A01

• Describe the phallic stage of development

  The third psychosexual stage that occurs from 3-6 years old where the child's source of libido is their genitals (penis / clitoris), and they experience pleasure from engaging in masturbation
• Describe how Freud suggest a child's gender identity developed

  - He believed that children were born gender-neutral and their gender identity developed in unconscious psychosexual stages, beginning with the two gender-neutral stages (oral and anal), when there is no visible difference between the behaviour of boys and girls

  - Freud proposed that children's perception of gender identity developed in the phallic stage as they navigate the conflict to establish their own gender identity
• Outline how a child resolves their gender identity during the phallic stage

  A child's gender identity is resolved either through the Oedipus complex (in boys) or the Electra complex (in girls)
• Describe the Oedipus complex

  When a boy develops sexual desires for his mother and harbour a hatred for his father because he sees him as a rival for the mother's love, however he fears his father will punish him (castration anxiety) for his lust for his mother and thereby represses these feelings and identifies with his father in the process, internalising his gender role and moral values
• Explain castration anxiety

  When boys fear their fathers will punish them by castrating them if they find out about their incestuous desire for their mother
• Describe the Electra complex

  When a girl develops sexual desires for her father and views the penis as the primary love object and blames her mother for her lack of a penis (penis envy), but over time this is resolved by the girl repressing her desire for her father and substituting the wish for a penis with the wish for a baby, thereby she identifies with her mother and internalises her gender role
• Explain penis envy

  When girls experience distress due to the belief they had a penis, and they blame their mother for removing it (through castration)
• Explain the role of identification and internalisation during the Oedipus and Electra complex

  In order to resolve their unconscious conflicts children will identify with and internalise the gender-related behaviours and attitudes of their same sex parent
• Name the study that supports the psychodynamic explanation for gender development

  Little Hans (1909)