gender

Question 1

strengths of roles of chromosomes and hormones

Answer 1

• influence of chromosomes supported by david reimer who had his penis burnt off during circumcision at birth. dr money believed he should be brought up as a girl but when he reached puberty he reverted back to living as a male supporting biological factors in gender development as they had more of an influence than socialisation
• role of hormones supported by dabbs. found prison offenders with highest levels of testosterone were more likely to have committed violent or sexually motivated crimes so high testosterone is linked to stereotypical male crimes

Question 2

weaknesses of roles of chromosomes and hormones

Answer 2

• conflicting research against biological factors by tricker. injected 43 males with testosterone or a placebo weekly using double blind techniques. found no significant difference in levels of aggression after 10 weeks showing testosterone may not be linked to aggression
• population validity as supporting research is usually on a small sample of unique individuals such as david reimer. limits extent to which meaningful generalisations can be made

Question 3

strengths of atypical sex chromosome patterns

Answer 3

• contribute to understanding of nature/nurture debate in gender development. girls with turners have higher reading ability than those without so its logical to assume a biological basis. useful for parents to know the cause is nature so they can be given support rather than have false hope the situation can be changed
• practical applications as hormone replacement therapy can be used. people with klinefelters can be given testosterone to increase muscle mass, deepe voice and stimulate facial hair growth. women with turners can be given oestrogen to develop breasts, progesterone to onset periods and keep the womb healthy and growth hormones

Question 4

weaknesses of atypical sex chromosome patterns

Answer 4

• difficult to establish cause and effect as girls with turners are socially immature but this may be because of the way they are treated by parents/teachers etc due to looking child like. this can affect performance at school and suggests behaviour may be due to environment
• difficult to identify standard behaviours for the genders as maccoby and jacklin found more differences within the sexes than between them. the presumption that turners and klinefelters are atypical may not be valid as there may not be a typical standard for males and females

Question 5

strengths of kohlbergs theory

Answer 5

• empirical support by slaby and frey. found all children who had achieved gender stability had also achieved identity and those who had reached constancy had already achieved gender identity and stabilty
• stages may be universal. munroe found sequence of gender development was consistent across all cultures (nepal, kenya, belize and somoa). gender develops through maturation as cognitive and intellectual capacity increase with age not culturally dependent

Question 6

weaknesses of kohlbergs theory

Answer 6

• martin and little measured sex type preferences, gender concepts and stereotypes in 3-5 yr olds. they held strong gender stereotypes about what girls and boys are permitted to do, against kohlbergs theory as they had gathered info about gender appropriate behaviour long before constancy
• methodological issues as was developed using interviews of young children. may have lacked vocabulary to express their understanding so they may have more complex understanding than kohlberg believed

Question 7

strength of GST

Answer 7

• support by martin and halverson as children more likely to recall gender consistent photographs and change the sex in inconsistent ones. memory may be distorted to fit with gender schemas as the beliefs are resilient
• support by liben and signorella. showed young children pictures of adults carrying out activities usually attributed to the opposite sex. e.g male nurse and children insisted the nurse was female showing they register information in a way that is consistent with in group schemas

Question 8

weaknesses of GST

Answer 8

• places too much emphasis on cognitive factors and not on the role of social influence e.g rewards and punishment. e.g girls will be praised for wearing pretty dresses but teased for playing with boys. may need to also consider the role of operant conditioning.
• kane and sanchez provide evidence showing gender schemas do not change behaviour. many married couples have strong views on equality of the sexes and division of labour in the home but women still undertake the majority of domestic roles. gender schemas may not affect behaviour as suggested