Freud's Oedipus Complex.

The Oedipus Complex is a term used by Sigmund Freud in his theory of psycho-sexual stages of development to describe a boy's feelings of desire for his mother and jealousy and anger towards his father. Essentially, a boy feels like he is in competition with his father for possession of his mother; he views his father as a rival for her affections and attention.

According to Freud, the boy wishes to possess his mother and replace his father, who he views as a rival for his mothers affections. The Oedipal complex occurs in the phallic stages of psycho-sexual development between the ages of three and five. This stages serves as an important point in the formation of sexual identity.

For the boy to develop into a successful adult with a healthy identity, the child/boy must identify with the same sex parent in order to resolve the conflict. Freud suggested that while the primal id wants to eliminate the father, the more realistic ego knows that the father is much stronger.

In order to resolve the conflict, the boy identifies with his father. It is at this point that the super- ego is formed. The super-ego becomes a sort of inner moral authority, an internalization of the father figure that strives to suppress the urged of the id and make the ego act upon these idealistic standards.