ABSTRACT
The developmental conflict of the Oedipal period that occupied much of Freud's thinking can be understood in terms of the conflict between ego and libidinal instincts, whereby infantile sexual desires towards the care-giver were associated with retaliatory mutilation and loss of parental love. Presuming that fear of bodily damage has dominance over sexual gratification, Oedipal sexuality becomes the target of repression, and concept of both competition and "dominance" between drives requires fleshing out, nevertheless it's clear that that such conflict and dominance occurs. Repression can be explained without reference to an additional "repressing" agency standing over and above the drives themselves, and situates Freudian repression within a biological framework of motivated conflict. The discussion of repression thus far entails Freud's references to repression in terms of "turning away" from distressing stimuli. Such "turning away" is seen as a variety of selective inattention and discussing repression in terms of attentional processes makes repression comprehensible within the framework of everyday psychological functioning.
