Aasai

Phallic Stage

This is the stage where two phenomenon occur in human growth and development and these include Electracomplex in girls which is the girls attraction to the mother and later realizes that the mother lacks penis and Oedipus complex which is the boys attraction to the father and realizes that the father lacks vagina.Therefore, girls develop penis envy while boys develop castration anxiety.

There is another major shift in the primary source of pleasure for the child. This time interest focuses on the genitals and pleasure derived from fondling them. This is the stage of one of the most important periods of personality development according to Freud’s theory, the Oedipal complex. As children focus their attention on their genitals, the differences between male and female anatomy become more salient. 

At this time, Freud believed that the male begins to develop sexual interests in his mother, starts to see his father as a rival and wishes to kill his father as Oedipus did in the ancient Greek mythology, but because he views his father as too powerful, he develops fear of retaliation called castration anxiety. 

The fear that becomes too strong that the ego represses the incest desires, then the boy seeks to become like or identifies with his father and in the process begins to learn male sexual behaviours which will later help him form a sexual relationship with a woman other than his mother.

Resolution of these conflicts is more complicated for the female child, a condition known as the Electra complex.  She begins with a strong attachment to the mother, but as she realizes that boys have penises, and girls don’t, she begins to hate her mother perhaps blaming her for the lack of it and considering her inferior. 

She experiences penis envy and transfers her love to her father who has the sex organ she wants. But the girl mostly avoids her mother’s disapproval. She does so by identifying with her mother by adopting female sexual behaviours and subsequently choosing a male mate other than her father. 

At this point, the Oedipal and Electra complexes are is said to be resolved and psychoanalytic theory assumes that both males and females move on to the next stage of development. If difficulties arise during this period however, all sorts of problems are thought to occur, which include improper sexual behaviour and the failure to develop a conscience. Following the relationship of Oedipal and Electra complexes, at around age 5-6, children move into the latency period which lasts until puberty.