Gender

Question 1

sex

Answer 1

biological fact

Question 2

gender

Answer 2

affected by our biology, social environment, upbringing and experiences

Question 3

androgyny

Answer 3

Bem introduced the idea that one person can display behaviours of both genders

She claimed you could not reliably tell someone’s gender by a list of their behaviours alone; most people perform some non-stereotypical behaviours

She said stereotypes in modern society could cause psychological and social harm by artificially restricting behaviour

Question 4

BSRI

Answer 4

ontains 20 masculine, 20 feminine and 20 neutral items
Participants use a 7-point Likert scale to rate their likelihood of performing the behaviours

Scores are given for:
Masculinity - high masculine, low feminine
Femininity - low masculine, high feminine
Androgyny - high ratio of masculine to feminine

Question 5

BSRI

Answer 5

The BSRI was criticised for describing androgyny (high in both M and F traits) but not the opposite (low in both M and F traits) (Spence et al., 1975)
A fourth category was added
Undifferentiated - low masculine, low feminine

This fourth type has been criticised for a lack of construct validity; are there enough items/range in the neutral category to fully describe someone?

Question 6

gender schema theory

Answer 6

Bem (1983) went on to write up her findings and propose Gender Schema Theory

Everyone acts according to their dominant schema for a given situation
Some people have a wider repertoire of schematic references than others (they’re androgynous)
Some have learned very specific schemata (they’re strongly M or F)

The gender schema you form will have effects on your psychological functioning later in life - especially cognitive abilities like memory or attention span.

Question 7

chromosomes

Answer 7

Females have XX and males have XY
The Y chromosome contains the SRY gene, which causes male physical development at the fetal stage
The SRY gene creates “sex-determining region Y protein”; a transcription factor that binds to DNA to control other genes (this is an epigenetic change)

Any behavioural, psychological or social differences between the sexes are due to physiology (anatomical, chromosomal and hormonal differences in the body).

Question 8

The role of chromosomes and hormones in sex and gender

Answer 8

chromosomes - hormones produced - Gender identity and development, including gender-appropriate behaviour - Biological sex

Question 9

sex development

Answer 9

Every fetus appears the same until a few weeks after conception
Sex organ development is complete at around 3 months after conception
Lutropin is then produced in both sexes in the adrenal glands
Testes contain Leydig cells, which respond to lutropin by producing testosterone
Testosterone drives further male development

Question 10

Klinefelter’s syndrome

Answer 10

1 in 10,000 males
This is an XXY configuration
Child born with penis and develops male traits
They are usually infertile, lack muscular definition and have feminized masculine characteristics (eg. slim jaw, less facial hair, sometimes even breast tissue)

Question 11

Turners Syndome

Answer 11

1 in 2,000 females
This is due to “XO” rather than XX or XY - one sex chromosome is damaged or missing
Born with both vagina and womb but underdeveloped ovaries
No monthly period, physically short/stout build
Can have webbed neck, narrow hips, irregular internal organs, nevi (chronic skin lesions)

Question 12

testosterone

Answer 12

Produced before birth

A fetus can be insensitive to testosterone (born as intersex)
No formation of male genitalia
Often born/raised as girls because no penis/testicles are visible

Some are identified as XY and raised as boys

Brain development is affected by testosterone (eg. when mothers’ levels are elevated from certain medicines). Studies show XX females are “tomboyish” and prefer masculine activities in this case (Berenbaum & Bailey, 2003).

