Emotions

Boys and Girls: The Development of Gender Roles"

In "Boys and girls: The development of gender roles," Beale gives us revealing overview of Freud's personality theory. Beale point out both strengths and weaknesses of his answer to the questions of "Why" and "How" in gender development, but still leaves a chance for a reader to make up her/his own mind about whether or not to accept Freud's theory. It is relatively easy, however, to find oneself torn between openheartedly going along with Freud's idea about
the existence of a dynamic system (or libido) in us, and reacting against the ease and assurance with which Freud writes about castration fear in boys and penis envy in girls.
Freud's view of personality as a dynamic system of psychological energy is a very complex, yet insightful approach to the development of personality. The nature of the id, ego, and superego, and the psychosexual stages that these three structures focus on during a course of one's development, give a plethora of reasons to believe in the existence of a critical period in gender
development. Freud's theory suggests that the way in which the id, ego, and superego evolve and the way in which they proliferate in the first six years of a child's life will influence the child's emotional attachment to her/his parent of the same sex and, as consequence, the child's gender identification. I would agree with Freud's statement that children undergo a certain emotional crisis after becoming aware of their genitals. It must be somewhat frustrating for, e.g., a three year-old to realize that reaching a pleasurable emotional state does not necessarily have to originate from her/his mother. Unable to cognitively create an explanation to a new, unexpected flow of
circumstances and feelings, the child is most likely to end up confused. This confusion will inevitably provoke anxiety, and the anxiety will build up an emotional tension.
However, I would dare to argue at this point that the reason for a...