According to psychoanalytic theory, boys' fear of castration is most closely associated with which of the following stages or concepts?

• A. The Oedipus complex
• B. The latency stage
• C. The Electra complex
• D. The oral stage

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that psychoanalytic theory, developed by Freud, includes several psychosexual stages and complexes that describe children's development and unconscious conflicts.
2. Recall that the fear of castration is a key concept related to boys during a specific stage where they experience unconscious desires and conflicts involving their parents.
3. Identify the Oedipus complex as the stage where boys feel unconscious sexual desire for their mother and rivalry with their father, which leads to the fear of castration as a punishment from the father.
4. Recognize that the latency stage is a period of relative calm where sexual impulses are repressed, so it is not associated with castration anxiety.
5. Note that the Electra complex is the female counterpart involving girls' psychosexual development, and the oral stage is an earlier stage focused on oral pleasures, neither directly linked to castration fear.