PSYCHODYNAMIC EXP (PSYCHOANALYTICAL) Flashcards
1
Q
Freud
A
- Freud argued prior to reaching the phallic stage children have no concept of gender identity, and are neither masculine or feminine.
- The complexes occur at the phallic stage- which is crucial for gender identity to form
2
Q
Oedipus Complex
A
- shows that young boys experience conflict, and develop a passionate desire for their mother + see father as a rival.
- They have a fear of castration, and use DM’s (repression) to push their desire for their mother and hostility for their father into the unconscious.
- This allows the son to identify with the father and reduces the threat of castration.
3
Q
Electra Complex
A
- suggests that young girls develop a passionate desire for their father and resent mother as they believe they were castrated and blame their mother for this (penis envy).
- They have a fear of losing their mother’s love and so identify with their mother to retain it, but are less motivated than boys due to there being no threat of castration.
- Children resolve their conflicts by identifying with the SSP, and fully form their gender identity at age 6.
- This identification helps develop their gender identity
4
Q
One limitation of the psychoanalytic theory of gender development (GD) is that it’s an androcentric POV.
A
- For example, Freud’s theory (FT) is only based on men, and so findings are not representative of females, and so concepts such as the OC only accounts for male gender identity.
- Furthermore, FT is heavily criticised by feminists for the ‘penis envy’ as women don’t have penis envy but envy the power men have in this patriarchal society as the theory lacks female representation that other theorists had to come up with the electra complex to explain female gender identity.
- Therefore, decreasing the validity of the theory
5
Q
One limitation of the psychoanalytic theory of GD is that it lacks temporal validity.
A
- For example, FT was developed in early 20th century which doesn’t account for the changes that have occurred in society since then.
- Assuming people will have a SSP that they can identify with cannot always apply to GD occurring today, due to growing homosexual couples/lone parent families.
- Furthermore, Freud suggests that people who are not in nuclear families are unable to develop their gender identity but research has found no difference in GD of people raised without or without same sex parents.
- This is a disadvantage as it decreases credibility of the theory
6
Q
One limitation of the psychoanalytic theory of GD is that there is supporting research.
A
- For example, Little Hans was a 5 year old boy who had developed a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street.
- Freud suggested that Hans’ phobia was actually a repressed fear of his father and castration displaced onto horses.
- And that he has castration anxiety as a result of his oedipus complex.
- This demonstrates the key principles of the oedipus complex which increases the validity of the theory.
- However, as it’s a case study there is a limited sample and so we are unable to generalise the findings to the wider population.
- Furthermore, it lacks falsifiability as the theory is based on concepts that cannot be observed/measured and so it cannot be tested/disproved.
- Therefore, it lacks scientific credibility, and his research has limited findings.
7
Q
One limitation of the psychoanalytic theory of GD is that there is opposing research.
A
- For example, Kohlberg’s theory suggests that child gender identity develops gradually (from age 2-6) across childhood as their intellectual capacity increases.
- Whereas, Freud thinks it happens all at once at the age of 6 and that they have no concept of gender identity before the phallic stage.
- This shows that there is an alternative explanation for GD that is more creditworthy than FT as KT is proven to be empirical with
larger international samples. - Disadv as it casts doubt on FT. Thus it appears GD may be a more gradual process rather than a spontaneous one occurring at 6
