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Unit2 - Psychosocial Perspective in Gender and Sexuality
Unit2 - Psychosocial Perspective in Gender and Sexuality
TOPIC 1
What Does Psychosocial Mean?
▪ Both the life and death instincts are thought to stream from our
unconscious - the province of our mind, which we are highly
unaware of.
▪ Likewise, the psychodynamic view puts prime on the influence of
our early life experiences (from conception to around six years
old) -- referred to as formative years -- in our personality
development.
Psychodynamic View on
Love
▪ Crucial to this life stage is our relationship with
our primary caregiver -- typically the mother.
▪ It suggests that the kind of attachment (psychic
bond) we have with our primary caregiver/s,
influence our relationships in later life, including
our choice of romantic partners and the way we
relate and operate within this partnership.
Psychodynamic View on
Love
▪ Hence, from a psychodynamic view, love
can be seen as a manifestation of our eros
and the placement of our libido (life energy)
unto an object (a thing or a person towards
who we transfer our psychic energies to
ease pain or achieve pleasure).
Color Wheel of Love
John Alan Lee suggested that there are different
types of love.
✓ The primary types are eros (sexual and
romantic), philia (friendly), and storge
(parental/filial love).
✓ The secondary types are pragma (practical
love), agape (universal love), and philautia
(self love).
It is possible for us to experience not just one, but
two or more of these types of love in our lifetime.
Triangular Model of
Love
▪ One of the most popular theories of
love is the triangular model by
Sternberg.
▪ This theory looks at love from
a psychometric stance, which
means that it is generally
concerned about trying to measure
love as a psychological variable and
in determining the various
dimensions and facets that love has
as experienced by people.
Triangular Model of Love
According to Sternberg, love has three
interlocking dimensions:
✓ Passion refers to the physical/emotional
aspect.
✓ Intimacy pertains to the
psychological/relational aspect.
✓ Commitment pertains to the agency
component, that is the choice we make
with regards to engaging and maintaining
the loving relationship. The combination of
these dimensions yields a particular love
type.
Romantic and
Companionate Love
Hatfield and Rapson, on the other hand,
suggests that there are two general types of
love:
✓ Romantic love is characterized by intense
passion -- a state of intense longing for
union with your partner.
✓ Companionate love, on the other hand, is
characterized by intense intimacy ---
emotional closeness -- which is also
characteristic of liking.
Love Languages
▪ Gary Chapman, a world-renown
author, suggested that people
have various ways through which
we give and receive love.
▪ He referred to these unique ways
as love languages.
▪ Chapman (1995) posited that
there are generally five languages;
namely, words of affirmation,
touch, time, gifts, and acts of
service.
Words of Affirmation
▪ People whose love language is words of
affirmation tend to verbally express their
thoughts and feelings of love towards the
people they love.
▪ They may be comfortable saying "I love
you's" and articulating other words of
endearment.
▪ They also seem to be generous in
expressing through words their appreciation
of other's presence in their lives, as well as
the positive impact their loved ones have in
them.
Physical Touch
Primacy
Hypothesis By virtue of this hypothesis, by default, our emotions
take precedent primarily because these are only
processed and modulated by the limbic system -- the
emotional part of our brain which is more primitive
compared to the ones responsible for higher order
thinking (e.g., neocortex).
Human Affect and the
Senses
▪ This is where the sensorium and the human
affect meets.
▪ Imagine walking in the woods with your
friends when all of a sudden, a venomous
snake drops down in front of you.
▪ How will you respond to the situation?
Human Affect and the Senses
As part of our mechanisms for evolution, humans like us have three primary emotional
responses:
✓ A fight response is when we face adverse or dangerous stimuli squarely. Example,
grabbing the nearest solid object in the environment and throwing it to the snake to
"shoo" the snake away.
✓ A flight response is when we move away from the adverse or dangerous stimuli.
Example, running away from the place, finding a new route where the snake cannot
find you.
✓ A freeze response is when you are startled and are unable to make a choice, thus,
unable to more.
Human Affect and
the Senses
▪ Sometimes, the freeze response
can also be used to buy time so
you can calculate the advantages
and disadvantages of your choice:
shall you fight the snake or fly
away from the scene.
Basic Emotional Response
This decision was after many years of struggle from the lay
and lesbian liberation movement.
Views on
LGBT in APA finally declared the being attracted to people of the
History same sex is a natural variation of the human experience,
and it does not make anyone any less of a healthy and
functioning human being.
Now that society is more accepting towards the LGBT,
new terms and labels have been used to cater to
everyone.
Understanding Transgenderism