1. 1 Psychology 320: Gender Psychology Lecture 19

2. 2 Psychodynamic and Neoanalytic Explanations of Gender Differences: 1. What are the primary criticisms of psychodynamic explanations of gender development? 2. How do neoanalytic, gynocentric explanations of gender development differ from psychodynamic explanations of gender development? 3. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view?

3. 3 Psychodynamic theory has greatly influenced popular and academic conceptions of personality development. What are the primary criticisms of psychodynamic explanations of gender development? Nevertheless, the theory has been subject to a number of criticisms.

4. 4 2. The theory was developed on the basis of a relatively small number of case studies, all of which involved the assessment of upper class, young adult females seeking therapy for hysterical symptoms. 1. The theory overemphasizes sexuality and, thus, provides an overly simplistic view of personality development.

5. 5 4. The theory maintains that male personality is the norm and that female personality deviates from this norm. As a consequence, the theory supports and perpetuates negative perceptions of women and femininity. 3.Many of the constructs proposed by the theory are not testable and, thus, are not falsifiable. As a consequence, sufficient scientific evidence cannot be accumulated to support the theory.

6. 6 Near the end of his life, Freud acknowledged the limitations of psychodynamic theory in explaining female gender: “Infantile sexuality had first been studied in males, and the complete parallelism between boys and girls has shown itself untenable; the little girl has to shift both in her sexual object and her dominant genital zone. From this, difficulties and possible inhibitions result, which do not apply to the man.” (Freud, 1935)

7. 7 In light of these criticisms, a host of “neoanalytic” theories have emerged to explain gender differences.

8. 8 How do neoanalytic, gynocentric explanations of gender development differ from psychodynamic explanations of gender development? In contrast to psychodynamic theory, many neoanalytic theories adopt a gynocentric view of gender development. The gynocentric view of gender development emphasizes the womb and pre-phallic (i.e., pre- Oedipal) stages of development.

9. 9 What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? Two theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view: 1. Karen Horney’s Theory of Gender Development  Horney proposed the first gynocentric theory of gender development.

10. 10 Karen Horney, 1885-1952

11. 11  Horney’s theory was designed to explain the development of neurotic tendencies.  In her theory, Horney proposed five primary concepts: the safety need, basic hostility, basic anxiety, neurotic needs, and neurotic personality types.

12. 12  She suggested that females are more likely than males to develop neurotic personality types because they are more likely to be devalued or sexualized by their primary caretakers.  Thus, Horney attributed gender differences between the sexes to cultural factors, not biological factors.

13. 13  Other arguments put forth by Horney:  Male dominance (i.e., fear of and contempt for females, devaluing of females, patriarchy) is the product of feelings of inferiority in relation to females (i.e., “womb envy”).  “Penis envy” among females is symbolic of a desire for the social prestige and power experienced by males.  Competitiveness and strivings for achievement among males reflect efforts to compensate for feelings of inferiority in relation to females.

14. 14 “From the biological point of view, woman has in motherhood, or in the capacity for motherhood, a quite indisputable and by no means negligible superiority. This is most clearly reflected in the unconscious of the male psyche in the boy’s intense envy of motherhood. We are familiar with this envy as such, but it has hardly received due consideration as a dynamic factor. When one begins, as I did, to analyze men only after fairly long experience of analyzing women, one receives a most surprising impression of the intensity of this envy of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood.” (Horney, 1926/1973, p. 10)

15. 15 Psychodynamic and Neoanalytic Explanations of Gender Differences: 1. What are the primary criticisms of psychodynamic explanations of gender development? 2. How do neoanalytic, gynocentric explanations of gender development differ from psychodynamic explanations of gender development? 3. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view?