Gender Flashcards
Sex
Whether an individual is biologically male or female
Gender
The social and psychological characteristics of masculinity and femininity
Sex-role stereotypes
Set of shared expectations within a society about male/female behaviours
Communicated and reinforced constantly
Can lead to sexist assumptions being formed
Ingalhalikar et al (2014) (brain functioning)
Scanned 949 young men/women’s brains
Women: more connections between left and right hemispheres - can cope better with multitasking
Men: more intense activities in specific areas, especially the cerebellum (motor activity), so they are better at complex tasks
Renzetti and Curran (1992) (stereotypes)
Teachers praise boys for being clever and girls for being neat - teach stereotypes from a young age
Sood et al (2014) (stereotypes)
Only 12% of primary teachers and 3% of nursery teachers are male
Archer and Lloyd (1982) (stereotypes)
3 year old children ridiculed and ostracised for playing with the ‘wrong’ gendered games.
Androgyny
A type of gender in which someone shows both masculine and feminine behaviour.
Bem’s theory
High androgyny is associated with psychological well-being.
Individuals who are androgynous are better at adapting different situations and contexts that other non-androgynous people would find difficult.
The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
Bem’s (1974) designed a questionnaire that includes 60 characteristics:
20 ‘masculine’
20 ‘feminine’ and 20 neutral
Respondents rate themselves on a 7-point rating scale for each item:
1 being “Never true”
7 being “Always true”
Scores are then calculated, and identified as either masculine, feminine, androgynous or undifferentiated
34% of males and 27% of females were androgynous
Buchardt and Serbin (1982) (androgyny)
Positive correlation between androgyny and good mental health
Golombok & Fivush (1994) (general gender)
Claimed that gender identity is a global concept and cannot be quantified. To understand gender fully, broader issues should be considered, such as the person’s interests and perception of their own abilities.
Evaluate Bem’s BSRI (4)
Quantitate measurement: high objectivity
Spence (1984): Qualitative methods offer a better way of analysing Gender.
Valid and Reliable: piloted, 1000 students, follow up produced similar scores: high test-retest reliability.
Lacks temporal validity: 1974
Testosterone:
Male hormone, that controls the development of male sex organs
Begins to be produced at around eight weeks of foetal development
Human and animal studies both found increased testosterone may lead to aggressive behaviour
Nanne Van de Poll et al. (1988) (testosterone)
Female rats who had been injected with testosterone become more physically and sexually aggressive.
Oestrogen
Female hormone that determines female sexual characteristics and menstruation
It may cause heightened emotionality and irritability during their menstrual cycle.
Albrecht and Pepe (1997) (oestrogen)
Found that increasing oestrogen levels in pregnant baboons led to heightened cortisol production assisted the development of organs and tissues in foetuses
Finkelstein (oestrogen)
Found that men with reduced levels of oestrogen had a reduced sex drive
Oxytocin
Women produce oxytocin in larger amounts than men, particularly as a result of childbirth.
The hormone stimulates lactation, making it possible for mothers to breastfeed their children.
It also reduces the stress hormone cortisol and facilitates bonding, for this reason it has been referred to as the ‘love hormone’.
David Reimer (case study)
David had a botched circumcision for a medical issue, so was “sex reassigned” through surgical, hormonal, and psychological treatment,
John Money advocated reassignment for intersex children and used David as an example of the success of gender reassignment
Money was lying, David was unhappy as a girl, and resumed the identity of a boy when he found out
Dabbs et al. (1995) (testosterone)
In a prison population, offenders high levels of testosterone were
more likely to have committed violent/sexual crimes.
Van Goozen et al. (1995) (hormone treatment)
In transgender individuals undergoing hormone treatment, transgender women had decreases in aggression and visuo-spatial skills, transgender men showed the opposite.
Tricker et al (1996) (aggression)
Double-blind study where 43 males were given a weekly injection of testosterone or a placebo. No significant differences in aggression were found in either group.
