Freud's psychoanalytic theory

Question 1

When did Freud say gender development takes place in?

Answer 1

Phallic stage

Question 2

What did Freud believe conscious behaviour is motivated by?

Answer 2

Unconscious drives, with the structure of the mind consisting of the id, ego and superego which are the three components of personality

Question 3

What is the id?

Answer 3

Constantly seeks selfish pleasures

Question 4

What is the ego?

Answer 4

Reality principle

Balances the conflict of the id and the superego

Question 5

What is the superego?

Answer 5

Wants to be ideal self

Question 6

Where does the conflict between the id and the superego take place?

Answer 6

in the 5 stages of psychosexual development

Question 7

What are the 5 stages of psychosexual development?

Answer 7

Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency 
Genitals

Question 8

How, in general, does a child’s gender identity develop ?

Answer 8

Through the resolution of either the Oedipus complex or the Electra complex

Question 9

What is the Oedipus complex?

Answer 9

• In the phallic stage (3-5 years old), the boy directs his sexual desires towards his mother.
• He hates his father because he is with his mother
• He also fears his father as he believes if his father finds out about his sexual desires for his mother, he will remove the boys penis - castration anxiety

Question 10

How is the Oedipus complex resolved?

Answer 10

The boy identifies with his father and internalises his fathers views to develop his male gender identity

Question 11

What happens if the Oedipus complex isn’t resolved?

Answer 11

The boy might be confused about his sexual identity and might become homosexual

Question 12

What is the Electra complex?

Answer 12

• In the phallic stage (3-5 years old), the girl directs her sexual desires towards her father
• The girl believes that her mother castrated her and that is why she doesn’t have a penis - penis envy, the penis is a symbol of male power
• She desires her father because he has what she wants

Question 13

How is the electra complex resolved?

Answer 13

The girl identifies with her mother and internalises her mothers viewpoints in order to develop her female gender identity

Question 14

What happens if the electra complex isn’t resolved?

Answer 14

She might be confused about her sexual identity

Question 15

What case study did Freud use?

Answer 15

Little Hans

Question 16

Outline Freud’s research into Little Hans.

Answer 16

• 5 year old boy who had a phobia of horses, especially those with black bits around their mouths which Freud interpreted as the moustache of his dad
• Hans was actually scared of his father not horses
• He was scared of him castrating him for his love for his mother

Question 17

What did Hyman (1921) find?

Answer 17

Reported that 22 out of 31 female manic-depressive patients were diagnosed from suffering from an unresolved Electra complex, with 12 of the 22 having regressed to an earlier stage of psychosexual development

Question 18

What did Friedman (1952) find?

Answer 18

When a story began with a child doing something nice with their opposite-sex parent and then being joined by the same sex parent, children produced a sadder ending of the story than when the roles of the parents were swapped

Question 19

What did Snortum et al (1969) find?

Answer 19

46 males exempted from military service for being homosexual had more close-bonding and controlling mothers and rejecting, detached fathers than a comparable sample of heterosexual men

Question 20

What did Wiszewska et al (2007) find?

Answer 20

Female RPS to rate the attractiveness of different men and to assess the quality of their relationships with their fathers and found those who were treated well by their fathers were more attracted to men who resembled their fathers physically

Question 21

What did Malinowski (1922) find?

Answer 21

That boys in the Trobriand islanders exhibited the signs of hostility Freud described in his Oedipus complex, however It was not for their fathers it was towards the maternal uncles
This suggests Freud’s theory about the fear of his father is a reaction to discipline rather than sexual jealousy over their mother

Question 22

What criticisms are there for Freuds research?

Answer 22

• subjective - being interpreted to fit with the ideas of the Oedipus complex
• even if Hans did have the Oedipus complex, it doesn’t mean all males do
• Little scientific evidence to support the ideas to support the oedipus complex
• male-orientated - started with the oedipus complex and then the Electra complex was an add on