Stephen Black asks: "And as an aside to Rick Froman, whose post just arrived, how can you maintain that the Electra Complex was Freud's idea in view of the quotation in my last post which has him repudiate it?"
>From Stephen's previous message: "But while Freud can be blamed for many things (and I do), the Electra complex is not one of them, although most textbooks, including one that I assign, will tell you otherwise. Freud hated the concept. I even have a quote to prove it. He said: "It is only in the male child that we find the fateful combination of love for the one parent and simultaneous hatred of the other as a rival" (S. Freud, _Female Sexuality_, 1931) This could be one of the most misattributed statements ever. I thought I'd do my bit to set the record straight." If, by the Electra complex, you mean love for the father and hatred of the mother as a rival, I agree that Freud specifically disavowed that idea. I think most people, however, connect the Electra complex to penis envy which Freud did discuss in the work from which this quotation comes. Stephen then continues in his later post: "And in searching my file for the above quote, I hit the jackpot. Kilmartin and Dervin (1997) tell all. They note that Freud said "I do not see any progress or advantage in the introduction of the term "Electra complex", and do not advocate its use...We are right in rejecting the term". They even provide a source for Jung, who said: "[A] daughter develops a specific liking for the father, with a correspondingly jealous attitude toward the mother. We could call this the Electra complex". And we do. -Jung, The theory of psychoanalysis, 1912" Note that Freud is rejecting the use of the term "Electra complex" which is what I said in my previous post. Freud also rejected the idea that a daughter likes the father (she actually envies him and tries to use him to restore what she lost) and is jealous of the mother (she actually dislikes her and blames her for her deprivation). What would have made my point clearer was to say that, although much of what is taught as part of the Electra complex (like penis envy) was developed by Freud, he did not believe that females were jealous of their mothers and loved their fathers and he did not coin the term, "Electra complex" and did not approve of its use. In fact, according to Fenichel, Freud believed that "all [girls] make the mother actually responsible [for their lack of a penis]: she deprived them of something, or she took something away from them. It is this specifically feminine disappointment that forms the main motive for the turning away from the mother. . . . The aim is now to get from the father the 'supplies' that the mother had denied them. In the girl's fantasy, the idea 'penis' is replaced by the idea 'child'." (p. 90 in Otto Fenichel's (1972) "The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis", New York: Norton). It seems that Freud believed that girls felt robbed by their mothers and wanted to use the father to restore what had been lost. So, in line with the Freud quote above, girls don't love the father and hate the mother as a rival; they envy the father and hate the mother because they blame them for their lack. Rick Dr. Richard L. Froman Psychology Department John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone and voice mail: (501)524-7295 http://www.jbu.edu/sbs/psych/froman.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
