Sex and Gender

Question 1

Outline the psychodynamic theory of gender development

not including the 2 complexes

Answer 1

• in the phallic stage (3rd stage), Freud claimed that the child unconsciously sexually desires the opposite-sex parent and is jealous of the same-sex parent
• in order to deal with these feelings and the anxiety they produce, the child starts to behave like the same-sex parent - called identification

Question 2

Describe the Oedipus complex

Answer 2

• when a boy is unconsciously attracted to his mother and jealous of his father
• scared his father will castrate him when he finds out his feelings
• to resolve the conflicting feelings, he gives up his feelings towards his mother and identifies with his father
• begins to behave like his father and adopts a masculine gender

Question 3

Describe the Electra complex

Answer 3

• when a girl in unconsciously attracted to her father and is jealous and resentful of her mother
• worried that her mother will find out the feelings she has for her father
• according to Freud, the girl believes she has already been castrated so she is not as fearful as the boy
• due to the conflicting feeling she is feeling for her father and the fear of losing her mother’s love she identifies with her mother, adopting a feminine identity

Question 4

Outline a study that supports the psychodynamic theory of gender development

Answer 4

Freud - Little Hans
Aim: To investigate Little Hans’s phobia
Method: At the age of 4, Little Hans developed a phobia of horses. He was frightened that a horse might bite him or fall down. He was particularly afraid of large white horses with black harnesses. Little Hans’s dad wrote to Freud and Freud analysed the information.
Results: Freud claimed Little Hans unconsciously sexually desired his mother and saw his father as a rival and feared castration. He displaced this fear of his father onto horses. The horse represented his father who had a black beard. His fear of being bitten by the horse represented his fear of castration. The horse falling down represented his unconscious desire to see his father dead.
Conclusion: This supports Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex as he claimed Little Hans was experiencing it.