Gender Development And Its Association With Psychoanalysis

There are similarities in the work of both Harlow and Ainsworth on attachment. Firstly, both of them used studies demonstrating attachment beyond Bowlby’s idea of ‘cupboard love’ (Custance 2010), with Harlow’s experiment in the 1950’s giving an example of the power and strength of attachment with the monkeys sometimes returning to an abusive

One of the studies was conducted by Harlow in 1959 who wanted to study the mechanisms by which new-born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers. He tested the learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in the monkeys given wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk.

Harry Harlow’s thorough research on the connection between maternal comfort and rhesus monkeys provides information and knowledge to the reader as an insight into our social and emotional development. In this article, Harlow uses experimental observation of mental and emotional associations of the affectionate ties between the child and the mother. As Harlow says, this is “an instinct incapable of analysis”.

Attachment, according to Emde (1982) is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another, across time and space. John Bowlby, and Evolutionist, believed that attachment was pre-programmed. In order for us to survive as a species, we needed to attach to a significant other; that its innate in us to single out a few specific individuals around us and attach to them, an so providing a survival advantage. Bowlby rationalised that the attachment between a mother and infant was unlike any other bond; very unlike the bond an infant would develop with another human. He coined it ‘Monotrophy’.

Following the publication of Freud’s ‘Papers on Technique’ between 1912 and 1917, there have been papers and symposia on the subject. Four symposia in 1937, 1948, 1958, and 1961 were devoted to the examination of therapeutic results of psychoanalysis, the mechanisms behind its curative factors, variations in technique and the ego-psychological approach to interpretations (Rosenfeld, 1972, 454). In 1934, James Strachey published his paper on “The Nature of the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis,” which has since been considered one of the most seminal works on the subject. He holds that his paper is “not a practical discussion upon psychoanalytic technique,” and that “it’s immediate bearings are theoretical” (Strachey, 1934, 127). However, as Herbert Rosenfeld points out in his 1972 critical appreciation of Strachey’s paper, “this is clearly an understatement; the paper both challenges one’s clinical experience and has important clinical implications even though actual case material is not quoted” (Rosenfeld, 1972, 454). It would not be difficult to summarize Strachey’s main points regarding therapeutic action and mutative interpretation, and it would prove similarly sterile to simply compare his ideas with the views of other psychoanalysts, contemporaneous and contemporary. Instead, as Strachey concerns himself primarily with the structural nature of mutative change, this paper will aim to delineate a more in-depth exploration of the way different structures of the

Bretherton I. (1992). The origins of John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Available: http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/online/inge_origins.pdf. Last accessed 01/03/2013.

Finally, the author examines how gender personality shapes a woman’s mothering capacities, and thus reproduces the cycle of mothering. The different structures of the oedipal triangle (binary for men, triangular for women) contribute to the formation of gender identity in children. The psychoanalytic object choice also ensures that the heterosexual relationship will result in women mothering and taking on the role of primary caretaker, leading to an asymmetrical organization of parenthood where men are mainly absent or removed. However, male-dominant households ensure that women will remain unfulfilled in the relationship, leading to a desire for a child, and rearing this child in a socially gendered family. In this manner, due to women’s nurturing role and their narcissistic attachment to their daughters, they contribute to the perpetuation of “their own social roles and position in the hierarchy of gender”.

Ainsworth (1978) developed the Strange Situation Theory, which is how one is able to view the different levels of attachment (Groh, Roisman, Booth-LaForce, Flaley, Owen, Cox, & Burchinal, 2014). The first attachment is secure attachment, which is when a child is able to greet and seek out contact with the caregiver upon arrival after a stressful separation (Haltigan & Roisman, 2015). The next is anxious-avoidant/resistant (insecure) attachment, when the child has no want to contact with the caregiver while showing signs of resistance upon the return (Haltigan & Roisman, 2015). The last and the most crucial to child development is disoriented/ disorganized attachment; conflicting responses from the child which show hostile and aggressive behavior toward the caregiver (Haltigan & Roisman, 2015). All of these attachements show the different types of ways that a child can communicate with their caregiver. These actions are the representations of their early attachment and experiences with the caregiver (Siebert & Kerns, 2015). If there are no changes toward the environment, the attention

There are two approaches to attachment; evolutionary theory and behavioural theory, and for the purposes of this essay I will focus largely on the evolutionary school of thought.

Mankind has a natural urge for attachment. Every living person needs someone to be with, someone to confide in, someone to love. Attachment is a basic human necessity that people will fulfill with the companionship of another person, or a non – living object. But sometimes, humans attach onto other people or objects too hastily. After being with the person or object for a very short amount of time, humans feel they are connected to that person or object at a greater extent than they truly are. Sherry Turkle writes in her book Alone Together, how children get attached to toys very easily, and feel the difficulties of separation from these toys, even if they are not living creatures. Meanwhile, Barbara Fredrickson attempts to define love in her novel Love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become by attempting to look at the science behind attachment and the reasons humans get attached to people and objects as quickly as they do. Attachment is something humans have no control over. Humans have no agency in the attachments they make because attachment changes how the body works by changing the body’s chemical makeup. Furthermore, humans never know when they are going to get attached to a person or object and find it difficult to let go of their attachments.

The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the

Each attachment style is divided along two dimensions – the fear of abandonment and the fear of closeness. Bartholomew and Horowitz define fear of abandonment as the model of self which describes the belief of an individual to be either “worthy of love and support or not” (1991). They also define fear of closeness as the model of other which describes an individual’s

Women have played a very important role in the development of psychology, though they are not recognized as major contributors. In this paper we are going to be focusing on the works and contribution of Anna Freud. She is known for her construction of child psychoanalysis theory and her interpretation of child psychology. Anna Freud (1895-1982) is famous as being involved in the foundation of the child psychoanalytic movement. She was the youngest of Freud’s children and the only one to whose life was devoted to psychoanalysis. Her development of child psychoanalysis has been greatly noted in the history of psychology. Anna Freud kept the basic ideas that her father developed. However, her interest laid in the psyche and how it was constructed. She also took interest in the where the ego stood in the structure of the psyche. She saw the ego as the “seat of observation”; it is from the ego that we can clearly see how the

Although some people believe that the sex role theory or the socialization model of gender as a process, in which we absorb instructions prescribed by the social institutions to act in the acceptable way to our biological sex, is a trivial issue, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over the gender formation. This significance is accurately noticed by Raewyn Connell, a renown sociologist who proclaimed her views in the essay “Gender in Personal Life” published in Gender: in World Perspective. In her work, the author reveals the flaws of the socialization model, states that psychoanalysis provides a moderately better clarification for the contradictory character of human development and offers a solution that people should actively learn through the dynamic character of gender formation. According to Connell, therefore, the definition of how we acquire gender should not be represented by the socialization model of gender but rather through the emotional contradiction as a part of psychoanalysis and, more importantly, thorough the active and dynamic character of gender formation.

Interpersonal Theories of Gender are described as factors that influence the development of masculinity and femininity. Our text states, “Psychodynamics theory emphasizes