Psychodynamic Explanation of Gender Development

• Pre-Phallic Children

  • gender development occurs at phallic stage of psychosexual development
  • children are bisexual
  • focus of pleasure in genitals
  • Oedipus and Electra Complexes are crucial for forming gender identity
• what does Freud mean by 'bisexual'


  neither masculine or feminine
• Oedipus Complex

  • phallic stage
  • boys' incestuous feelings towards mom
  • hatred of father until castration anxiety
  • resolution = give up love and identifies with father (aggressor)
• Electra Complex

  • penis envy
  • double-resentment of mom
  • Jung 1913 = girls substitute penis envy with desire for children therefore identify with mom
• why girls double-resent mom?

  1. mom as rival for dad's love
  2. blame mom for lack of penis = castrated by mom
• Identification


  identify with and adopt values of same-sex parent to resolve complexes
• Internalisation


  children take on gender identity of same-sex parent
• Little Hans

  illustration of Oedipus complex - 5 year old boy feared being bitten by horse, stemming from seeing a horse die
• Freud's interpretation of Hans' dream

  fear of being bitten represented castration anxiety - transferred fear of father onto horses via displacement (defence mechanism)
• Defence mechanisms

  unconscious
• Limitation - inadequate account of female development


  Karen Horney = womb envy (male jealous of women being able to sustain life) and 'penis envy' are cultural concepts rather than innate - penis envy reflects Victorian patriarchal society because it suggests it was girls' innate desire to ‘aspire’ towards men due to their penises therefore androcentric assumption.

  Beta bias - Freud only studied boys, therefore assumed it applied to girls too until Jung 1913 et al.
• Limitation - contrary research to Oedipus


  Blakemore & Hill 2008 et al. = sons of liberal fathers are more secure in masculine identity - Freud implied sons of harsh fathers develop more robust gender identity because higher levels of anxiety should produce stronger identification therefore low external validity
• Limitation - only focuses on nuclear families

  • Golombok 1983 = single-parent household kids develop normal gender identities; Green 1978 = 36/37 kids raised by gay/trans parents had typical gender identity - being raised in non-nuclear families doesn't have adverse effect on gender development therefore Freud's findings lack population validity
• Limitation - lacks scientific rigour


  Popper 1959 = Freud's theory is pseudoscientific - psychodynamic isn't genuine science because it cannot be falsified which is due to his methodology (case studies - letter) unconscious nature of the the experience in gender development (the Complexes, defence mechanisms) therefore unreliable
• Freud placed great emphasis on the Oedipus and Electra Complexes as mechanisms of resolving the psychosexual conflict present in the phallic stage and thus in the development of gender identity.
• According to Freud, the resolution of these complexes plays a crucial role in shaping an individual’s gender identity by influencing their attitudes towards themselves and others based on their sex.