SOCPSY 2L03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Oedipus Complex, The Mixtures, Libido

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 2L03
• Professor: Cyril Levitt

Document Summary

Ambivalence are two values that are in conflict with each other. Positive feelings of love, tenderness, etc. vs. anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, etc. Freud argued that all relationships have a mixture of both, except maybe the relationship btwn a mother and her son. Problem: when we have to resolve the conflict. We can keep a lot of love within the group as long as we have a target outside the group to direct it. One of the reasons why we form groups is b/c individuals have these ambivalent relationships, which goes away when we become united with a group. One may say that individuals comes together b/c they can satisfy their own self interests, but freud does not agree with this. The basis of the group is emotional ties we gain. Self-interest and egoism can never be strong enough to maintain the group. The ties that link people together are libidinal/erotic ties.