Freud's concept describing a girl's unconscious desire to marry her father by supplanting her mother is called

• A. Oedipus complex
• B. Phallic stage
• C. Electra Complex
• D. Latency stage

Answer: (C)

This concept is about the dynamics Freud described during the phallic stage, when a child’s feelings toward the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent can surface. For girls, that specific pattern is called the Electra complex. It refers to an unconscious desire to marry the father and to displace the mother as the primary object of affection. The typical resolution is for the girl to identify with the mother, adopting her gender role and values, which eases the rivalry.

In contrast, the male counterpart to this pattern is the Oedipus complex, where the boy experiences desire for the mother and rivalry with the father. The latency stage is a later period of relative calm in development, not the source of this particular dynamics.