Gender Flashcards
Introduction to Gender; Sex-Role Stereotypes; Androgyny and BSRI; Chromosomes and Hormones; Atypical Sex Chromosome Patterns; Kohlberg's Theory; Gender Schema Theory, Psychodynamic Explanation; Social Learning Theory; Culture and Media; Atypical Gender Development
What is sex?
Biological aspects of an individual as determined by their anatomy, produced by their chromosomes, hormones and interactions
What is sex generally?
Male or female
When is sex assigned?
At birth
What is gender?
A social construction relating to behaviours and attributes based on labels of masculinity and femininity
What is gender identity?
Personal, internal perception of oneself and so the gender category someone identifies with may not match the sex they assigned at birth
Where an individual may see themselves as a man, woman, non-binary or on the spectrum
What are sex-role stereotypes?
Set of ideas about behaviours/traits/qualities/characteristics that are expected for males and females
Who are sex-role stereotypes usually shared by?
Members of a culture/society
What do sex-role stereotypes act as?
Short-cut to expected behaviours in a given context
Boys and girls will behave in ways they understand to be typically male/female
How are sex-role stereotypes developed?
SLT: through observation, imitation and reinforcement
Kohlberg: through development of cognitive awareness of gender (development of gender constancy)
Freud: as part of the process of internalisation
What are some examples of stereotypes?
Males: breadwinners, strong, aggressive
Females: meek, stay-at-home
Boys like blue, girls like pink
Strength of sex-role stereotypes - cognitive short-cut
Sex-role stereotypes give you an idea of what you should be doing in certain situations
Limitation of sex-role stereotypes - Smith and Lloyd
Swapped boys and girls clothing and used other names
Participants unknowingly gave boys “girl’s toys” and girls “boy’s toys”
The toys played with can cause physical changes to the brain
Evaluation for sex-role stereotypes
Temporal validity
Negative effects of stereotypes (academic/career expectations)
Positive effects of stereotypes (act as a cognitive short-cut)
Relative influences of learning and biology on gender; cultural differences
Wider discussion in relation to determinism
What is androgyny?
Either biologically male or female who has an equally high level of masculine and feminine traits
What does BSRI stand for?
Bem Sex Role Inventory
What is the BSRI?
10 American undergraduate students were asked which personality traits they thought were desirable for men and women
Questionnaire includes 20 masculine, feminine and neutral traits each
Rate on a Likert scale from 1-7
Scores correlate to high masculine, high feminine, androgyny and undifferentiated
What are the ethical issues with BSRI?
Protection from harm: upset with results that they get
How can the ethical issues with the BSRI be dealt with?
Telling participants results are normal and the positives of their attributes
What is the threat to external validity in the BSRI?
Temporal validity
Population validity
What is the threat to internal validity in the BSRI?
Didn’t measure masculine/feminine, it measured self-esteem or confidence
How did the BSRI attempt to reduce the threat to internal validity?
Added distractor questions
Limitation of BSRI - self report
Social desirability bias
Demand characteristics
Limitation of BSRI - temporal validity
Hoffman and Borders 2001
Little agreement of masculine and feminine traits by 400 students
Strength of BSRI - reliability
External: test-retest over 4 weeks 0.74-0.96
Internal: a short 30 questionnaire is 0.9 correlation which shows good internal reliability
Limitation of BSRI - Spence et al
Fourth category was needed to distinguish between high male/female scores and low female/male scores
How many chromosomes are there in the body?
46 chromosomes, 23 pairs
What chromosome does a typical egg have?
X
What chromosome do the sperm carry?
Half carry X
Half carry Y
Is it the egg or the sperm that determines the baby’s sex?
Sperm
What does SRY stand for?
Sex Determining Region Y
What carries the SRY?
Y chromosome
What does the SRY do?
Causes the testes to develop and produce androgens
What are androgens?
Male sex hormones
What is the female chromosomal structure?
XX
What is the male chromosomal structure?
XY
What are the three specification hormones?
Testosterone
Oestrogen
Oxytocin
What does testosterone do prenatally?
Can affect brain development (right hemisphere)
What does testosterone do postnatally?
Grow facial hair
Deeper voice
What does oestrogen do prenatally?
Smaller brain size (left hemisphere)
What does oestrogen do postnatally?
Menstrual cycle
Mood swings
What does oxytocin do in women?
Breastfeeding
Fight or flight response
What does oxytocin do in men?
Fight or flight response
But suppressed by testosterone
Strength of chromosomes and hormones - practical application
Differences in Sex Development (DSD) is a group of rare conditions, including genes, hormones and reproductive organs, including genitals
Means a person’s sex development is different to most other peoples
Sometimes the term Disorder of Sex Development is used as is Variations in Sex Characteristics (VSC) or Diverse Sex Development
Some adults and young people with DSD prefer to use the term intersex
Diagnosis and treatment
Limitation of chromosomes and hormones - Tricker et al
Gave 43 males an injection of testosterone or a placebo
No significant difference was found in aggression after 10 weeks
Used double-blind procedure, reducing experimenter bias and demand characteristics, increasing internal validity of experiment
Strength of chromosomes and hormones - Bruce/Brenda/David Reimer
Nature overpowered nurture
Bruce had surgery that resulted in penis being burnt off and being castrated
Brought up as a girl (Brenda)
Told that she was born as a biological male and chose to transition back (David)
Limitation of chromosomes and hormones - counterpoint to David Reimer study - case studies
Cannot generalise to whole population
What is the chromosomal structure of Klinefelter’s Syndrome?
XXY
What is the diagnosis rate for Klinefelter’s Syndrome?
1 in 600 males
What are the physical characteristics of Klinefelter’s Syndrome?
Reduced body hair
Some breast development
Underdeveloped genitals
More susceptible to health problems (usually problems associated with females)