other explanations: psychodynamic

• one strength of freud's theory?

  P - support for role of oedipus complex in gender development

  E - freuds explanation of gender development means that for boys normal development depends on being raised by at least 1 male parent.

  E - rekers and morey rated the gender identity for 49 boys aged 3-11 based on interviews with their families and themselves. of those judged to be gender disturbed 75% had neither their biological father nor a substitute father living with them.

  L - being raised with no father has a negative impact upon gender identity.
• CA for strength of freud's theory?

  P - relationship between absent fathers and problems of gender identity isn't supported.

  E - bos and sandfort compared data from 63 children where both parents were lesbian and 68 children from traditional families. children raised by lesbian parents felt less pressure to conform to gender stereotypes and were less likely to assume their own gender was superior but there were no differences in terms of psychosocial adjustment or gender identity.

  L - contradicts freud's theory as it suggests that fathers aren't necessary for healthy gender identity development.
• limitation of freud's theory?

  P - freud's inadequate account of women's development

  E - much of the theorising on girls parallel development was undertaken by jung, one of freud's contemporaries who produced a psychoanalytic theory. freud admitted that women were a mystery to him and his notion of penis envy has been criticised as reflecting the androcentric victorian era during which he lived where men held so much power.

  E - horney argues that a more powerful emotion than penis envy is men's experience of womb envy a reaction to women's ability to nurture and sustain life. argues that penis envy was a result of cultural factors not biological.

  L - challenges the idea that women's gender development is founded on a desire to want to be like a man.
• another limitation of freud's theory?

  P - lacks scientific credibility

  E - freud has often been criticised for the lack of rigour in his methods. many of his concepts are untestable as they're largely unconscious. contrasts sharply with other explanations of gender that are based on objective verifiable evidence derived from controlled lab studies.

  E - popper says this makes freuds theory pseudoscientific as his key ideas cant be falsified.

  L - questions the validity of freud's theory as its not based on sound scientific evidence.
• oedipus complex?

  -in phallic stage boys develop inestuous feelings towards mother. harbour a jealous & murderous hatred for their father who stands in way of boy possessing his mother.

  -boy recognises his father is more powerful & fears he may be castrated by his father for his feelings leading to castration anxiety.

  -to resolve conflict boy gives up love and begins to identify with father.
• electra complex?

  -in phallic stage girls experience penis envy, sees themselves and their mother in competition for their fathers love.

  -girls develop a double resentment towards their mother for being a love rival standing in the way of the father and daughter blames mother for having no penis.

  -girls over time learn to accept they wont have a penis and substitute penis envy with desire to have children identifying with their mothers.
• little hans?

  -hans was a 5 year old boy with a morbid fear of being bitten by a horse. hans fear appeared to have stemmed from an incident when he had seen a horse collapse and die in the street.

  -however freuds intepretation was that hans fear of being btiten represented his fear of castration.

  -freud suggested that hans had transferred his fear of his father onto horses via unconscious defense mechanism of displacement.
• identification?

  desire to be associated with a particular person or group often because they possess desirable characteristics.
• internalisation?

  an individual adopts the attitudes and behaviour of another