Theories Flashcards
Define psychoanalytic theory
its basic assumption is that part of the human psyche is unconscious.
According to Freud, what 2 instincts dominate humans?
Thanatos and Libido
what are the stages of psychosexual development in boys and girls
1- oral 2- anal 3- phallic (electra and oedipus)
what is the oedipal complex?
Named for the Greek myth of Oedipus
Boy develops sexual desire for his mother, but sees that father, who is his rival, is so powerful that he might castrate his own son (boy feels castration anxiety) in retaliation
By repressing his sexual desire for mother, the boy identifies with his father, and therefore introjects the values and ethics of society (as represented by father), developing a conscience or superego
What is electra complex
Holding her mother responsible for her castration, a girl develops an intense sexual attraction for and desire to be impregnated by her father
Desire to be impregnated by father develops into maternal urges
What 3 traits did freud give to women?
1- passivity
2- masochism
3- narcissim
critisize Freud’s theory
Concepts cannot be evaluated scientifically to determine accuracy (how do we measure the unconscious?)
Freud derived his ideas from work with patients who sought therapy; the theory describes disturbed, not normal, behavior
Freud overemphasized biological determinants of human behavior in seeing origins of gender differences as rooted in anatomical differences
Freud’s views are phallocentric (male centered, penis centered), assuming that the vagina and clitoris are inferior to the penis
What did karen horney say?
Freudian theory articulates boys’ childish views of girls
Importance of penis envy was overstated, that the critical factor was actually womb envy, male’s envy of woman’s uterus and reproductive capacity
Male achievement represents overcompensation for feelings of anatomical inferiority
Emphasized cultural and social influences and human growth
what is natural selection
fittest animals survive, reproduce, and pass their genes on to the next generation, whereas animals that are less fit do not reproduce and therefore do not pass on their genes
Why do women do the childcare?
Greater parental investment
Maternity is always certain, paternity is not
Sexual selection:
process by which members of one gender (usually males) compete with each other for mating privileges with members of the other gender (usually females), and members of the other gender (females) choose to mate only with certain preferred members of the first gender (males)
critisize sociobio theory
Sociobiologists view data from an androcentric perspective, only discussing data that support their androcentric theories
Biology is often a convenient rationalization for perpetuating the status quo
Sociobiology rests on an outmoded version of evolutionary theory that modern biologists consider naïve
What are the mechanism of social learning theory
1- Reinforcement
2- imitating
3- observational learning
what is reinforcement
: something that occurs after a behavior and makes the behavior more likely to occur in the future
what is imitation
when people do what they see others doing; we imitate same-gender adults more than other-gender adults
what is observational learning
: when a person observes someone doing something, and then does it at a later time;
cognitive processes?
Attention: process focuses on relevant behaviors; e.g., pay more attention to same-gender models
Self-regulation: monitor own behavior and regulate it according to gender norms
Self-efficacy: belief in ability to accomplish a particular task, plays a role in maintaining gender-typed behaviors
Gender identity
individual’s knowledge that she or he is a female or male; develops ~18-24 mons
Gender constancy
child’s understanding that gender is a permanent, unchanging characteristic of the self; develops ~5-7 yrs.; crucial for adoption of gender roles
Gender-role learning as one aspect of cognitive development
Stages of moral develpment
1- preconventional
2- conventional
3- post conventional
what’s gender schema
Gender schemas refer to mental structures that organize incoming information according to gender categories and in turn lead people to perceive the world in terms of gender.