Question 13

oestrogen

Answer 13

Present in all cases for the fetus - default gender is female
Oestrogen level is associated with smaller brain size (Shi et al., 2015)
Promotes secondary female sex characteristics in puberty
Controls menstrual cycle through increasing blood flow to uterus
Elevated during pregnancy

Question 14

oxytocin

Answer 14

Produced in pituitary in response to skin-to-skin contact (eg. breastfeeding)

Promotes bonding behaviours
Causes milk production
Enables post-orgasm bliss/contentment
Helps in wound-healing

Oxytocin dampens fight-or-flight response in women (not in men, due to testosterone) and is related to “tend and befriend” (Taylor et al., 2000)

Question 15

pro-conventional

Answer 15

reward and punishment
sex offenders, theft

Question 16

conventional

Answer 16

based on others principles
gang members

Question 17

post-conventional

Answer 17

own ethical principles
terrorists

Question 18

gender labelling

Answer 18

2 - 3 years old

children label themselves as “boy” or “girl” and others as “man” or “woman”. Labelling of others happens first.
Label based on appearances only (eg. hair length)

Piaget called this pre-operational thinking.
It lacks internal logic (abstract thinking)
It’s not consistent because it’s based on external factors that can change

By the end of this stage, children have schemata for simple masculine and feminine characteristics.

Question 19

gender stability

Answer 19

4 - 7 years old

Children realise gender is stable over time
No realisation that gender is stable across situations
Eg. If a man wears a dress, he can become a woman

Before around age 7, Piaget noticed that children have no concept of conservation
Conservation is the idea that individuals retain the same internal properties no matter what behaviour or appearance they show externally
Eg. children <7 shown a doll with a dress and a penis identify it as female (McConaghy, 1979)

At the end of this stage, children start to realise that gender and appearance are separate, so anyone can perform any behaviour even when it isn’t stereotypical

Question 20

gender constancy

Answer 20

7 years plus (into adulthood)

Children start to develop gender constancy - the belief that gender is entirely independent of time, place or appearance
Children begin to show preferences for gender-appropriate behaviour

Gender-appropriate behaviour preference is the result of understanding gender can’t change (if it can change, there’s no harm in performing the actions of either gender as it might one day be yours)

Gender is fixed in the child’s mind
Children will reject gender-inappropriate behaviour after this stage

Question 21

Schemata

Answer 21

Children’s schemata are formed using information from TV/parents/school/etc.

They contain information coloured by cultural norms

Gender schemata are therefore very simplistic and “black and white” at first - they’re full of stereotypical information

Question 22

in group and out group bias

Answer 22

As children develop, they form schemata about other people as well as building their own gender schema.

Links are made between parts of your self-schema and groups you identify with (eg. gender groups, family, friends, hobbies)

Cognitive processing develops an in-group/out-group bias - this is natural and has evolutionary benefits
Maximisation of in-group positive qualities
Maximisation of out-group negative qualities
This builds self-esteem and reinforces stereotypes

Question 23

Resilience of Gender Beliefs

Answer 23

GST explains how gender beliefs become so fixed and powerful

Information that isn’t schema-consistent is ignored or disregarded

This is because attention and working memory rely on top-down influence from stored schematic information
We don’t ignore out-group information on purpose; it’s never perceived

Question 24

Peer Relationships

Answer 24

In-group/out-group bias directs children towards same-sex peers and away from opposite-sex peers

This happened in the Gender Constancy stage of Kohlberg’s (1966) theory, but he didn’t describe why

As children get older, they learn that everyone has the same biases (theory of mind). This means they will fear rejection or hostility from peers if they form relationships with out-group members (Martin, 1991).

This explains WHY and not just HOW constancy happens

Question 25

Psychodynamic Theory and Gender

Answer 25

Freudian theories use the concepts of internalisation and identification (from SLT)

Internalisation - Accepting others’ beliefs because they resonate with yours
Identification - Complying to gain access to a group, then accepting it over time

These two processes can be used to explain things like in-group/out-group preferences in GST, rejection of gender-inappropriate behaviour in Kohlberg’s theory, and the persistence of sex-role stereotypes.

Question 26

Formation of the Superego

Answer 26

The ID aims for pleasure/satisfaction regardless of others’ interests
The Superego aims for morality/acceptance regardless of its own interests
The Ego looks to keep these in check
Defense mechanisms are used to prevent either becoming pathological

Question 27

The Oedipus Complex

Answer 27

Boy becomes aware of sexuality and desires mother’s full attention - sees father as a threat/competition

Boy wishes father was dead; fears his revenge if he finds out - this is castration anxiety. The boy represses the anxiety.