Maccoby and Jacklin (1974)
Found more differences in behaviour within sexes than between them.
Evaluation of the role of hormones and chromosomes (4)
Often small samples, or animal studies.
Many object to the medical category premenstrual syndrome on the grounds that it stereotypes female experience
Social learning theory - the importance of social context in the learning of our gender identity
Focusing on the role of biology is reductionist, the psychodynamic and cognitive approach draw attention to concepts like thought processes and childhood experiences and their importance in gender
Dimorphic
Occurring in or representing two distinct forms, therefore sexually dimorphic refers to forms that are significantly different in males and females.
What is Klinefelter’s Syndrome
An atypical sex chromosome pattern that affects between 1 in 500 and 1 in 1000 peopl, where the individual is born as a biological male, but has an additional X chromosome, XXY, leading to increased oestrogen levels
Physical characteristics of KF syndrome
Reduced body hair
Breast tissue development at puberty
Softened/rounded body shape
Underdeveloped genitals
Impaired coordination and clumsiness
Susceptible to ‘typically female’ health complications like breast cancer
Psychological characteristics of KF syndrome
Poorly developed language skills and reading ability
Passive, shy and lack interest in sexual activity
React negatively to stress
Struggle with ‘executive functions’ like memory and problem solving
Delisi et al (2005) (KF syndrome)
Compared the mental health and brain structures of KS and non-KS controls.
10 of the KS males were found to have psychiatric disturbance and KS males had smaller frontal lobes, temporal lobes and superior temporal gyrus brain areas.
The biological basis of KS has a significant impact on brain development and behaviour
What is Turner’s syndrome?
An atypical sex chromosome pattern that affects approximately 1 in 5000 biological females
It is caused by an absence of one of the two allocated X chromosomes, X0, as affected individuals have 45 chromosomes rather than 46.
Leads to reduced oestrogen levels
Physical Characteristics of T syndrome
Absence of the menstrual cycle (amenorrhoea)
No breast development at puberty
Ovaries do not develop properly so are sterile
Low sets ears and a webbed neck
Hips are not much bigger than the waist
Shorter than average height
Puffy hands and feet
Psychological Characteristics of T syndrome
Higher than average reading ability
Spatial, visual and mathematical abilities are lower
Poor social abilities and trouble relating to peers
Quigley et al (2014) (T syndrome)
Providing girls with oestrogen supplements from age 5 to 12 helped sufferers to develop breasts earlier than non-TS girls, suggesting that some symptoms can be intervened with
Evaluation of atypical sex chromosome patterns (4)
Nature-nurture debate: psychological and behavioural differences between those with and without atypical chromosome structure,
Counterpoint: the chromosomes may just correlate with the behaviour, not cause it
Real world application in treatment: research leads to earlier diagnosis and therefore hormone treatment can be administered
Sampling issues: only those with severe symptoms are identified, so the typical symptoms may be skewed, many individuals with KS live normal lives
Kohlberg’s theory (1966)
Children develop their understanding of gender gradually in approximate but universal stages
Gender role behaviour is shown when children understand that their gender is fixed and constant.
Gender development runs parallel to intellectual development on a biological basis, as the brain develops so does thinking
Kohlberg’s stage one (identity):
2 years old
At this stage children can identify themselves as male or female, and identify others
They can identify which one is their gender if shown an image of a man and an image of a woman
Gender is not fixed, e.g a boy in this stage may say ‘when I grow up I’ll be a mummy’
Kohlberg’s stage two (stability):
4 years old
Realisation that they stay the same gender, cannot apply that to others
Confusion based on physical attributes, may call a long haired man a woman, or based on activities, such as thinking that a woman becomes a man if she is a builder, as builders are often male
Stage three (constancy):
6 years old
Recognise that gender remains the same across all contexts
No longer confused by attributes or activities
Seek a gender role model to identify with and imitate
They will internalise gender, and search for evidence, such as by observing role models
Tendency for stereotypes emerges at this stage
Slaby & Frey (1975) (Kohlberg’s theory)
Presented children with a split-screen of images of males and females performing the same tasks. Younger children spent roughly the same amount of time watching both sexes. Children in the gender constancy stage spent longer looking at the models who were the same sex as them.
