PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATION OF GENDER DEVELOPMENT Flashcards
Key assumptions
- Psychodynamic theory states that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality
- Events that occur in childhood can remain in the unconscious, and cause problems as adults
- Freud proposed that all children go through the same five stages of development.
Name the 5 stages and ages
The 5 stages are:
the oral stage: 0-1 year of age
the anal stage: 1-3 years of age
the phallic stage: 3-6 years of age
the latent stage: 6-11 years of age
the genital stage: 12+ years of age
What did Freud suggest about psychosexual development?
- Freud suggested that we move through these age-related stages of development encountering different conflicts along the way.
- These conflicts must be resolved at each stage to ensure healthy psychological development; this includes gender identity, which should occur at approximately age 5.
- Failure to successfully pass through a stage’s particular conflict/ task is known as fixation (getting stuck) - leaving some energy in a stage
What does Freud’s overall theory of child development say?
Children pass through 5 psychosexual stages.
Before the phallic stage children are pre-phallic : neither masculine or feminine
The third stage is the phallic stage, and this is where gender development occurs
Before this stage (3-6yrs) the child has no concept of gender identity.
How long does the phallic stage last?
The phallic stage lasts from three years of age until about five or six years of age
What happens in the phallic stage?
During this stage the focus of pleasure for the child switches to their genitals. Boys work out their gender identity through the oedipus complex and girls work out their gender identity through the Elektra complex
What happens in the phallic stage for boys?
In the phallic stage, boys go through the oedipus complex and develop incestuous feelings towards their mothers. They also develop a jealous hatred for their father who stands in the way of the boy possessing the mother.
Explain what happens in the Oedipus complex
They develop a passionate desire for their mother.
- They want to possess their mother for themselves.
- They see their father as rival: jealousy and therefore wishes father dead.
- They are afraid their father will discover their desire for their mother and punish them by removing the prize possession: castration anxiety.
- They recognise that their father is more powerful than them as he has a bigger penis.
- The Father is likely to have reprimanded the child for playing with himself.
- The child believes his father has castrated his mother.
- Conflict: between lust for mother and fear of father.
What happens in the phallic stage for girls?
In the phallic stage girls experience penis envy, and this leads to resentment towards the mother.
Explain what happens in the Elektra complex
All young girls experience this conflict.
They develop a passionate desire for their father.
They resent their mother as realise they do not have a penis and they believe they were castrated and blame their mother for this.
Girls experience penis envy as they are jealous that their father/brother has a penis and they themselves do not .
They discover that they cannot have a penis so substitute this desire for a penis with desire for a baby.
They want their father to provide them with a son so lust after their father.
However, they feels anxious that their mother will find out about these feelings
Fear: losing mother’s love.
Conflict: between lust for father and fear of losing mother’s love.
Why do girls develop a double resentment towards their mother?
Firstly, the mother is seen as a love rival standing in the way of the father
Secondly, the mother is blamed by their daughter for having no penis
What happens towards the end of the phallic stage?
Towards the end of the phallic stage, children resolve their conflicts by identifying with the same sex parent.
Identification develops a superego (adopting that parent’s morals), their gender identity and role (as a male or female).
How does the boy resolve the complex?
By identifying with the father. They internalise an adult male role so that they can get married when older to fulfil their desires.
How does the girl resolve the complex?
The girl resolves the complex by turning her penis envy into a wish to have a baby herself. Therefore, she identifies with her own mother and internalises female gender behaviour.
Summary of the conflicts
- Child has unconscious sexual desire for opposite sex parent
- Fears same sex parent and may wish them out of the way
- Castration anxiety (boy) fear of punishment from the fathers for their desire for the mothers.
- Penis envy (girl): had a penis that was removed and blame mother.
- Adopts characteristics of same sex parent
- to prevent castration (boy)
- to have a child by her father (girl)
