Sex and Gender

Sex identity
1. Biological term that determines whether a person’s sex identity is male or female.
  1. Identified by hormones (males testosterone and females oestrogen)
  2. Identified by chromosomes (males XY and females XX)
Gender identity
1. Psychological term that determines whether a person’s gender identity is masculine or feminine.
  1. Identified by their attitudes and behaviour.
  2. It can vary between cultures.
Psychodynamic
1. Explanation
  1. Phallic stage
    1. Oedipus = boy
    2. Electra = girl
  2. 3-5 years
  3. Unconsciously attracted to the opposite sex parent.
    1. Unconscious = Part of the mind that is inaccessible to the conscious mind but affects behaviours and emotions.
  4. Fear of same sex parent causes conflict and anxiety
  5. Identify with same sex parent to deal with the conflict
    1. Identification = Internally adopting the values, attitudes and behaviours of the same sex parent, meaning taking on their gender role.
  6. Adopt and internalise behaviours of same sex parent to resolve conflict
2. Evaluation of the explanation
  1. Theory based on unconscious
    1. Unfalsifiable
      1. Difficult to scientifically prove or disprove
  2. For gender identity to develop the child must have parents of each sex
    1. Doesn’t explain why there are no gender identity problems with children raised in one parent or same-sex parent families.
  3. The explanation is simplisitic
    1. Ignores the effects of biological factors such as hormones
      1. There are alternative explanations, such as the gender schema theory, that are more plausible and have more evidence
3. Study
  1. A: To investigate little Hans phobia
  2. M: Han’s father wrote to Freud telling him at age 4 Hans developed a phobia of horses. He was frightened the horse might bite him, and was particularly afraid of large white horses with a black mouth. Freud analysed this information
  3. R: Freud claims Hans was experiencing the Oedipus complex. The horse represented his father who had a dark beard. His far of being bitten by a horse represented his fear of castration.
  4. C: This supports Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex
4. Evaluation of the study
  1. Freud did not study Little Hans directly, in this case he communicated by letter to his father.
    1. Meaning the data obtained are subjective and may not be reliable.
  2. As this was a case study only done on one person and a unique case, the results cannot be generalised to all
    1. Meaning the results found in the case may not be applicable to all individuals. Also other variables cannot be controlled meaning cause and effect cannot be determined

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	Created by sruparelia4 about 9 years ago