Father’s behaviours are imitated to impress the mother, leading to identification with male gender behaviours.

Conflict is resolved when the boy no longer feels competition against the father. Superego develops

Question 28

The Electra Complex

Answer 28

Proposed by Jung (1913) to address the criticisms that Freud’s theories were gender biased (beta bias). Freud then added the following, which he called the “feminine oedipus attitude”. This implied that girls are failed/lesser boys, and ignored any differences other than how they compensate for this:
Girls are initially attracted to their mother but are confused when they discover she has no penis.

Girl resents mother (penis envy), assuming she doesn’t have one because the mother felt inadequate and castrated her.

Girl begins to feel sexual attraction to the father instead.

Girl fails to identify with father as she observes gender differences. Penis envy is replaced by the desire for a baby, and she then identifies with the mother’s role.

Question 29

Indirect Reinforcement

Answer 29

For gender, Bandura (1991) combined vicarious reinforcement and observation to create an overall term; indirect reinforcement

Parent models, media/culture/peer reinforcement

Bandura (1991) said identification was important here

Question 30

Mediational Processes

Answer 30

Observation
Identification
Modelling
Vicarious reinforcement

Question 31

Gender Maintenance by Direct Reinforcement

Answer 31

Bandura’s new Social Cognitive Model still had behaviourist aspects

He said that whatever we expected, the future of behaviours depended on physical consequences - direct positive and negative reinforcement, or punishment.

Question 32

Direct Tuition and Self-Direction

Answer 32

Cognitive processes like rehearsal allow children to learn through direct tuition
Eg. through TV programmes, parental instructions, etc.

When children have internalised behaviours (formed in-group identities/achieved gender stability), they also start to self-direct

Cognitive processes allow them to feel good or bad when they reflect on their own actions - producing their own reinforcement/punishment

He called this reciprocal determinism
This means behaviour is determined by a feedback loop
Behaviour - Reflection - Consequence - Adjustment - Behaviour - etc.

Question 33

culture

Answer 33

Most cultures hold different views and have different expectations of men and women
Women are often seen to be more conformist and less independent than men
Research shows this is false; the largest factors in conformity were activity level and physical environment, according to a large meta-analysis (Berry et al., 2002)
Women are also usually less socially powerful/well-paid, but this is decreasing in the UK (Alleye, 2011)

Question 34

Sex & Temperament in Three Primitive Societies - Mead (1935)

Answer 34

Arapesh
male & female both Gentle, cooperative, kind

Mundugumor
male & female both Aggressive, machiavellian, narcissistic

Tchambuli
men: Emotionally fragile, sensitive, anxious
female: Assertive, hostile, domineering

Question 35

Media & Gender - Role Models

Answer 35

Media: Methods of transmitting or storing knowledge (eg., book, TV, adverts, video)

Bandura & Bussey (1999) conducted content analysis of a large range of film and print media to investigate gender roles

Codes for men: confident, independent, assertive, interesting, complex, strong

Codes for women: dependent, anxious/hysterical, unambitious, emotional, two-dimensional

Question 36

Media & Gender - Role Models

Answer 36

On TV, most women are physically flawless and emotionally passive; while men are clumsy but more accomplished (Conley et al., 2011)

A famous longitudinal study showed how powerful embedded media stereotypes are on children’s beliefs. Kids aged 6-12 watching >25 hours/week expressed significantly more stereotypes than those watching <10 hours/week (McGhee et al., 1980)

Question 37

Vicarious Reinforcement

Answer 37

All media help reinforce gender stereotypes through vicarious reinforcement

Women are seen to succeed when they’re feminine

Men are seen to succeed when they’re masculine

Sex-relevant characteristics are usually exaggerated in protagonists and under-represented in antagonists. This affects self-efficacy

Question 38

Counter-Stereotypes

Answer 38

Pingree (1978) was the first to suggest using media to change people’s perceptions of gender
Men and women should be deliberately cast in unusual, non-stereotypical roles

His study compared children watching stereotypical or counter-stereotypical adverts
There was a significant difference between the two groups in their answers on a questionnaire about gender-appropriate behaviours
This started a large gender-equality movement in media (ecological validity)

Question 39

gender dysphoria

Answer 39

Chronic distress due to perception of sex & gender mismatch.

