AO1 - Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender

• Freud (1905) devised a developmental theory which sees children pass through 5 biologically driven psychosexual stages; oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital.
• Freud believed that the psychosexual stages of development were crucial for the formation of gender identity.
• Freud's theory of gender development is a psychodynamic explanation suggesting that gender is a product of internal conflicts in the process of psychosexual development.
• The psychodynamic theory of gender development suggests that gender identity is acquired during the third stage of psychosexual development; the phallic stage.
• Freud suggested that the phallic stage of psychosexual development occurs between the ages of 3 and 6 years.
• Prior to reaching the phallic stage children have no concept of gender identity. They have no understanding of male and female, so do not categorise themselves in this way.
• According to Freud children become aware of their gender in the phallic stage of development (3-5 years).
• As the child enters the phallic stage the focus of the libido moves to the genitals and the development of boys and girls differ.
• In the phallic stage of development the energy is centred on the genitals and it is towards the end of this stage following the complexes that gender development occurs.
• In male gender development boys enter the Oedipus complex.
• The Oedipus complex relates to male gender development, where boys direct their sexual energy towards their mother.
• In the Oedipus complex boys develop increasing feelings of love and desire towards their mothers, which in turn causes resentment towards their father as he is seen as a rival.
• In the Oedipus complex boys have anxiety which is directed towards their father and they fear castration if their father discovers their sexual feelings for their mother.
• Boys experience castration anxiety as part of the Oedipus complex.
• Castration anxiety is a psychoanalytical term used to refer to the anxiety experienced by young boys as a result of the rivalry they experience with their father for the affections of their mother.
• The frustration of the id instinct results in aggressive feelings being directed towards boys fathers in the Oedipus complex.
• In the Oedipus complex boys deal with the conflict by identifying with their father and internalising his behaviour.
• In order to resolve the Oedipus complex boys must identify with their father and internalise elements of his identity.
• By resolving the Oedipus complex boys have taken on the characteristics of their father's gender identity and internalise this in order to feel able to attract a woman like his mother.
• Following the identification and internalisation experienced by boys in the Oedipus complex, Freud suggested that boys have taken on the male gender identity.
• Research to support the idea of the Oedipus complex comes from Freud's study of Little Hans.
• Freud (1909) suggested that 5-year-old Little Hans’ phobia of horses was displaced castration anxiety as a result of experiencing the Oedipus complex.
• The only evidence Freud had to support his concept at the Oedipus complex was the one case study of Little Hans.
• The Electra complex was proposed by the Neo-Freudian Carl Jung.
• The Electra complex relates to female gender development, where girls direct their sexual energy towards their father.
• In the Electra complex girls develop increasing feelings of love and desire towards their father, which in turn causes resentment towards their mother she is seen as a rival.
• The Electra complex suggests that females do not feel complete and experience penis envy.
• Penis envy is an anxiety feeling experienced by females upon the realisation that they do not have a penis.
• During the Electra complex girls repress their desire for a penis and instead substitute this with the desire for a baby.
• In order to resolve the Electra complex girls must identify with their mother and in doing so internalise aspects of her gender role identity.
• When girls identify with their mother in the Electra complex, they feel able to attract a male partner like their father in the future.
• Following the identification and internalisation experienced by girls in the Electra complex, Freud suggested that girls have taken on the female gender identity.
• To complete gender development children must identify with their same-sex parent to reduce unconscious anxiety and internalise their moral standards to adopt their parents personality traits.
• Freud's theory suggests that children of both sexes identify (identification) with the same-sex parent as a way of resolving their complexes. When children adopt the gender identity of the same-sex parents, Freud called this internalisation.