Psychodynamic, SLT and cultural media influence on gender

• Psychodynamic explanation of gender development?

  Freud contended that boys and girls acquire gender identity by learning to negotiate desires for the opposite sex parent and by eventually identifying with the same-sex parent.
• What happens in the prefix stage for children? (psychodynamic explanation)

  3 to 6 years gender development occurs in the phallic stage prior to this there is no concept of gender identity. Pre-phallic children described as bisexual as they are neither masculine or feminine.

  Stage where Oedipus or electric complex occurs
• what happens in the phallic stage for boys?

  in the phallic stage boys go through the Oedipus complex. where boys develop incestuous feelings to mother. a jealous/murderer hatred for father who prevents possessing mother. recognise his father as more powerful and would been castrated for his feelings, causing castration anxiety. So then resolve conflict by identifying with the aggressor (father)
• what happens in the phallic stage for girls ?

  they gone through the Electra complex, where they experience, penis, envy and blame mother for not having a penis, and for standing in the way of the relationship with father. but then resolves and replaces this penis by the desire to have children and realise that they need to identify themselves with mum
• what is identification and internalisation?

  the child first identifys with the same sex parent as a way to over come conflict. then they internalise so take on board of gender identity of this parent
• What is the little hands case study?


  Freud case study, explains oedipus complex. Hans A five-year-old boy with a phobia of horses as he saw a horse collapse/Diana Street. Freud stated that this via actually represented hands fear of castration as the horse represented/resembled his father. This is unconscious displacement of fear
• what are weaknesses of the psychodynamic explanation of gender?

  research doesn't support the Oedipus complex. Criticisms for for his use of little hands case study.

  Blakemore and Hill - Boys with liberal fathers are more secure in their masculine identity than harsh fathers. This challenges Freud, who said harsh Fathers create robust sense of gender identity due to more anxiety which would mean that would be more identification with their aggressor
• what are weaknesses of the psychodynamic explanation of gender?

  in adequate account for female development. Freud admitted women were a mystery to him theorising female development actually done by Carl Jung.

  Saying women had penis, envy It's just an example of Victorian patriarchy sexism. also, that females, wanting to be like men is an androcentric assumption. also, Karen Horney said men, experience, womb, envy
• what are weaknesses of the psychodynamic explanation of gender?

  anther disadvantage for this explanation is it disincorporated counts non-nuclear families. Freud theory relies on two opposite gendered parents and assume that a non-nuclear family would have an adverse effect on development. But Golombok Found the children in single parent families developed normal, gender, identities, contradicting what Freud says
• Social learning theory on gender development?

  social learning theory states all behaviour as a result of learning/observation, and that our environment has a role in shaping gender identity
• What is direct reinforcement?

  Children are rewarded for gender appropriate behaviour. Children are encouraged to Show distinctive gender appropriate behaviour Which is differential reinforcement. Children imitates what is reinforced.
• What is vicarious reinforcement?

  It is indirect so If children see someone else get rewarded for gender appropriate behaviour they will do the same behaviour. E.G a girl wearing dress
• What is identification and modelling?


  Child identifies with someone like themselves, or with our rewarding status(role model) could be immediate figure or in the media crucially the same sex as the child. Modelling is precise demonstration of behaviour, imitated by observe that if rewarded
• What are mental processes to Imitate and remember gender appropriate in order?

  1. Attention
  2. retention
  3. Motivation
  4. motor reproduction
• What are the strengths of the social learning theory of gender development?

  there is supportive evidence, E.G Smith and Lloyd looked at 4 to 6 months babies half dressed as boys and half girls irrespective of their actual gender. They observe the interactions with adults and found that boys were encouraged to be adventurous. While girls were told they were pretty. showing gender appropriate behaviour is reinforced from an early age
• What are the strengths of the social learning theory of gender develop?

  The social learning theory also explains the changing gender roles in western society as in western society. People are more androgyny. Shift in social expectations and culture. New norms on gender behaviour forced. No change in biology over the years so changes can only be explained by the social learning theory.
• Weaknesses of the social learning theory on gender development?

  It is not a developmental theory. Doesn't explain how learning changes with age. Dubin- Child notes same sex behaviour at an early age but imitates them later.