Munroe et al. (1984) (Kohlberg)
Cross-cultural evidence supporting Kohlberg in Kenya, Samoa and Nepal.
Bussey and Bandura (1992) (Kohlberg)
Found that children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ about playing with gender appropriate toys and ‘bad’ about doing the opposite, suggests gender constancy before 6
Damon (1977) (Kohlberg)
Spoke to children about a boy who plays with dolls, four year olds approved, but six year olds protested
Evaluation of Kohlberg’s theory (3)
Interview technique: young children lack the vocabulary to express understanding, even if they have complex ideas
Social learning theory would disagree with gender development occurring naturally
Biologically deterministic: suggests that our gender development is determined by and runs parallel to our biological development
Gender schema theory
Martin & Halverson (1981) cognitive-developmental theory for the idea that understanding of gender increases with age.
Children develop understanding by structuring their own learning, not passively imitating role models
Once a child has gender identity (around age 2-3), they will search for information that promotes schemas, earlier than Kohlberg believed
Schemas
Mental constructs that develop via experience, used by the cognitive system to organise knowledge around particular topics
Gender schema
Generalised mental representation of our expectations and beliefs surrounding everything we know in terms of gender, derived from experience
Schemas and stereotypes
Young children’s schemas are formed around stereotypes, providing a framework, directs experience and understanding
At age 6 the child has a fixed and stereotypical idea about what is gender-appropriate
Children also begin to disregard information that does not fit with their existing schema
Gender schema: Ingroups and Outgroups
Children have a better understanding of ingroup schemas (their gender) than outgroup schemas (opposite gender).
At age 8: children develop schemas for both genders, rather than just their own.
Ingroup identity serves to boost the child’s level of self-esteem.
Martin & Halverson: study (1983)
Children under the age of six were more likely to remember photographs of gender-consistent behaviour than gender-inconsistent behaviour
Martin and Little (1990) (Gender schema theory)
Found that children under the age of four, who showed no signs of gender stability or constancy nevertheless demonstrated strongly sex-typed behaviours and attitudes.
Stangor and Ruble (1989)
Suggested that gender schema and gender constancy describe two different processes: Gender schema is how organisation of information affects memory, whereas, gender constancy is linked to motivation to engage in your gender role
Evaluation Gender schema theory (1)
Gender schema theory takes a hard determinist stance when explaining gender identity development and ignores other possible social/psychological influences.
Freud’s psychodynamic explanation for gender
Growing up is a passage through the five psychosexual stages:
Gender identity, occurring at age 5 in the phallic stage, is a conflict that needs resolving or a fixation will form
Previous to the phallic stage children have no concept of gender identity,
In the Phallic stage the child experiences the Oedipus/Electra complex.
The consequence of conflicts not being resolved in this stage is a phallic personality
Oedipus complex
Boys develop desires for their mother, and are jealous and hateful towards their father,
They recognise that their father is powerful and so develop castration anxiety, the fear that the father will castrate them for having feelings for the mother
To resolve the anxiety, they identify with their father and give up their love for their mother
Electra complex
Girls experience penis envy, seeing their mother as competition for the father’s love
They develop double-resentment for their mother, seeing her as a love rival and blaming her for the lack of penis - believing that the mother castrated them
This concept came from Jung, who suggested that girls come to identify with their mothers because they accept their lack of penis and substitute it with a desire to have children
Psychodynamic processes: identification and internalisation
Children of both sexes identify with their same-sex parents as a means of resolving their conflict
Boys desire characteristics of their father, and girls those of their mother.
This involves children adopting the gender identity of the same-sex parent, internalisation.
