Gender

• Psychodynamic theory


  Events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality
• Unconscious


  Events that occur in childhood can remain in the unconscious and cause problems as adults
• Freud's 5 stages of psychosexual development

  • Oral (0-1yrs)
  • Anal (1-3yrs)
  • Phallic (3-5/6yrs)
  • Latency (6-11/12yrs)
  • Genital (12+/puberty)
• Psychosexual stages


  • We move through these age-related stages of development encountering different conflicts along the way
  • These conflicts must be resolved at each stage to ensure healthy psychological development
• Gender identity


  Develops around 3 years old
• Before the age of 3, gender identity is flexible and there is no clear difference between girls and boys
• Up until 3 years old, children have no real sense of being masculine or feminine - they are bisexual
• Phallic stage


  Lasts from 3-5/6 years old, during this stage the child seeks pleasure from playing with their own genitals and begins to understand the physical differences between males and females
• Oedipus complex


  Young boys develop a passionate desire for their mother and see their father as a rival
• Electra complex


  Young girls develop a passionate desire for their father and resent their mother
• These feelings of the Oedipus and Electra complex are repressed
• Resolution of Oedipus/Electra complex


  Boys give up their love for their mother and identify with their father, girls acknowledge they will never have a penis and substitute this with a desire to have their own children, identifying with their mother
• Towards the end of the phallic stage, children resolve their conflicts by identifying with the same sex parent, developing a superego and gender identity</b>
• Girls develop a weaker gender identity and superego than boys as they are less motivated by the fear of castration
• Internalisation


  An individual accepts the attitudes and behaviours of another, boys adopt the attitudes and values of their father, girls adopt those of their mother
• Children unable to experience the Oedipus/Electra complex would become homosexual with no father figure to identify with, and develop a weaker gender identity and superego
• Little Hans


  • 3 year old boy with a morbid fear of horses, which Freud interpreted as representing his fear of castration by his father due to his love for his mother
• Freud suggested Hans had transferred his fear of his father onto horses via the defence mechanism of displacement
• Social Learning Theory (SLT)


  Acknowledges the role of social context in influencing behaviour, which is learned from observing and being reinforced for the imitation of others' behaviour
• Gender development


  • Influenced by the environment (nurture) in shaping gender development
  • Influences can include peers, parents, teachers, culture, and media
• Gender reinforcement


  1. Children are reinforced for gender-appropriate behaviour

  2. Boys may be praised for being active and assertive, and punished for being passive or gentle

  3. Girls may be reinforced for different behaviours, which they then reproduce
• Vicarious reinforcement


  When the favourable (reward) consequences of another person's behaviour are observed, that behaviour is more likely to be imitated by a child
• Vicarious punishment


  When the unfavourable (punished) consequences of behaviour are seen, the behaviour is less likely to be imitated
• Role models


  • Part of the child's immediate environment (parents, teachers, siblings, etc.)
  • In the media (pop stars, sports stars)
  • Attractive, high status
  • Same sex as the child
• Modelling in gender development

  1. A mother may model stereotypically feminine behaviour, which a girl imitates

  2. A boy may model the skills of a footballer he observes
• Mediational processes in learning gender behaviour

  • Attention
  • Retention
  • Motivation
  • Motor reproduction
• The cognitive factors that determine the production of an observed behaviour