  This is then supportive of Kolberg who states children ain't active in Gender development until reaching consistency. Suggesting that the cognitive theories may be better explanation
• How can we tell if gender roles are due to biological factors or social learning factors?

  if gender roles are consistent across cultures, it means that he has a innat nature/biological factor for that gender role, but if gender roles are different across cultures, it must be the result of social learning
• Culture and gender roles

  • nature - if a gender behaviour is consistent across cultures we consider it in nature biological
  • nurture - if a gendered behaviour is culturally specific we consider this due to influences of shared norms and socialisation
• The role of nurture on gender development (culture on gender roles) who did the research

  Mead
• what Was Mead’s research (1935)


  did research on a tribal group in New Guinea this supported the cultural determination of gender roles. (gender roles are due to cultural influences)
• What did Mead find?

  • Arapesh - gentle and responsive (similar to Western stereotype of femininity)
  • Mundugumor - aggressive and hostile (similar to western stereotypes of masculinity)
  • Tchambuli - women were dominant and they organised village life. The men were passive and considered to be decorative (reverse of western gender behaviour)
• Who did research into the role of nature on gender roles? (culture on gender.)

  Buss
• What was Buss’s research ?


  Found a consistent mate preference in 37 countries studied across all continents
• What was Buss’s findings


  In all of the cultures;

  • Women sort men offering wealth and resources
  • Men looked for youth and physical attractiveness

  Munroe and Munroe (1975) found that in most societies division of labour is organised along gender
• A limitation of culture and gender roles

  mead’s findings have been challenged in a follow-up study of Samoan people Freeman 1983 claimed that Meads research misled participants and had been heavily influenced by her perceptions. However Freeman research was simile criticised for a lack of objectivity. He selected research to support his own viewpoint raising questions of the quality of research offered in relation to influences of culture on gender roles.
• Another limitation for culture and media on gender rules

  Cross cultural research is typically undertaken by western researchers using theories and methods developed in the west that they impose their own understandings upon the people they are studying. Berry et al 2002 claimed that imposed ethics can make methods and findings meaningless. This is the use of methods developed in one culture to assess behaviour and another suggesting conclusions from cross cultural research may not be valid
• Limitation of culture and media is that research does not resolve the nature nature debate


  Cross cultural research can show what is biological and what is due to the impact of cultural practices on gender role behaviour but practically it is impossible to separate the two at birth. Children starts to learn society and gender roles and norms. It is impossible to determine when nature stops and nature begins it is likely that the true explanation of gender development will be a constant interaction between both nature and nurture.
• Media and gender roles - same-sex media role models preferred


  • Children are most likely to imitate role models who are the same as they are and who are engaging in gender appropriate behaviour
  • this maximises the chances of gender appropriate behaviour being reinforced
• The media and gender rules - the media creates gender stereotypes

  • Bussey and Bandura 1999 sound that the media provides clear gender stereotypes
  • for example, men are independent ambitious and advice givers whereas women are dependent and ambitious and advice seekers
• What did Furnham and Farragher find in relation to the media creating gender stereotypes?

  Found that men were more likely to be shown and autonomous rules within professional contact where is women were often seen as occupying familial roles within domestic settings
• The media and gender roles - correlation between media exposure and gender stereotypical views

  • McGhee and Frueh 1980 found the children who have more exposure to popular forms of media tend to display more gender stereotypical views in that behaviour and attitudes
  • This research also suggest that people gain information through media about the likely success or otherwise of adopting typical behaviours i.e. vicarious reinforcement
• One limitation with research on media is that it is correlational


  Media output might be reflecting social norms about males and females, but it could also be that the media is the cause of the such norms. Media output might be reflecting social norms about males and females, but it could also be that the media is the cause of the such norms. Children without regular media exposure are really available for comparison necessary to establish the direction of the medias affect meaning we cannot assume that the media is responsible for causing gender roles
• Another limitation is that counter stereotypes also exist in the media

  Search counter stereotypes challenge notions of masculinity and femininity. Pingree 1978 found that gender stereotyping was reduced if children were shown adverts with women in non-stereotypical roles. However, Pingree also found that pre-adolescent boys stereotypes became stronger following the exposure to non-traditional models therefore the prediction that counter stereotypes will reduce gender stereotyping is not always supported