Gender

Question 1

Define sex

Answer 1

Refers biologically to whether a person’s genetically male or female including XY male chromosomes and XX female chromosomes

Question 2

Define gender

Answer 2

Refers to a persons senses of who they are, whether they’re feminine or masculine, basically linked to their individual social and psychological characteristics

Question 3

Outline sex-role stereotypes

Answer 3

• Sex-role stereotypes are beliefs concerning the characteristics expected of members of each sex, applied as rules by a large number of people, that then become expected qualities to be exhibited like social norms that people feel pressure to conform to.

• Individuals are born with their biological sex but sex-role stereotypes teach them qualities seen as masculine such as strong, aggressive, unemotional and competitive behaviours or feminine such as nurturing, domestic, emotional and passive behaviours.

• Whether these qualities are seen as masculine or feminine is determined by the socialisation process. However, they overemphasise gender differences e.g. males are seen as more aggressive and female aggression is downplayed (alpha bias) and lead to an overemphasis on gender differences, such as males being seen as more competitive while females are more co-operative (beta bias).

Question 4

Outline the socialisation process in teaching sex-role stereotypes

Answer 4

Expectations are taught from an early age where children of differing genders are treated differently e.g. boys are treated more physically and are taught to play different games to girls such as building blocks as opposed to dolls.

Children respond to this by quickly picking up on sex-role stereotypes and conforming. They will also police other children; subjecting them to hostility and pressure to assume correct sex-roles

Later in life, this carries on with gender suitable school subjects and careers eg. health and social classes for girls at school and engineering for males as a career

Question 5

Outline factors that influence gender development in children during socialisation

Answer 5

Socialising agents are factors that contribute towards the socialising process when developing our gender, and include media, culture, parents, peers and education

Question 6

Outline androgyny

Answer 6

• Refers to the co-existence of male and female characteristics within the same individual

• Traditionally, individuals conforming to gender roles were seen as psychologically healthier but now it’s seen as beneficial to simultaneously blend elements of both masculinity and femininity.
• For example, an individual may be masculine in some situations, such as being domineering in the workplace and feminine in others such as nurturing at home

• Olds (1981) believed androgyny is a higher developmental stage reached only by some.
• Gender Schema Theory states androgynous people are aschematic (not influenced by sex-role stereotypes) which is in line with Olds explanation in that individuals become androgynous when perceiving the world without gender stereotypes

Androgyny can be explain by:
• Orlofsky’s (1975) behavioural explanation
• Bem’s (1975) androgynous hypothesis

Question 7

Explain Orlofsky’s (1975) behavioural explanation

Answer 7

Androgyny’s learned through reinforcement via operant conditioning, allowing individuals to acquire masculine or feminine qualities applicable to different situations, suggesting androgyny’s down to behavioural rather than cognitive concepts

Question 8

Explain Bem’s (1975) androgynous hypothesis

Answer 8

• Bem (1983) argued androgynous people have a different cognitive style and adopt behaviours when necessary that are independent of gender concepts

• Bem’s (1975) androgynous hypothesis states that androgyny is a positive and desirable condition that required a different kind of test to incorporate this notion, called the BEM sex role inventory (BSRI)

• Gender Schema Theory states androgynous people are aschematic (not influenced by sex-role stereotypes) which is in line with Olds explanation in that individuals become androgynous when perceiving the world without gender stereotypes

Question 9

What’s the BEM sex role inventory (BSRI)

Answer 9

• A self report questionnaire designed to measure androgyny

• 60 items rated on a 7 point scale, ranging from 1 (‘Never or almost never true’) to 7 (‘Always or almost always true’)

• 20 items are stereotypically masculine, such as aggression and assertion, while 20 are feminine such as compassion and tenderness and 20 are neutral traits like adaptability and conscientiousness

• Individuals score separately for masculinity and femininity to calculate their overall type as one of four categories; masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated

Question 10

Outline the role of chromosomes in gender

Answer 10

• Every individual has 23 pairs, the typical patterns are XX for females and XY for males with each chromosome carrying many different genes

• The X and Y chromosome on the 23rd pair are responsible for the development of the embryo into a biologically male or female baby

• They do this by triggering gland development that produce (sex) hormones, such as testosterone for the development of a male baby and oestrogen for the development of a female baby

Question 11

Outline the role of hormones in gender

Answer 11

• Genes and chromosomes initially determine sex and what hormones are produced but most of gene development’s governed by hormones

• In males, testosterones produced in larger quantities and oestrogen and oxytocin are produced more in females

Question 12

What are the three hormones that play a role in the biology of gender

Answer 12

• Testosterone
• Oestrogen
• Oxytocin

Question 13

Outline testosterone and it’s role in gender development

Answer 13

Steroid that stimulates the development of male secondary sex characteristics (eg.deeper voice) and acts on the hypothalamus causing brain development associated with spatial skills and male-type behaviours such as competitiveness or aggression.

