Psychodynamic Explanations Flashcards Preview

A-level Psychology (G) > Psychodynamic Explanations > Flashcards

Flashcards in Psychodynamic Explanations Deck (34)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

What did Freud see conscious behaviour as motivated by?

A

Unconscious drives, with the structures of the mind consisting of the id, ego and super ego (three components of personality)

2
Q

What is the ego?

A

Based on reality
Has to balance the unreal opposing demands of the Id (which constantly seeks selfish pleasures) and the superego (which constantly seeks to be morally perfect)

3
Q

When do conflicts between these structures of the mind occur?

A

In each of the five stages of psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital) after which adult personality is formed

4
Q

Which is the key stage in relation to gender development?

A

The phallic stage

5
Q

What did Freud are children as experiencing as they passed through each of the psychosexual stages?

A

Unconscious conflicts

6
Q

What happens in the first two stages?

A

In the oral and anal stage a child is perceived as being bisexual as gender identity is not seen as existing with no visible difference between the behaviours of boys and girls

7
Q

What happens when a child enters the phallic stage? What

A

The libido is seen as increasingly focused upon its genitals and it is in this stage that gender identity develops through the resolution of either the Oedipus or Electra complex

8
Q

Who was Oedipus?

A

Mythical Greek king who accidentally killed his father and married his mother

9
Q

What does Freud use the term Oedipus to describe?

A

How a boys first sexual desires are directed at his mother

10
Q

When does the Oedipus complex occur?

A

During the phallic stage (3-5 years) when the libidos sexual energy is directed into the phallus (penis)

11
Q

What is the the feeling of attraction for the mother accompanied by?

A

A loathing of his father, who he sees as having access to the object he desires (his mother).
The son also fears his father as he believes if the father realises the sons desire for his mother, he will remove his penis (castration anxiety)

12
Q

What happens in order to resolve the conflict between his desire for his mother and his fear of his father?

A

A process known as identification with the aggressor
Identification with the father allows the boy to incorporate his father into his own personality, permitting him to internalise the male gender

13
Q

By resolving the Oedipus complex what does the boy do?

A

Begins to have a sense of make identity

14
Q

What does Freud believe would happen to a boy that was not able to satisfactorily resolve his Oedipus complex?

A

He would be confused about his sexual identity and could become homosexual

15
Q

Who was Electra?

A

In Greek mythology she was a daughter of King Agamemnon who (with her brother) killed their mother to avenge their father’s murder

16
Q

What is the term Electra used to describe?

A

How a girls first sexual desires are directed at her father (as with the Oedipus complex- occurs in phallic stage)

17
Q

What happens during the phallic stage in the Electra complex?

A

The girls believes that she doesn’t have a penis because she’s been castrated
As the mother doesn’t have a penis- the girl blames her for not having a penis
The girl desires a penis as a symbol of male power (penis envy) and therefor she desires her father as he has what she wants
Unable to have a penis of her own, penis envy is converted into a desire for a baby (penis-baby making project)

18
Q

What does the daughter believe herself to be in competition for?

A

Her father - a feeling she repressed for fear of losing her mothers love

19
Q

How is the complex in the Electra complex resolved?

A

Identification with her mother - allowing the girl to incorporate her mother into her own personality and permitting her to internalise her female gender

20
Q

By resolving the Electra complex what does the girl gain?

A

Begins to gain a sense of female identity

21
Q

Why did Freud believe that female identification was not as strong as that of boys?

A

Because a girl believes she has already been castrated - girls are not as fearful as boys so identification isn’t as strong

22
Q

What did Freud believe would happen if a girl was not to resolve her Electra complex?

A

She would be confused about her sexual identity

23
Q

What was Freud’s research?

A

Performed a case study of little hans (a five year old boy who has a phobia of horses, especially ones with black bits around their mouths (which Freud interpreted as being representative of the boys father who had a moustache). Therefore Hans is was actually scared of his father, not horses - which was seen to fit the concept of the Oedipus complex, whereby Hans was fearful of his father castrating him for desiring his mother

24
Q

What did Freud’s research suggest about Hans overcoming his Oedipus complex?

A

Overcame It by having two fantasies - one where a plumber came and exchanged his bottom and penis for larger ones and one where he fathered several children -
Fitted Freud’s theory as Hans was seen as having identified with his father and internalised his male gender

25
Q

What was Hyman’s research?

A

Reported that 22/31 female maniac- depressive patients were diagnosed with suffering from an unresolved Electra complex with 12/22 having regressed to an earlier stage of psychosexual development - proving some support for Freud’s theory

26
Q

What was Friedman’s research?

A

Found that when a story began with a child doing something nice with their opposite sex parent and then being joined by the same sex parent, children produced a sadder end to the story than when the role of the parents were swapped
Supporting the idea that with both complexes children have more attraction to the opposite sex parent and more hostility to the same sex parent

27
Q

What was Snortum et Al’s research?

A

Reported that 46 males were exempted from military service for being homosexual had more close-bonding and controlling mothers and rejecting, detached fathers than a comparable sample of heterosexual men
Lends support to the idea that males who fail to resolve their Oedipus complex by identifying with their fathers could become homosexual

28
Q

What was Wiszewska et Al’s research?

A

Asked female RPS to rate the attractiveness of different men and to assess the quality of their relationship with their fathers
Found that women who were treated well by their fathers as children were attracted to men who resemble their fathers physically

29
Q

Which research opposes Freud’s theory?

A

Malinowski reported that boys in the Trobriand Islanders exhibited the signs of hostility Freud described in the Oedipus complex but not for their fathers, instead, for their maternal uncles.
In the Trobriand culture, maternal uncles were given the role of family disciplinarian - this opposes Freuds theory as it suggests that boy’s hostility to their fathers may be a reaction to discipline rather than sexual jealousy over their mothers

30
Q

Why is Freud’s ‘Little Hans’ case study criticised?

A

Criticised for being subjectively interpreted to fit with the ideas of the Oedipus complex.
The boys father who wrote letters to Freud, was an avid supporter of him
Even if Hans did have an Oedipus complex, doesn’t mean all males do
Problems with case study + methods of collecting data

31
Q

What is the problem with many of Freud’s claims?

A

There is little scientific evidence to support them - especially concepts such as the Oedipus and Electra complexes as they are impossible to measure and therefore cant be tested in an empirical way and where there is research that supports it, there’s evidence that counters it

32
Q

What is an example of the evidence that counters it?

A

To counter the claim of Snortum et al, countless studies show the incidence of homosexuality in individuals raised only by a same sex parent is no different to those raised by an opposite sex parent

33
Q

How could evidence supporting Freud also be explained in other ways?

A

for example - in the Wiszewska study, it could be concluded that the reason the women with good relationships with their fathers found men resembling their father more attractive is that the fathers created a learned template for good male partners.

34
Q

What is the issue with gender bias?

A

His theory of gender-development is mainly male orientated which is probably a produce of the time in which he was working
The theory views females as inferior to males- reflecting the standards to which females were held at the time
The concept of the Oedipus complex came first with the addition of the Electra complex being an afterthought