4.6. Psychodynamic Explanation

Question 1

What does it mean by this explanation being interactionist?

Answer 1

• psychosexual stages are innate
• experience to how we overcome conflict shapes our adult personality

Question 2

Where does it all happen?

Answer 2

In the unconscious

Question 3

What is the key psychosexual stage in this explanation?

Answer 3

Phallic- obtain your gender
Before this, a child is essentially bisexual

Question 4

What are the types of personality?

Answer 4

Id - immediate gratification -> I want it now
Ego- mediator (between id and superego)
Superego - morality principle-> you obtain after successful completion of the phallic stage (off same sex parent)

Question 5

What happens to boys in the Oedipus complex?

Answer 5

• Boys desire their mums, they see their dad as competitor for their mums love
• They notice not everyone has a penis
• Boys develop castration anxiety (fear dad chopping their penis off)
• They decide to give up their love for their mother and actively identify with their father, in doing so, they take in the male gender identity (the father’s superego)

Question 6

What do girls experience in the Electra complex?

Answer 6

• Girls desire their dads, has has a penis and girls want one -> they have penis envy
• Girls blame their mums for a lack of penis and power -> they give up their love for their dad (no fear/ no choice) take on the female gender identity and take on mum’s superego (morals/values)
• They channel their energy into “penis baby project” -> having a baby boy

Question 7

Strength: Little Hans

Answer 7

+ 5 year old that developed a fear of horses
+ Freud suggested Hans’ phobia was displacement- he had repressed his fear of his dad onto a horse he saw collapse in the street.
+ This case study backs up the oedipus conflict

Case study= open to interpretation and bias
Better explained by classical conditioning by behaviourist psych

Question 8

Weakness: punitive

Answer 8

• The theory suggests the more punitive the dad is, the stronger male identification
• Blakemore found boys boys with more liberal fathers were more secure in their male identification
• Suggests Freud’s theory lacks validity in explaining gender identity

Question 9

Weakness: patriarchal society

Answer 9

• Freud’s theory was created in a patriarchal society (alpha bias)
• Karen Horney suggested in today’s society, men experience womb envy (women’s ability to create life)
• Freud’s theory is androcentric (Freud believed women needed men)

Question 10

Weakness: 5 yrs old

Answer 10

• Freud stated once the conflict is resolved at 5 yrs old no more gender development takes place
• Kohlberg disagreed with this, stating gender development continues past 7 yrs old
• Freud underestimates the complexities of gender

Question 11

Weakness: based on unconscious

Answer 11

This is not falsifiable, nor based on empirical methods, therefore is not valid in being able to explain gender development nor meets the scientific rigour of psychology