• The hormones produced prenatally influence sexual differentiation in foetuses in early pregnancy including internal and external genitalia, the brain and behaviour both prenatally and in childhood.

• Without this, the brain develops as a female type; females produce 10% of the testosterone of males. E.g. Females exposed to high doses of testosterone during pregnancy later showed greater interest in male type activities

• Gonads are sex glands originally identical in XX and XY embryos but the SRY gene in the Y chromosome controls whether they become ovaries or testes
• XY foetuses develop testes and produce hormones, primarily androgen testosterone, and have higher testosterone levels particularly between weeks 8-24 of gestation

Question 14

Outline oestrogen and its role in gender development

Answer 14

A group of hormones such as Oestradiol, Oestrone, and Oestriol that promote the development and maintenance of female characteristics of the body and regulate menstruation

• Promotes development of physical characteristics (eg. breast development) and psychological and behavioural effects including PMT (premenstrual tension)

• PMT is associated with irritability and irrationality alongside lapses in self control that can lead to antisocial behaviour or even criminality

• The onset of menopause is associated with decreased oestrogen levels.
Oestrogen plays a role in feminising the brain, promoting neural interconnections for a more ‘distributed’ female brain (equal use of both hemispheres), causing female type behaviours such as sensitivity and co-operation

Question 15

Outline oxytocin and its role in gender development

Answer 15

• A polypeptide hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter, produced by males and females in the brain to control key aspects of the reproductive system

• More active in females as it synergises with oestrogen for enhanced effect. It helps facilitate childbirth and breastfeeding and increases five-fold during sex but decreases straight after orgasm in males, explaining lack of intimacy

• Affects female social behaviour in mate selection, monogamy and pair bonding, nurturing, acceptance and protection of offspring

Question 16

What are two types of atypical chromosome patterns

Answer 16

• Kleinfelter’s syndrome
• Turner’s syndrome

Question 17

Outline Kleinfelter’s syndrome

Answer 17

• A genetic condition that affects 1 in ever 750 males, involving having an extra X chromosome, to produce an ‘XXY’ chromosome pattern

• It’s not inherited from parents but occurs during meiosis by a nondisjunction error causing an egg or sperm cell to have an extra copy of the X chromosome in each of its body cells (known as chromosome trisomy)

Question 18

Identify symptoms of Kleinfelter’s syndrome cause

Answer 18

• Physical effects such as small testes that produce insufficient amounts of testosterone before birth and during puberty. This causes underdeveloped male sexual characteristics, including less body hair, underdeveloped genitals, long legs in comparison to torso and infertility

• Psychological effects such as poor language skills, passive temperament, increased risk of anxiety disorders and depression

• Medical complications such as cardiovascular, circulatory and respiratory conditions as well as diabetes and renal problems

Question 19

Outline Turner’s syndrome

Answer 19

• A genetic condition which affects about 1 in every 2,200 females. It involves having only one complete X chromosome in each cell; the second X chromosome is either missing or incomplete

• The condition occurs at conception, mostly ending in miscarriage. 1 in 10 miscarriages during 1st trimester pregnancy are due to Turner’s syndrome

Question 20

Identify symptoms and treatments of Turner’s syndrome

Answer 20

• Medical complications can include heart conditions, high blood pressure, urinary complaints, vision and hearing problems and osteoporosis

• Can be treated by growth hormone as well as oestrogen and progesterone supplements which allows sufferers to live relatively normal lives with only slightly reduced average life span

Question 21

Outline cognitive explanations of gender development

Answer 21

• Refer to the child’s sense of their own gender and how children’s thinking about gender develops. They see it as occurring in qualitatively different stages.

