Psychodynamic explanation for gender development

Question 1

when does gender development occur in the psychodynamic explanation

Answer 1

• Prephallic children are described as neither masculine or feminine, this is a passive stage where for all children the primary love object is the mother.
• At the phallic stage 3-6 years old is when gender development occurs

Question 2

outline the oedipus complex

Answer 2

• boys develop jealous hatred of their father who stands in the way of the boy possessing his mother
• He recognises his father is more powerful than he is and fears that he may be castrated by his father as punishment for his feeling towards his mother - castration anxiety
• to resolve this the boy gives up his love of his mother and identifies with his father and internalise his masculine identity

Question 3

Outline the electra complex

Answer 3

• At age 3/4 girls have a sense of loss that they do not have a penis and the symbolic power it brings penis envy
• the girl blames the mother for her lack of a penis - believing the mother castrated the girl’s penis when she castrated her own.
• Girls also see themselves as being competion with their mother for their father’s love.
• Realising she is unable to have a penis of her own - penis envy is converted into the desire for a baby. The girl identifies with her mother and internalises a feminine identity

Question 4

What 2 stages are require to resolve a complex

Answer 4

• identification
• internalisation

Question 5

what research does Freud give as evidence

Answer 5

Little hans - case study

Question 6

outline little hans case study

Answer 6

• little hans had a phobia of horses.
• Freud interpreted the horse as representing the father
• Freud claimed hans was fearful that his father would castrate him for desiring his mother.
• Hans was transferring his fear of hos father onto the horses (displacement).
• Hans overcame his phobia by having two dreams in which a plumber exchanged his bottom and ‘widdler’ for bigger ones and in which he fathered several children.
• Freud argued that this was an illustration of how Hans had resolved the Oedipus complex and identified with his father and internalised his male gender

Question 7

Evaluate pychodynamic explanation

Answer 7

• androcentric - penis envy, inadequate explanation based on patriarchal victorian society
• lack of scientific rigor - unfalsifiable