beating fantasy

in the classical psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, a male or female child’s fantasy of being beaten by his or her father or mother. For both sexes, the fantasy is interpreted as an expression of the child’s oedipal desires toward the father and is said to be based on the child’s belief that the father beats the mother in the primal scene. Thus, the fantasy of being beaten provides sexual arousal.

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Psychology term of the day

January 15th 2025

reverse counterbalancing

a specific procedure for ordering stimulus materials in a research study that involves administering one order (A-B-C) for one half of the participants and the opposite order (C-B-A) for the other half. Reverse counterbalancing is used to minimize any potential influence of presentation on results.