• Gender identity is seen as to result from children actively structuring their own experiences rather than being a passive outcome of social learning

The two cognitive explanations of gender development include Kohlberg’s theory and Gender Schema Theory (GST)

Question 22

Outline Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

Answer 22

This theory do gender constancy sees thinking and understanding as a basis behind gender identity and gender role behaviour.
Kohlberg sees children’s understanding of gender develop in three stages, with gender role behaviour apparent only after an understanding emerges that gender’s fixed and constant.

Question 23

Who influenced Kohlberg’s theory

Answer 23

Piaget’s cognitive development theory, as children progress through stages of understanding in line with their biological maturity. Gender concepts are seen as occurring actively through environmental interactions, restricted by biologically controlled mental capabilities

Question 24

Name and outline stage one of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

Answer 24

Gender identity:

• Between the ages of 18months and 3 and a half where a child can use the labels ‘boy’ and ‘girl’

• Gender understanding as a fragile knowledge and realisation designed to understand and categorise the world with labels like ‘man/woman’ and ‘boy/girl’ which can be incorrect as children fail to realise the longevity of gender in that boys become men and girls become women

• Eg. A little girl will look for a dress to correctly identify a female

Question 25

Name and outline stage two of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

Answer 25

Gender Stability:

• Around the ages of 3-5 children now recognise gender’s consistent over time but not across situations

• They believe while boys become men, males may become females if engaging in feminine activities

• Eg. A child may believe a woman with short hair to be a man

• Children under the age of seven are still swayed by Piaget’s theory of conservation and lack the ability to conserve, suggesting the child’s gender understanding is still limited
• Piaget’s theory of conservation refers to the ability to understand that despite superficial changes in appearance, basic properties or an object remain the same. The inability to distinguish between appearance and reality

Question 26

Name and outline stage three of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

Answer 26

Gender Constancy:

• The final stage of gender development around the age of 6-7 where children come to realise gender’s constant across situations and so have developed full gender constancy

• Understanding of gender development is complete as they recognise genders constant over time and situations, representing a type of conservation.

• Eg. A child looking at a woman with a shaved head would understand they’re still female despite their haircut

Question 27

Define a schema

Answer 27

• A cognitive framework or concept that helps us organise and interpret information
• Schemas contribute to our stereotypes and we find it difficult to retain new information that doesn’t conform to our established schemas

Question 28

Outline gender schema theory

Answer 28

Sees gender alone as providing children with a motivation to assume sex-typed behaviour patterns. It can be compared with Kohlberg’s theory of gender development and SLT.

Question 29

Compare and contrast Gender Schema Theory (GST) and Kohleberg’s theory

Answer 29

• Both theories agree that children’s active cognitive processing of information also contributes to sex typing

• However, in GST, for initial understanding of gender to develop, children need not understand genders permanent

• Martin and Halverson (1981) and Bem (1981) believed the process of understanding gender starts much earlier than what Kohlberg originally suggested

Question 30

Compare GST and SLT

Answer 30

It sees children learning ‘appropriate’ patterns of behaviour by observation

Question 31

Outline gender schema

Answer 31

• Organised groupings of related concepts that begin to develop at 2-3 years. Once children have a gender identity they accumulate knowledge about sexes, organising this into gender schema.

• They provide a basis for interpreting the environment and selecting appropriate forms of behaviour so children’s self-perceptions become sex-typed

• Gender schema can be:
• In-group schema: formed concerning the attitude and expectations about one’s own gender
• Out-group schema: formed concerning gender itself

Question 32

Outline Gender Schema Theory (GST)

Answer 32

• Schema teach children what toys to play with, clothes to wear and acceptable gender behaviour. They then ignore any information that’s inconsistent with in-group information eg. a boy may ignore a male nurse in a film as it’s inconsistent with his gender schemas. As he doesn’t alter his existing schema, gender schemas have a profound effect on what’s remembered and our perceptions of the world around us

• In-group schema refer to the groups a person identifies with eg. being a girl means you’ll identify with that group but she’ll also identify with other groups such as the city she lives in or a band she likes.
• Once a child’s identified with a group, they positively evaluate their own group and negatively evaluate the out-group to enhance their self-esteem as they can say they belong to successful, well-liked groups and so share those qualities

