Electra complex

Electra complex
Elec·tra complex i-.lek-trə- n the Oedipus complex when it occurs in a female Elec·tra i-'lek-trə Greek mythological character. Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and the sister of Orestes. After the murder of their father by their mother and her lover, the brother and sister conspired to murder the two lovers. The Electra complex is so named because of Electra's intense devotion to her father.

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the counterpart in females of the Oedipus complex, which was originally applied only to males, involving the daughter's love for her father and jealousy or resentment toward her mother; the term is now rarely used since Oedipus c. (q.v.) has come to be applied to both sexes.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • Electra complex — Electra complex: Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon, by Frederic Leighton, c.1869 In Neo Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Gustav Jung, is a girl’s psychosexual competition with mother for possession of father. In the… …   Wikipedia

  • Electra complex — n. Psychoanalysis Obs. the unconscious tendency of a daughter to be attached to her father and hostile toward her mother: cf. OEDIPUS COMPLEX …   English World dictionary

  • Electra complex — n. Psychol. a daughter s subconscious sexual attraction to her father and hostility towards her mother, corresponding to the Oedipus complex in a son. Etymology: Electra in Gk tragedy, who caused her mother to be murdered for having murdered… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Electra complex — Psychoanal. the unresolved, unconscious libidinous desire of a daughter for her father: designation based on the Greek myth of Electra and Agamemnon. Cf. Oedipus complex. [1910 15] * * * …   Universalium

  • Electra complex — noun Psychoanalysis old fashioned term for the Oedipus complex as manifested in young girls. Origin early 20th cent.: named after Electra in Greek mythology, who persuaded her brother to kill their mother in revenge for the murder of their father …   English new terms dictionary

  • Electra complex — /əˈlɛktrə ˌkɒmplɛks/ (say uh lektruh .kompleks) noun Psychoanalysis the desire of a daughter for sexual gratification from her father as compensation for her discovered lack of a penis. {from Electra} …  

  • Electra complex — noun Date: 1913 the Oedipus complex when it occurs in a female …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Electra complex — noun (countable usually singular) technical the unconscious sexual feelings that a girl is supposed to have towards her father compare Oedipus complex …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • Electra complex — Elec′tra com plex n. Psychoanal. psl an unresolved, unconscious libidinous desire of a daughter for her father Compare Oedipus complex …   From formal English to slang

  • Electra complex — noun The theory that a females psychological development involves a sexual attachment to the father and jealousy of the mother …   Wiktionary

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