Other Explantions Of Gender Development : Psychdynamic Flashcards
Describe freuds psychoanalytic theory in pre-phallic children
-sees children pass through 5 biologically-driven psychosexual stages , begin with oral, and end with genital around time of puberty
-third of the stages,phallic is where gender development occurs , age 3-6
-prior to phallic, children no concept of gender identity (‘male’’female’) so don’t categorise themselves or others that way
-in phallic, focus of pleasure for child’s switches to the genitals, and it’s within this stage that children exp Oedipus and electra
-crucial for formation of gender identity
Explain the Oedipus complex
-in phallic, boy develops incestuous feelings for mother
-harbour jealous/ murderous hatred for father who stands in way of boy possessing h his mother, but also recognises father is more powerful and fears castration by father for his feelings for mother (castration anxiety)
-to resolve conflict, boy gives up love for mother and identifies w father
Explain electra complex
-phallic stage , girls exp penis envy , seeing themselves + mother as in competition for fathers love
-develop double-resentment towards mother
-mother is love rival standing in way of farther , and second mother blame by daughter for having no penis (daughter believes she was castarted by mother same time as mother castarted herself)
-elect a concept came from neo-Freudian carl jung who suggested over time girls accept they will never have a penis, substitute penis envy w desire to have children, identify w mothers as a result
Explain identification and internalisation in freuds psychoanalytic theory
-essence of Freud theory is children of both sexes identify w same-gender parent as means of resolving their respective complexes
-boys adopt attitudes of father, and girl adopt those of mother
-involves children taking on board gender identity of same-gender parent , named internalisation
Explain case of little hans in freuds psychoanalytic theory
-freuds evidence for existence of Oedipus was limited but used little hans to illustrate
-hans 5 year old with morbid fear being bitten by horse
-fear appeared to have stemmed from incident when he saw horse collapse + die in street
-but freuds interpretation was that Hans fear of being bitten represented his castration anxiety
-Freud suggested Hans had transferred his fear of his farther onto horses via unconscious defence mechanism of displacement
Describe identification
-desire to be associated with particular person/group often bc person/group possesses certain desirable qualities
Describe internalisation
-individual adopts attitudes of behaviour of another
Whats a strength of Freuds theory and its support for role of Oedipus complex in gender development
Freuds explanation of gender development means for boys ‘normal’ development depends on being raised by at least 1 male parent
Rekers + Morey rated gender identity of 49 boys age 3-11 based on interviews with families/children themselves
Those judged as ‘gender disturbed’, 75% had neither biological / sub father
Suggests being raised with no father could have -ve impact upon gender identity , in line with Freuds theory
Whats the counterpoint to this support for freuds theory for role of Oedipus complex in gender development
Generally relationship between absent fathers + gender identity problems isn’t supported
Study by Bos and Sandfort compared data from 63 children where both parents were lesbians and 68 children from ‘traditional’ families
Those raised by lesbian parents felt less pressure to conform to gender stereotypes , + less likely to assume their own gender was superior , but no difference in terms of psychosocial adjustment or gender identity
Contradicts Freuds theory as suggests fathers not necessary for healthy gender identity development
Whats a limitation of freuds theory with its inadequate account of women’s development
Altho Freud wrote extensively about Oedipus complex , much of theorising on girls parallel development was undertaken by Jung , who also produced a psychoanalytic theory
Freud admitted women were a mystery to him, + his notion of penis envy been criticised as reflecting androcentric Victorian era during which he lived where men held so much power
Feminist psychoanalyst Horney argues a more powerful emotion than penis envy is men’s experience of ‘womb envy’ , a reaction to women’s ability to nurture / sustain life
+ argued penis envy was a result of cultural rather than biological factors
Challenges idea that women’s gender development is founded on a desire to want to be like a man (androcentric bias)
Whats a further limitation of the psychodynamic explanation for gender development is that it lacks scientific credibility
Freud often criticised for lack of rigour in his methods (subjective case studies)
Many of his concepts like penis envy are untestable as they are largely unconscious
Contrasts sharply with other gender explanations that are based on objective verifiable evidence derived from controlled lab studies
According to Popper, makes Freuds theory pseudoscientific as his key ideas cant be falsified
Questions validity of theory as is not based on sound scientific evidence