• This evaluation motivates a child to be like their group and avoid behaviours of other groups. They’ll actively seek information about what their group does to acquire in-group schemas
• According to GST, before gender constancy, children focus on in and out group schemas from an early age

Question 33

According to GST what happens at a preschool age

Answer 33

• Children learn distinctions between gender activities and behaviour by observing other children and reinforcement from parents

• Eg. Men have short hair and girls play with dolls

• They also learn about gender ‘scripts’ which are sequences of events that go with genders eg. cooking dinner and building with tools

Question 34

According to GST what happens at a 4-6 years old

Answer 34

Children learn subtle and complex sets of associations for their own gender eg. what children of the same gender like, how they play, talk ect

Question 35

According to GST what happens at a 8-10 years old

Answer 35

Children develop schemas of the opposite gender matching the complexity of their own gender schema they have for themselves

Question 36

According to GST what happens during adolescence

Answer 36

• Understanding that rules are social conventions and gender role schemas become more flexible.

• Teenagers abandon the automatic assumption that what their own gender does is preferable and a significant minority define themselves as androgynous

Question 37

Outline Freud’s psychoanalytical explanation

Answer 37

• Freuds psychoanalytical theory emphasises gender development during the psychosexual stages, of which the phallic stage is the most significant

• It’s is made up of four components:
• Conscious behaviour’s motivated by
unconscious drives
• Defence mechanisms
• Structure of personality
• Psychosexual stages

Freud described personality as a tripartite personality model consisting of the rational ego that mediates the opposing demands of the ID, which is constantly seeking selfish pleasure and the super-ego, which is constantly seeking to be morally perfect

Question 38

Identify Freuds psychosexual stages

Answer 38

1. Oral stage
2. Anal stage
3. Phallic stage
4. Latent stage
5. Genital stage (adult personality is believed to have formed after this stage)

Question 39

How does the psychoanalytical theory (Freud) see gender as developing

Answer 39

• Children experience unconscious conflict as they pass through each psychosexual stage

• In the oral and anal stages, the child’s perceived as bisexual as gender identity’s seen as non-existent and there’s no visible behavioural difference between boys and girls

• As the child enters the phallic stage (between 3-5 years old) their libido is increasingly focused on the genitals and gender identity develops through the resolution of either the Oedipus or electra complex

Question 40

Outline the three stages of the Oedipus complex

Answer 40

1. Firstly, they experience intense sexual feelings towards their mothers, wanting her sole attention
2. Therefore they see their father as a rival and wish him dead which causes increased fear and castration anxiety, these fears are repressed
3. Finally the complex is resolved as the boy identifies with the father and internalises his gender identity as his own.

Question 41

Outline the three stages of the Electra complex

Answer 41

1. Girls are attracted to their mother until they realise they don’t have a penis. They think their mother’s removed it and so develop penis envy of males
2. The girl’s sexual desire is transferred to her father
3. Finally the complex is resolved when a girl converts her penis envy to a desire for a baby, removing her anger with her mother so she can identify with her and take on her gender behaviours

Question 42

Define identification and internalisation in the context of the psychoanalytical theory of gender development

Answer 42

Identification is the process of acquiring the characteristics of the same-sex parent, while internalisation is the incorporation of the same-sex parent into an individuals personality

Question 43

Outline female identification and contrast it with male identification

Answer 43

As girls think they’ve already been castrated, Freud saw them as less fearful than boys and so female identification was weaker.

He thought there was little reason to identify with women due to their lower status. He considered male development as the norm and female development as a deviant form because he held the androcentric view of female sexual inferiority

Question 44

Outline what happens at an unresolved phallic stage in Freud’s psychoanalytical theory

Answer 44

• Freud stated each psychosexual stage is resolved through conflict leading to a healthy psychological outcome. This can be in the form of identification with the same-sex parent and internalisation of an appropriate gender identity and sex-role stereotypes

• Fixation at any stage can come from frustration and overindulgence. Fixation at the genital stage causes a Phallic character who’s afraid or incapable of close love, Freud claimed fixation could be a root cause of amoral behaviour and homosexuality

Question 45

Explain social learning theory applied to gender

Answer 45

• Traditional learning theory proposes organisms learn new behaviour through classical and operant conditioning. However, Bandura (1991) recognised association and direct reinforcement couldn’t explain the complexity of human behaviour.