Ensures Gender Identity is developed in the phallic stage
Little Hans case study
Freud used a case study of a 5 year old boy with a fear of horses as evidence for the oedipus complex
Freud believed that Hans’ fear of horses was displaced from his fear of his father as a defence mechanism, and his real fear was being castrated, not bitten
Rekers and Morey (1990) (psychodynamic)
Interviewed 49 boys aged 3-11, and found that 75% of those that were gender disturbed had neither a biological or substitute father living with them
Bos and Standfort (2010) (psychodynamic)
Suggests that Fathers are not necessary for healthy gender identity
Horney (1942) (psychodynamic
Androcentric bias due to a male centred perspective in the Victorian era, Freud said women were a ‘mystery to him’
Blakemore and Hill (2008) (psychodynamic)
Boys with more liberal fathers tend to develop stronger masculine identities.
Golombok et al (1983) (psychodynamic)
Children from single-parent families develop normal gender behaviours.
Evaluation of the psychodynamic theory (1)
It is pseudoscientific and lacks scientific credibility
Social learning explanation
We learn our gender through nurture
We use ‘socialising agents’ (parents, peers, media, culture) to develop gender.
We observe role models and look for forms of vicarious reinforcement in order to establish whether a behaviour should be carried out by a particular gender
We imitate behaviour that our role models are rewarded for
Role models and their reinforcements
Parents and peers: observing close role models to know what is acceptable for our gender.
Buying particular toys or decorating rooms in certain ways
Speaking differently e.g. different tone of voice
Praising behaviour suitable for their gender and encouraging certain hobbies based on gender
Media: using television, magazines, social media etc to know what is acceptable for our gender.
Culture: using the norms/values of our society to know what is acceptable for our gender.
SLT: Direct reinforcement
Children are actively positively/negatively reinforced for gender behaviours.
Indirect/vicarious reinforcement
Observing the consequences of another person’s behaviour, if the consequences are favourable, imitation is likely, whereas if the consequences are unfavourable, the behaviour is unlikely to be copied.
Identification
A child attaching and imitating to a person with qualities that the child sees as rewarding
Modelling
The demonstration of a behaviour that may be imitated, and the process of the imitation
Mediational processes in learning gender
Social learning theorists suggest four cognitive processes that are central to learning gender behaviour
Attention: paying attention to the actions of the person they want to copy
Retention: remembering the actions of the person they want to copy
Reproduction: considering performing the same action
Motivation: encouraged to imitate after processing the relevant information
Smith and Lloyd (1978) (SLT)
Conducted a study on babies aged 4-6 months, irrespective of their sex they were dressed intermittently in stereotypical boys and girls clothes.
When dressed as a boy, they were more likely to be given a hammer shaped rattle and praised for being active, when dressed as a girl, they were likely to be given a cuddly doll, and praised for being pretty
Evaluation of social learning theory as an explanation (4)
Innate Gender differences: gender differences may simply be responding to innate differences, such as hormones
Cultural Change: Shift in social expectations has meant new forms of behaviour are unlikely to be punished and may be reinforced
Does not provide adequate understanding of how learning processes change with age.
Identification: more all-encompassing than Freud, as it includes all models not just the same sex parent
Cultural differences: Fa’afafines in Samoan culture are a third gender for biological males who are effeminate, who are entirely accepted by their families and society
What does the media provide?