This excludes intersex conditions, which are biologically verifiable.

This condition has recently been the subject of considerable social pressure
Gender Identity Disorder (GID) first appears in DSM-III (1980)
Culture bias is identified - Eg. Samoan culture has three genders (extra feminine male category) and none are at increased risk of any psychological disorder
Social construction of gender in Western countries changes over time
The DSM-V (2013) replaces GID with the term Gender Dysphoria (spectrum)

Question 40

Biological Explanations - Genes

Answer 40

A possible transgender gene has been identified

Hare et al. (2009) studied 112 M -> F transexuals’ DNA

Androgen receptor gene was significantly longer in transexuals
This difference reduces the ability of testosterone to cause changes in development

The brain of the transexuals may be much less masculine than average, if the threshold level for masculine development is never reached

Question 41

Atypical gender
Brain Structure and Gender

Answer 41

There are many sex and gender differences in brain structure and functioning

It’s possible that transexuals’ brains do not match their genetic sex

The BSTc (bed nucleus of stria terminalis) is twice the size in straight men than women

It integrates information from across the limbic system

The information is used to monitor stress-readiness levels (allostatic valence)

BSTc size correlates with preferred sex, not biological sex
M -> F transexuals’ BSTc is similar a size to the female average (Zhou et al., 1995)
F -> M transexuals’ BSTc is usually within the typical male range (Kruijver et al., 2000)

Question 42

Atypical gender
Diathesis-Stress and Gender

Answer 42

There are very few stable behavioural differences between men and women
Brains are not 100% masculine or 100% feminine
Male brains are larger than female brains
Females have a proportionally thicker cortex and more grey matter/less white matter when compared with men
Men have larger ventricles (glymphatic structures)

Question 43

Diathesis-Stress and Gender

Answer 43

Typical female neurons have more dendritic spines than male neurons (important for firing/processing speed/plasticity)

After 15 mins of stress, researchers found a reversal in this pattern in the rat hippocampus

Therefore, physical structure of brain cells can’t determine sex - you need to know whether there was high or low stress. This is an interactionist/diathesis-stress/nature and nurture issue.

Question 44

Atypical gender
Bio Explanations - Phantom Limb and Cross-Wiring

Answer 44

Ramachandran & McGeoch (2007) suggest sex organs have specific brain locations that are hard-wired
If this wiring is disrupted or develops in an atypical way (eg. because of low fetal testosterone activity), genitals can be represented in the opposite way to the person’s sex
This can lead to experiencing a phantom penis - a symptom claimed by ⅔ of F -> M transexuals
This includes phantom erections, and leads to loss of feeling in female genitals

Question 45

Atypical gender
Bio Effects from Environment - Pesticides

Answer 45

DDT is an insecticide banned in UK and USA from 1972, but still used in developing countries (India produces/uses the most currently)
DDT causes sodium channels to open, resulting in nerve spasms and death in insects
It’s not deadly to most animals, but it does contain oestrogen that can reach the bloodstream in exposed humans
Boys born to DDT-exposed mothers showed
feminine characteristics, indicating they’d had
an increased exposure to oestrogen in the womb
(Vreugdenhil et al., 2002).

Question 46

Social Explanations of GID

Answer 46

Mother-Son relationships (Stoller, 1975)
Boys that developed dysphoria had very close and enmeshed relationships with their mothers
Boundaries were very blurred
These boys may have over-identified with their mother
Identification with the wrong model may lead to confused identity

Father-Daughter relationships (Zucker, 2004)
Dysphoric girls were usually rejected by their fathers as young children
This results in over-identification with the father
Increased imitation of male behaviours leads to confused identity