psychodynamic explanations

• Unconscious motivation

  We have thoughts & ideas that we're not directly aware of which determine behaviour.
• Psychosexual stages

  Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent, Genital
• Oral stage


  Birth - 1yr Pleasure zone: mouth Everything gravitates towards the mouth. Fixation: orally fixated -> biting nails.
• Anal stage

  1yr - 3yr Pleasure zone: bowel & bladder control Fixation: anally fixated -> control issues, OCD
• Oedipus complex

  All young boys experience this conflict - they develop a passionate desire for their mother & see their father as a rival: jealousy, they wish their father dead. Afraid their father will discover their desire for their mother & punish them by removing their prize possession: 'castration anxiety'. Recognises their father as more powerful than them as he has a bigger penis, they believe their father has castrated their mother & they begin to identify with their dad & display sex stereotypical behaviour.
• Electra complex


  All young girls experience this conflict, they develop a passionate desire for their father & resent their mother as they realise they don't have a penis, they believe they were castrated & blame their mother for this. They long for a penis: penis envy. They discover they can't have a penis & so substitute the desire for a penis with a desire for a baby, they begin to identify with their mother & display sex stereotypical behaviour.
• Phallic stage

  3yrs - 6yrs Pleasure zone: genitals Psychosexual complexes occur.
• Summary of conflicts

  Child has unconscious sexual desire for opposite-sex parent, fears same-sex parent & may wish they out of the way. Castration anxiety: fear of punishment from the fathers for desire for the mother. Penis envy: has a penis that was removed & blames mother. Adopts characteristics of same-sex parent -> leads to internalising gender to prevent castration/ to have a child by her father. Boys identify more with their father so end up with greater morality - more developed super-ego.
• Support for psychodynamic explanation - Okami

  Okami et al followed 200 children from age 6 onwards who had been exposed to adult nudity when younger & found that at 18yrs old, the girls were more likely to become pregnant or infected with STI's which does suggest a link between sexual experiences during the phallic stage & later sexual behaviour.
• Support for psychodynamic explanation - Levin


  Levin reported that out of 32 cases of manic-depression, 22 suffered some form of unresolved Oedipus or Electra complex crisis. This suggests a link between earlier unresolved stages of psychosexual development & later adult problems as Freud claimed.
• Criticism of Freud's theory

  Freud argued that a boy who is raised by a lone mother would be confused about their sexual identity. However research by Golombok discovered that boys raised by lone mothers/ lesbian mothers still develop a male gender identity. This challenges the psychodynamic explanation that boys raised without a father would fixate in the phallic stage & therefore not develop a strong masculine identity.
• Criticism of Freud's theory - Feminism

  Feminists challenge the view that children are sexually active at such a young age & many psychologists have argued that Freud's suggestion that young children want to possess their opposite-sex parent sexually is very damaging for child sexual abuse victims as it sees them as actively wanting a sexual relationship.
• Evaluation of psychodynamic explanation - SLT comparison

  SLT agree that parents can play a role in gender development. However, SLT refers to reinforcement. They also argue that children can identify with a range of same-sex role models.
• Evaluation of psychodynamic explanation - Cognitive comparison

  Cognitive development theory argues that gender develops in 3 main stages over first 7yrs. A longer process than Freud claimed & after phallic stage. Children have gender identity by 2 - Freud argues they are gender neutral at this point. The cognitive explanation concentrates on the development of the conscious mind not the unconscious mind which is the focus of Freud.
• Psychodynamic explanation

  • Nomothetic - everyone has tripartite personality & psychosexual development
  • Idiographic - each person Freud saw had a unique problem & 'fixations', unique childhood personality = unique adult personality
• Nature

  Born with innate selfish drives (id)
• Nurture

  Childhood experiences affect adult personality
• Psychodynamic explanation

  • Deterministic - behaviour is driven by the unconscious by internal drives/instincts as well as by childhood
• Controversial idea of infants having sexual urges
• Implications of psychotherapy - implanting false memories, transference therapist centred = time & money
• Psychodynamic explanation

  • Holistic - dynamic interaction of id, ego & superego is different in each person, as well as the 'holistic' influence of your childhood