It provides role models, that young children may identify with and want to imitate, as they have aspirational qualities like fame and wealth
Bussey and Bandura (1999) (media)
The media provide clear gender stereotypes to both sexes that are considered rigid:
Men are consistently portrayed as independent, ‘advice-givers’ whereas women as portrayed as dependent, unambitious ‘advice-seekers’
This provides children with a source of information as to which gender behaviours to imitate
McGhee and Freuh (1980) (media)
Children with more exposure to popular forms of media tend to have more gendered-stereotypical views, and the media will give information in terms of the likely success of adopting these behaviours based on the outcome, seeing other children take part in certain behaviours will reassure the observer that they can partake in it, increasing self efficacy
Furnham and Farrager (2000) (stereotypes)
Found that men were more likely to be shown in autonomous roles within professional contexts whereas women were often seen occupying familial roles within domestic settings, which contributes to spreading stereotypes
Mead (1935) (cross culture)
Investigated tribal groups on the island of New Guinea:
In the Arapesh, both sexes were gentle
In the Mundugumor, both sexes were aggressive
Tchambuli women were dominant, independent traders while men were Suggests that there may not be a direct biological relationship between sex and gender, and that gender roles may be culturally determined.
Buss (1995)
Found consistent patterns in mate preference in 37 countries across all continents.
In all cultures, women sought men with wealth, whilst men looked for youth and physical attractiveness
Monroe & Monroe (1975)
In most societies, division of labour is organised along gender lines (with males typically the ‘breadwinners’ and females often the nurturers’).
Freeman (1983) (culture)
Criticised Mead’s findings after he conducted a follow-up study decades later. He argued she had been misled by her participants, and preconceptions had influenced her interpretations
Pingree (1978) (counter-stereotypes)
Found that gender stereotypes reduced when children were shown TV adverts featuring women in non-stereotypical roles, but preadolescent boys’ stereotypes became stronger, so caution must be exercised when exposing young people to counter-stereotypes
Bond and Drogos (2014) (media)
Found a positive correlation between time spent watching Jersey Shore and positive attitudes toward casual sex
Durkin (1985) (media)
Argued that even very young children are not passive recipients of media content, so the media may be secondary to other influences like the family life
Evaluation of the influence of culture and media (5)
Cross-cultural research is typically undertaken by Western researchers, risk that they will impose their own cultural interests upon the people they are studying.
Cross-cultural research does not solve nature-nurture, as it is impossible to separate the two influences on gender roles. As soon as children are born, socialisation starts
Does media output reflect prevailing social norms or does it cause such norms by depicting men and women in particular ways?
The majority of children are exposed to the media regularly and so no control groups are available
There are recent examples of counter-stereotypes in the media (Disney’s Brave) which challenge traditional notions of masculinity and femininity
Gender dysphoria
A psychological disorder under the DSM-V that was previously known as gender identity disorder, the experience of a mismatch between biological sex and gender identity.
Many individuals will identify themselves as transgender and may have gender reassignment surgery in order to change their external genitalia to that of the desired sex.
Brain sex theory:
Dysphoria is caused by brain structures that are incompatible with biological sex.
Particular attention has been paid to those areas of the brain that are sexually dimorphic - taking a different form in males and females
The stria terminalis serves as an output pathway of the amygdala.
The central subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc) is dimorphic. On average, the BSTc is twice as large in men than women and contains twice the number of somatostatin neurons.
Zhou et al. (1995)
Conducted postmortem studies of six male-to-female transgender individuals and found that the BSTc was found to be a similar size to that of a typical female brain.
Kruijver et al. (2000) (brain sex)
Found a sex-reversed identity pattern: Male-to-female individuals had an average BSTc neuron number similar to the female range.
Coolidge et al. (2002) (genetics)
Assessed 157 twin pairs, 96 monozygotic and 61 dizygotic twins given diagnosis using DSM-IV, 62% of these cases said to be accounted for by genetic variance
Heylens et al (2012) (genetics)
Compared 23 Mz twins with 21 Dz twins where one was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, 39% of the Mz twins were concordant for dysphoria, compared to none of the Dz twins
Supports the influence of genetics
Rametti et al (brain sex eval)
Studied white matter in the brain, in transgender individuals before they began hormone treatment – the amount and distribution corresponded to the gender they identified with rather than sex
Hulshoff et al (2006) (brain sex eval)
Found that transgender hormone therapy affected the size of BSTc therefore argued that differences may be due to hormone therapy rather than being a cause of dysphoria
