Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development

Question 1

what does Freud’s psychoanalytic theory involve?

Answer 1

• pre-phallic children
• oedipus complex
• electra complex
• identification and internalisation
• little hans

Question 2

what are pre-phallic children? and when does gender development take place?

Answer 2

• the third of the psychosexual stages - phallic stage - is where gender development takes place between ages 3-6
• prior to the phallic stage children have no concept of gender identity
• they have no understanding of male or female, so don’t categorise themselves or others in that way

Question 3

what happens in the phallic stage?

Answer 3

• focus of pleasure switches to genitals, so children in this stage experience oedipus complex(boys) or electra complex(girls)
• this is crucial for formation of gender identity

Question 4

what is the oedipus complex?

Answer 4

• in the phallic stage, boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mothers
• they harbour a jealous and murderous hatred for their fathers, who stand in the way of the boy possessing his mother
• the boy recognises that his father is more powerful than he is and fears he may be castrated for having feeling towards his mother = castration anxiety
• to resolve this conflict, the boy gives up his love for his mother and begins to identify with his father

Question 5

what is the electra complex?

Answer 5

• in the phallic stage, girls experience penis envy, seeing themselves and their mother as being in competition for their father’s love
• girls develop double resentment towards their mother
• 1= mother is a love rival standing in way of father, 2 = mother is blamed by their daughter for having no penis
• Carl Jung - girls over time accept that they will never have a penis and substitute penis envy with teh sire to have children, identifying with mother as a result

Question 6

what is identification?

Answer 6

children of both sexed identify with the same gender parents as a means of resolving their respective complexes

Question 7

what do girls and boys adopt?

Answer 7

• boys adopt the attitudes and values of their fathers
• girls adopt the attitudes and values of their mothers

Question 8

what is internalisation?

Answer 8

• involves children taking on board the gender identity of the same-gender parent
• both boys and girls receive second hand gender identity all at once at the end of the phallic stage

Question 9

what is the case study of Little Hans?

Answer 9

• little hans illustrates the oedipus complex
• Hans = 5 years old with a fear of being bitten by horses
• Hans’ fear stemmed from an incident when he had seen a horse collapse and die in the street
• Freud’s interpretation = Hans’ fear is represented by fear of castration
• Hans displaced the fear of horses onto his father