• He proposed gender role development was the result of learning by observation and imitation of socialising agents who model and reinforce gender role behaviours such as parents, peers and the influence of media and culture.

• Socialising agents model examples of appropriate and inappropriate gender behaviour and the consequences of conforming or not to gender roles. Children observe these models being reinforced or punished and imitate those that are reinforced and not those they see being punished

Question 46

Outline indirect reinforcement as a part of social learning theory of gender

Answer 46

• Indirect reinforcement refers to Vicarious reinforcement which is where children observe other’s behaviour and learn from the consequences, which they witness at home (parents), school (education) and through media

• Vicarious reinforcement is vital in that boys and girls observe behaviour characteristic of both sexes but only repeat behaviours of people they identify with. Boys are likely to learn a lot about the homemaking role from their mothers but are less likely to repeat such behaviours that girls

• SLT believes boys and girls learn dissimilar gender roles because parents and others treat them differently; when they imitate gender appropriate behaviour they’re reinforced with praise and affection. If a child’s rewarded for certain behaviour (e.g. a boy kicking a football) they’re more likely to repeat the action, this direct reinforcement influences the usefulness of that behaviour.

Question 47

Outline direct reinforcement as a part of social learning theory of gender

Answer 47

• Direct reinforcement refers to the role of mediational processes as part of Bandura’s social cognitive theory that moved from behaviourism to a form of cognitive behaviourism

• Information about reinforcement is stored as an expectancy of future outcome. Children display behaviour they’ve observed provided the expectation of rewards is higher than that of punishment.
• This only happens provided the child has paid attention and retained the observed behaviour and has the motivation and the physical ability (motor reproduction) to imitate the behaviour

Question 48

Outline the role of media and culture as a part of social learning theory of gender

Answer 48

• Studying cultural influences on gender roles shows the extent to which gender’s a biological or social construct. If gender was biological, cultural differences around the world would have no influence on gender development
• Differences between cultures indicate that gender is socially constructed, while similarities indicate gender is biological

• The media is an important social influence on the acquisition, shaping and maintenance of gender roles, including TV, magazines, pop music etc.

Question 49

Outline Gender Identity Disorder (GID)

Answer 49

• Refers to conflict between biological sex and gender identity. Individuals feel they’re trapped in the wrong body and can be referred to as ‘transsexual’ in society.

• Atypical gender development can include conditions such as Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), a disorder characterised by a deficiency in hormones cortisol and aldosterone and an over-production of androgen that’s present at birth and affects a child’s sexual development

Question 50

Outline GID in diagnostic manuals

Answer 50

• In the DSM-IV, atypical gender development is referred to as GID and is a psychiatric condition where the person feels uncomfortable with the gender assigned to them at birth e.g. an individual with male genitalia feels they’re a female. This personal experience of discomfort is gender dysphoria.

• Prejudice, anxiety and distress are often experienced leading to depression, self-harm or even suicide. Indications can occur early where children feel unhappy wearing clothes or playing games stereotypical of their biological sex.

• Individuals who persist with these feelings can experience distress and disgust at bodily signs of their ‘wrong’ sex. Masculising or feminising hormones can be taken to alter physical features with the ultimate remedy being gender reassignment surgery

Question 51

Outline prevalence rates and statistics relating to GID

Answer 51

• The prevalence rate of GID is 1 in 5,000 people, affecting males more than females. The number of male-to-female (mtf) outnumbers female-to-male (ftm) by about 5:1 according to the NHS (2012)

• GIRES (Gender identity research and educational society) estimate that 1 in 4,000 in the British population receive medical help for GID, increasing by 20% per year in adults and 50% in young people. 26,000 individuals have so far sought medical care

Question 52

Outline the criteria for a DSM diagnosis of GID

Answer 52

• In order for DSM diagnosis, the person must experience ongoing identification with the opposite sex for at least six months along with two or more of the following symptoms:

1. A strong desire to be rid of one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics or prevalent development of anticipated secondary sex characteristics
2. A strong desire to be treated like the other gender (or an alternate gender from one’s assigned gender)
3. A strong desire to be of the other gender (or an alternate gender from one’s assigned gender)
4. Conditions associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other improtant areas of functioning
5. No biological disorder should occur at the same time as criteria number four
6. A strong desire for the primary and/or secondary sec characteristics of the other gender