"Oedipus complex, in psychoanalytic theory, a desire for sexual involvement
with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the
parent of the same sex; a crucial stage in the normal developmental process.
Sigmund Freud introduced the concept in his Interpretation of Dreams (1899). The
term derives from the Theban hero Oedipus of Greek legend, who unknowingly slew
his father and married his mother; its female analogue, the Electra complex, is
named for another mythological figure, who helped slay her mother.
Freud attributed the Oedipus complex to children of about the ages three to
five. He said the stage usually ended when the child identified with the parent
of the same sex and repressed its sexual instincts. If previous relationships
with the parents were relatively loving and nontraumatic, and if parental
attitudes were neither excessively prohibitive nor excessively stimulating, the
stage is passed through harmoniously. In the presence of trauma, however, there
occurs an “infantile neurosis” that is an important forerunner of similar
reactions during the child’s adult life. The superego, the moral factor that
dominates the conscious adult mind, also has its origin in the process of
overcoming the Oedipus complex. Freud considered the reactions against the
Oedipus complex the most important social achievements of the human mind."
"Oedipus complex." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 20 Aug. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/425451/Oedipus-complex>.