Psychodynamic Explanation

• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO1

  Pre-phallic children: before the end of the phallic stage (ages 3-6), children have no concept of gender identity (no understanding of male or female so don’t categorise themselves or others in that way)
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO1

  Oedipus Complex: boys desire their mother + are jealous of their father’s relationship with her - they fear that their father will castrate them for having these feelings (castration anxiety) - to resolve this conflict, they repress their feelings for their mother + identify with their father (identification = a desire to be associated with a particular person/group bc of particular characteristics they possess) - also involves internalisation, where the boy adopts male related behaviours from his father
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO1

  Elektra Complex: girls develop penis envy + feel resentful towards their mother bc they believe she castrated them - they desire the father bc he has a penis + further feels resentful towards the mother bc of her relationship with him - over time, they accept that they’ll never have a penis + replace the desiring of a penis with a desire to have children - they identify with the mother as she has children herself (identification) - this involves taking on her female related behaviours + attitudes (internalisation)
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO1

  Little Hans: case used to support the Oedipus Complex - LH was a 5 yr old boy who had a phobia of horses after seeing one carrying a heavy cart collapse in the street - Freud suggested that Hans had transferred his fear of castration by his father, bc of his feeling towards his mother, onto horses, via the unconscious defence mechanism of displacement
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO1

  Gender Difference: According to Freud, bc girls don’t face the same threat of castration in the phallic stage that boys do, they aren‘t under the same pressure as boys to identify with the same gender parent - this means that girls develop a weaker identity than boys
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO3

  P- Rekers + Morey rated the gender identity of 49 boys aged 3-11 based on interviews with their families + the children themselves - of those judged ‘gender disturbed’, 75% had neither their biological or a substitute father living with them - supports Freud’s idea that boys need to identify with their father in order to develop gender identity
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO3

  N- Most research doesn’t support the idea that fathers are necessary for children to develop their gender identity - Bos + Sandfort compared data from 63 children where both parents were lesbian with 68 children from ‘traditional families’ - no differences were found in the children’s ability to develop a healthy gender identity, opposing Freud’s theory
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO3

  N- Freud’s theories suffer from alpha bias - females don’t go through the same Oedipal conflict as males + therefore don’t identify as strongly with their same sex parent, meaning that they have a weaker gender identity - also, the concept of penis envy is androcentric - it implies that the male physical form is the ideal one and therefore that females are in some way lacking because they don’t have a penis
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO3

  N- Falsifiability is a key foundation of science - however, Freud states that concepts such as penis envy are largely unconscious - this means that they’re not falsifiable (can’t be proved wrong through scientific testing) - objectivity is also a key foundation of science - however, Freud’s interpretation of case studies, such as Little Hans, are extremely subjective - Hans’ fear of horses after watching one collapse could’ve been interpreted in multiple ways
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO3

  P- Freud believes that females don’t go through the same Oedipal conflict as males + therefore don’t identify as strongly with their same sex parent, meaning they have a weaker gender identity - this could be supported by the fact that boys are more reluctant than girls to engage in counter-stereotype behaviour that might be regarded as feminine, suggesting that boys develop a stronger gender identity than females
• Discuss the Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development [16 marks] - AO3

  N- Freud suggests that children don’t show gender-appropriate behaviour until around 6yrs old when the Oedipus + Elektra complexes are resolved - this contrasts cognitive explanations of gender that claim gender-appropriate behaviour is learned gradually - Freud’s explanation may be less likely of the two - it seems unlikely that a child would have no understanding of gender-appropriate behaviour until age 6 when they gain it second-hand all in one go from their same-sex parent