Gender Development

Psycho-analytical / Psycho-sexual Development - Freud

Psychoanalytic Theories
• Psychoanalytical perspective was developed by Sigmund Freud.
• Psychoanalytic theory centers around very early life experiences. It
was theorized that the psyche of an individual is impacted
significantly by major and minor events, as early as infancy.
Disturbances in which can lead to psychopathology.
• Freud theorized that psychosomatic distress of an individual (physical
symptoms that occur due to psychological distress) was a
manifestation of internal conflicts. Like biting of nails, wetting the bed
till later age.
Psycho-sexual development Theory
1. The structure of personality.
Freud believed consciousness had three levels –
1) consciousness which was the seat of our awareness,
2) preconscious that included all of our sensations, thoughts,
memories, and feelings, and
3) the unconscious, which was not available to us. The contents of the
unconscious could move from the unconscious to preconscious, but to
do so, it had to pass a Gate Keeper. Content that was turned away was
said to be repressed.
• According to Freud, personality has three parts – the id, superego, and ego, and
from these our behavior arises. First, the id is the impulsive part that expresses our
sexual and aggressive instincts. It is present at birth, completely unconscious, and
operates on the pleasure principle, resulting in selfishly seeking immediate
gratification of our needs no matter what the cost. The second part of personality
emerges after birth with early formative experiences and is called the ego. The ego
attempts to mediate the desires of the id against the demands of reality, and
eventually, the moral limitations or guidelines of the superego. It operates on
the reality principle, or an awareness of the need to adjust behavior, to meet the
demands of our environment. The last part of the personality to develop is
the superego, which represents society’s expectations, moral standards, rules, and
represents our conscience. It leads us to adopt our parent’s values as we come to
realize that many of the id’s impulses are unacceptable. Still, we violate these
values at times and experience feelings of guilt. The superego is partly conscious
but mostly unconscious, and part of it becomes our conscience. The three parts of
personality generally work together well and compromise, leading to a healthy
personality, but if the conflict is not resolved, intrapsychic conflicts can arise and
lead to mental disorders.
• Freud believed personality develops over five distinct stages in which
the libido focuses on different parts of the body. First, libido is the
psychic energy that drives a person to pleasurable thoughts and
behaviors. Our life instincts, or Eros, are manifested through it and are
the creative forces that sustain life. They include hunger, thirst, self-
preservation, and sex. In contrast, Thanatos, our death instinct, is
either directed inward as in the case of suicide and masochism or
outward via hatred and aggression. Both types of instincts are sources
of stimulation in the body and create a state of tension that is
unpleasant, thereby motivating us to reduce them. Consider hunger,
and the associated rumbling of our stomach, fatigue, lack of energy,
etc., that motivates us to find and eat food. If we are angry at
someone, we may engage in physical or relational aggression to
alleviate this stimulation.
The development of personality.
• Freud has theorised the personality development of an individual In 5
stages. According to his theory, people may become fixated at any
stage, meaning they become stuck, thereby affecting later
development and possibly leading to abnormal functioning, or
psychopathology.
1. Oral Stage – Beginning at birth and lasting to 24 months, the libido is
focused on the mouth. Sexual tension is relieved by sucking and
swallowing at first, and then later by chewing and biting as baby teeth
come in. Fixation is linked to a lack of confidence, argumentativeness,
and sarcasm.
2. Anal Stage – Lasting from 2-3 years, the libido is focused on the anus as
toilet training occurs. If parents are too lenient, children may become messy
or unorganized. If parents are too strict, children may become obstinate,
stingy, or orderly.
3. Phallic Stage – Occurring from about age 3 to 5-6 years, the libido is
focused on the genitals, and children develop an attachment to the parent of
the opposite sex and are jealous of the same-sex parent. The Oedipus
complex develops in boys and results in the son falling in love with his mother
while fearing that his father will find out and castrate him. Meanwhile, girls
fall in love with the father and fear that their mother will find out, called
the Electra complex. A fixation at this stage may result in low self-esteem,
feelings of worthlessness, and shyness.
4. Latency Stage – From 6-12 years of age, children unconsciously
repress the sexual desires, losing interest in sexual behavior, so boys
play with boys and girls with girls. Neither sex pays much attention to
the opposite sex.
5. Genital Stage – Beginning at puberty, sexual impulses reawaken and
unfulfilled desires from infancy and childhood can be satisfied during
lovemaking.
The Oedipus complex and phallic stage.
• In the Phallic stage, the penis (or absence thereof) is the focus of the
libido, and thus, will be the focus of the conflict that must be resolved
in that stage. In this stage, boys begin to develop sexual desires for
their mother and become jealous of their father. This desire then
leads to a strong fear that his father will ultimately castrate him due
to his attraction to his mother, which is known as castration anxiety.
To help manage this conflict, the superego develops, and the boy
transfers his desire for his mother onto other women, in general.
Thus, the conflict is resolved
Electra Complex and Phallic Stage
• Freud believed girls were distressed that they had no penis, referred to
as penis envy, and resented their mother for this. This was sometimes
described as the Electra Complex. Girls begin desiring their father at
this time and become jealous of their mother. Similarly, to boys, the
development of the superego allows girls to resolve this conflict.
According to Freud, she eventually accepts that she cannot have a
penis, nor have her father, and transfers this desire onto other men and
the desire for a penis becomes a desire for a baby, ideally, a baby boy.
• For both genders, identification is the ultimate resolution of the internal
conflict in the Phallic stage. This results in the individual identifying with
the same-sex parent, and adopting that parent’s behaviors, roles, etc.
• Following the Phallic stage is the Latency stage, in which Freud indicated
that no real psychosexual development occurs; rather impulses are
repressed. However, in the Genital stage, Freud theorized that
adolescents experiment sexually and begin to settle into romantic
relationships. Freud believed healthy development leads to the sexual
drive being released through heterosexual intercourse; however, fixations
or incomplete resolutions of conflict in this stage may lead to sexual
abnormalities (e.g., preference for oral sex rather than intercourse,
homosexual relations, etc.
• In this way, there is an underlying assumption that healthy development
equals heterosexuality, which is one of several criticisms of Freud’s theory
Criticisms
• Many have suggested that his theory is foundationally sexist and plays into biased gender roles regarding the
Oedipus and Electra complexes and the theory of penis envy.
• Freud's theory of psychosexual development is important because it helps us understand how issues in
childhood development can affect adult lives. Ultimately, it's a way to help us become more conscious of the
way we parent and raise our children, along with giving us insight as to how and why we act the way we do.
• Theory only looks at the gender binary
• Considers heter0-sexuality as the “normalcy”.
• the emphasis on biological determinism in Freud's theory has resulted in a lack of attention to the various
social, cultural, and developmental aspects of gender and sexuality, leading to a limited understanding of the
complexities of human experience.
• Freud's theory is based on a patriarchal framework, which overlooks the complexity of gender and its
implications for psychosexual development (Ahmed, 2012). Additionally, the
• Oedipal Complex does not take into account the fact that psychosexual development is a lifelong process,
and not limited to a specific stage. Lastly, the Oedipal Complex does not consider the influence of culture
and environment on psychosexual development, both of which have an important role to play.