A five-year-old boy, who is very attached to his mother, starts expressing intense rivalry and anger toward his father. He also develops a new, powerful fear of being physically harmed by his father. According to psychoanalytic theory, what is the most likely unconscious motivation for this specific fear?

According to Freud, castration anxiety is a specific fear experienced by boys during the Oedipus complex. It is the boy's unconscious fear that his father will punish him for his feelings of desire toward his mother, with the punishment taking the form of castration.

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In Freudian theory, the Oedipus complex is a conflict experienced by boys during the phallic stage. It is defined by a boy's desire for his mother and the accompanying feelings of jealousy and rivalry toward his father. The complex is named after the Greek myth of Oedipus. Freud suggested that this conflict is successfully resolved when the boy begins to identify with his father, which serves as an indirect way of possessing the mother.

Oedipus Complex

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Castration Anxiety

A 5-year-old boy named Sam often tells his mother, "You're my best girl, and I'm going to marry you!" When his father comes home from work and hugs his mother, Sam often tries to get between them, saying, "No, she's my mommy!" Based on psychoanalytic principles, identify the specific conflict Sam is experiencing and describe the process through which this conflict is typically resolved.

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