PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER DEVELOPMENT
TEST WITH SOLUTIONS #12
Outline the oedipus complex (4 marks) - correct answer - Boys experience this during
the genital stage
- Boys start to desire their mother at age 3 or 4
- Boys then see their fathers as a rival for their mother's love and wish their father dead
which results in anxiety and fear of castration. These fears are repressed
- The complex is eventually resolved because the boy begins to identify with their father
(identification) and internalises his father's gender identity
- leads to masculine behaviour as young boys take on the attitude and expectations of
the father
Outline the electra complex (4 marks) - correct answer - concerned with a conflict
between a child and same-sex parent because they are in competition for the opposite-
sex parent
- young girl is initially attracted to her mother but this ends when she realises her mother
doesn't have a penis. She then blames her mother for her own lack of a penis - penis
envy
- girl's sexual desires are transferred to her father
- complex is resolved when girl converts her penis envy to wish to have a baby +
identifies with mother and takes on her gender behaviours
Explain how both identification and internalisation are part of Freud's psychoanalytic
account of gender development (4 marks) - correct answer - identification = a form of
influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be
associated with that particular person or group
- Successful conflict resolution of oedipus complex and electra complex leads to
identification with same-sex parent
- They then internalise (accept the attitudes and behaviours) of the parent and imitate
masculine or feminine behaviour
Discuss Freud's psychoanalytic theory of gender development (16 marks) - correct
answer Ao1:
- Gender development occurs in third stage of psychosocial development (phallic)
- Child's gender identity is either resolved through the Oedipus complex or Electra
complex
- Explain oedipus
- explain electra
- Both resolved and identification and internalization of an appropriate gender identity
and sex-role stereotypes
- Unresolved phallic stage = fixation on the genital stage causes a phallic character who
is afraid of or not capable of close love. This according to Freud is the cause of amoral
behaviour and homosexuality
TEST WITH SOLUTIONS #12
Outline the oedipus complex (4 marks) - correct answer - Boys experience this during
the genital stage
- Boys start to desire their mother at age 3 or 4
- Boys then see their fathers as a rival for their mother's love and wish their father dead
which results in anxiety and fear of castration. These fears are repressed
- The complex is eventually resolved because the boy begins to identify with their father
(identification) and internalises his father's gender identity
- leads to masculine behaviour as young boys take on the attitude and expectations of
the father
Outline the electra complex (4 marks) - correct answer - concerned with a conflict
between a child and same-sex parent because they are in competition for the opposite-
sex parent
- young girl is initially attracted to her mother but this ends when she realises her mother
doesn't have a penis. She then blames her mother for her own lack of a penis - penis
envy
- girl's sexual desires are transferred to her father
- complex is resolved when girl converts her penis envy to wish to have a baby +
identifies with mother and takes on her gender behaviours
Explain how both identification and internalisation are part of Freud's psychoanalytic
account of gender development (4 marks) - correct answer - identification = a form of
influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be
associated with that particular person or group
- Successful conflict resolution of oedipus complex and electra complex leads to
identification with same-sex parent
- They then internalise (accept the attitudes and behaviours) of the parent and imitate
masculine or feminine behaviour
Discuss Freud's psychoanalytic theory of gender development (16 marks) - correct
answer Ao1:
- Gender development occurs in third stage of psychosocial development (phallic)
- Child's gender identity is either resolved through the Oedipus complex or Electra
complex
- Explain oedipus
- explain electra
- Both resolved and identification and internalization of an appropriate gender identity
and sex-role stereotypes
- Unresolved phallic stage = fixation on the genital stage causes a phallic character who
is afraid of or not capable of close love. This according to Freud is the cause of amoral
behaviour and homosexuality
