WMNST 325 Study Guide - Comprehensive Final Guide: Hierarchical Organization, Reference Group, Intellectual Disability
Document Summary
Women began to realize that psychological knowledge about human behavior was androcentric (male centered) Habit of viewing male experience as the norm for human experience. Until the 1970s all theories were based on male lives, behavior and experience. Feminist psychologists began to rethink psychological concepts and research methods producing new research with women as the focus of study. Women in the field began to teach topics important to girl. Psychoanalytic theories- (freud) asserted that women develop penis envy and that women fail to develop leading to hysteria. Evolutionary theories- argued that women are genetically inferior, darwin asserted that woman"s genetic makeup means they are less creative and less intelligent. Erikson-asserted that women"s somatic design dictates they should nurture, rear children, mother. Feminists produced research that actually asked women about their experiences firsthand. Feminists radically challenged male centered epistemology and introduced the notion that women"s experiences are valid basis for knowledge production.
