phallic sadism

in classical psychoanalytic theory, aggression that is associated with the child’s phallic stage of psychosexual development. The child interprets sexual intercourse as a violent, aggressive activity on the part of the man and particularly on the part of the penis. See also primal scene; sadism.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

Hering–Breuer reflex

a nervous mechanism involved in normal breathing, with stimuli from sensory endings in lung tissue limiting inspiration and expiration. [Ewald Hering; Josef Breuer]