the psychodynamic explanation of gender development

Question 1

what were freuds 5 psychosexual stages of development?

Answer 1

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Question 2

what is the 3rd stage and why is it so important?

Answer 2

phallic stage (3 and 6) is when the focus of attention of the libido (sexual energy) moves to the genitals.
- stage where gender identity is established
- freud believed that children have no concept of gender identity before this time

Question 3

Oedipus complex

Answer 3

• phallic stage = boys become sexually attracted to mother + expreience jealousy towards father = view as bigger and better rival for mother affection
• boy wishes father was dead
• boy fears father will castrate him for his feelings towards his mothers (castration anxiety)
• deal with conflict = repress love for his mother and identity with father know as identification with the aggressor
• boy internalising his fathers behaviour and values
• male gender role development is a result of this process

Question 4

Electra complex

Answer 4

• first object of love for both sexes is the mother
• girls experience penis envy = notice that they do not have a penis and their mother doesn’t have one
• girl blames her mother
• sexual attraction passes to her father
• girl becoming her mother’s rial for her father’s affection
• Fearing that she will lose her mother’s love, the girl represses her love for her father and identifies with her mother, leading to the internalisation of her mother’s behaviour and values = female gender development
• girls never recover from penis envy but regard the ability to bear children as a substitute.

Question 5

research evidence - freud Little Hans

Answer 5

• case study on 5 year old little hans
• phobia of horses especially those with black bits around their mouths which freud interpreted as his fathers mustache
• freud believed that hans was afraid of his father rather than horses which is in line with the oedipus complex theory
• hans was able to overcome this conflict by having 2 fantises:
  one where a plumber came and exchanged his bottom and widdler (penis) for larger ones, and a second where he fathered several children.
• This indicated that Hans had identified with his father and internalised his male gender