considered the male and female sexes as independent of the genitalia. He spoke of them rather as a subjective classification based on the way each person behaves and how they relate to others.

Libidinal desire

Once this is understood, we can enter the Electra complex. At first, the girl is very close to her mother, just like the boys. This union is conceived as a sexual attachment, known as "libidinal desire".

When the girl finds the opportunity to compare her genitals with those of a boy, she observes that they are small compared to those of the boy and equal to those of his mother. This makes her feel inferior and at a disadvantage, since without the phallus the girl cannot sexually possess her mother.

For a time he hopes that his genitals will grow to resemble a phallus. Then the girl begins to think that at first she had a penis like that of a boy, but that she was "castrated", losing that organ of her body.

Penis envy

The difference between the boy and the girl in these stages is that the boy fears castration, while the girl believes that she has been castrated. This provokes in her the so-called “penis envy”.

Child's idea

To compensate for the lack of a penis, the girl goes from “penis envy” to “boy idea”. This idea consists of her father "giving" her a son. To achieve this goal, the girl resorts to seduction. She begins to flirt with her father, trying to fascinate her with offers and gifts, and continually demanding her attention.

However, the girl realizes that her father cannot give himself to her completely because there is another person: her mother. Thus, she sees the mother figure as an impediment to access her father's love, pretending to replace her.

For this reason, the little girl begins to behave in an increasingly hostile way towards her mother, feeling jealousy and rejection. This hatred is also due to the fact that she believes that it was the mother who castrated her, and that because of her she does not have the phallus.

Electra Complex Resolution

There are two defense mechanisms that will be involved in solving the Electra complex:

- Repression: it is about blocking desires, memories, emotions, impulses and ideas from consciousness.

- Identification: the girl gradually incorporates her mother's personality characteristics into her ego.

With the passage of time, the desires to have a penis and to have a child from her father are abandoned, since the girl assumes that they will not be fulfilled. In addition, she begins to fear losing the love of her mother (according to Freud, the love of parents for children is essential for them).

On the other hand, to resolve the conflict, the girl must gradually identify with her mother figure. This is possibly an unconscious way of "winning" the love of the father, since if she manages to resemble her mother it will be easier to win her over. In this way, she incorporates characteristics of the mother's personality to her own ego.

If around 8 years old the girl begins to imitate her mother, trying to do the same tasks as her, talking like her and using her things, it can be said that the Electra complex has been overcome.

Thus, these desires are internalized and locked in some part of the unconscious. According to the theory, these prepare the woman for her sexual role in the future.

Electra complex not resolved

On the other hand, if the Electra complex is not resolved, a fixation in the phallic stage can occur. The girl, therefore, would continue to experience “penis envy”. She would continually attempt to dominate men either through seduction (if she has high self-esteem) or through extreme submission (if her self-esteem is low).

Another indication of the lack of resolution of the Electra complex is the choice of partners similar to the father figure and of much superior age. In addition, difficulties may appear to relate properly with other women.

Even if they become mothers before this complex is resolved, they may view their daughters as rivals who "steal" the love of their partner.

Unresolved Electra Complex Symptoms

It is possible that, despite being adult women, some are still “daddy's girls”. That is, that they present an excessive union with their father, maintaining the rivalry with their mother.

It can go to the extreme that they are not even able to have stable love relationships with other men, since they do not find anyone like their father. Some of the symptoms are:

- Unexplained feelings of hostility towards the mother, seeing her as guilty of their failures and problems.

- Fantasies about the disappearance of the mother or what her life would be like if it did not exist. These thoughts often upset the patient, causing her to avoid thinking about them.

- When his parents fight, whatever happens, he always side with the father.

- He always thinks of his father when he is sad or happy.

- When making an important decision, always think first about what your father would think and what he would prefer.

- Dissatisfaction or excessive demand with their relationships. Her partners may conflict with her when they find she pays too much attention to her father.

- Their partners tend to have physical features or ways of being very similar to their father, and they are usually much older.

In these cases, psychological therapy can be very useful, since on many occasions this problem affects the life of the patient. Being common that she suffers problems in her social relationships or stagnation in her professional or work career.

Female Oedipus complex

It should be noted that Freud never accepted that the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex were equated. Freud always pointed out that these processes were different in men and women, and that presenting them as parallels was a simplification of the problem.

For him the main aspect had to do with castration. While in men the Oedipus Complex appears first and then the fear of castration, in women the process is reversed.

It should also be noted that Freud's research on female sexuality was conditioned by social conventions of gender and class. Women were considered the "second sex", even some patients were considered "degenerate".

References

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