PDA: Third Psychosexual Stage Phallic

• Phallic Stage (3-6 years old)


  Focus on genitals. Curiosity and examination. Superego develops through resolution of the Oedipus and Electra complex. Identification with same sex parent leads to formation of gender identity.
• The Oedipus Complex

  Oedipus was a Greek Mythical figure who killed his father and married his mother, although he was unaware she was his mother. Freud used this myth to explain the idea about the relationship between boys and their parents during the phallic stage.
• Freud heard about sexual issues related to parents when children are 4 to 5 years old. Freud explained this sexual focus by that the showing genitals were the area for sexual pleasure at the phallic stage at this age. Freud concluded that boys had unconscious sexual desires for their mothers. This lead to guilt and fear of the father, whose place the boy wanted to take. The fear took the form of castration anxiety. The boy resolves the conflict (his id conflicting with conscience of the superego) by identifying and 'becoming' his father.
• Identification is a key concept in the phallic stage. By identifying with their father, the boy takes on the father's beliefs and values. This identification allows the boy to develop his superego. He also develops his gender identity, doing what his father does because he 'is' his father. The boy therefore, takes on the masculine behaviour of the father in order to resolve the Oedipus Complex.
• The Electra complex


  Girls go through a similar complex in the phallic stage. Girls realise they do not have a penis, and so start to develop penis envy. They know their father has a penis, and so they develop sexual feelings toward him. They start to see their mother as a rival for the father. As the mother does not possess a penis, the girl blames the mother for her own lack of penis, believing that her mother had castrated her.
• The Electra Complex Resolution

  Similar to boys, girls realise that they can possess their father by identifying with their mothers. However, because penis envy is not fearful and there is no castration anxiety, the girl does not identify with the mother as strongly, and so has a weaker superego. According to Freud, females never completely resolve the Oedipus Complex, and so are not as moral as boys. The girl replaces her penis envy with a desire for a baby.
• Fixation at this stage could lead to gender conflict.