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Gender Flashcards

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1
Q

What’s the definition of ‘sex’

A
  • A person’s biological status as either male and female.

- Determined by chromosomes at first, then hormonal differences.

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2
Q

What is gender?

A
  • Someone’s psychological status as either masculine or feminine
  • e.g. attitudes, roles and behaviours associated with each gender.
  • influenced by social norms and expectations.
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3
Q

What is gender identity disorder (GID) ?

A

When someone’s biological prescribed sex does not reflect the way they feel inside.

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4
Q

What are sex-role stereotypes?

A

A set of shared expectations that people within a society or culture hold about what is acceptable or usual behaviour for males and females.

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5
Q

What did Ingalhalikar et al. (2014) find?

A

That women are better at multi-tasking, whilst men concentrate more on one activity (brain scans).

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6
Q

Define androgyny

A

A personality type that is characterised by a balance of masculine and feminine traits, attitudes or behaviours.
- e.g. an aggressive man who is also a caring parent.

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7
Q

Who made the BSRI, and what is it?

A

Bem

Bem Sex Role Inventory

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8
Q

What did Bem said high androgyny is associated with?

A
  • Psychological well-being.

- Better equipped to adapt to a range of situations and contexts.

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9
Q

What does the BSRI comprise of??

A
  • 20 ‘masculine’ traits and 20 ‘feminine traits’ and a scale rating of 1-7
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10
Q

How would the BSRI appear valid and reliable?

A
  • Developed by 100 judges, piloted with over 1000 students.
  • Results broadly correspond with the participants’ own description of their gender identity
  • Followed by a follow-up study on the same students, showing similar scores.
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11
Q

How has the association between high androgyny and psychological well-being been challenged?

A
  • Adams + Sherer have argued that people who display a greater proportion of masculine traits are better adjusted as these more highly valued in Western society.
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12
Q

How does BSRI oversimplify a complex concept?

A
  • Reduces gender to a single score.
  • Personal Attribute Questionnaire (PAQ) has since been developed to measure instrumentality and expressivity but this also quantifies.
  • Golombok + Fivush - gender identity is a much more global concept than is suggested by these scales, broader issues should be taken into consideration.
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13
Q

What’s the disadvantage of the BSRI being developed over 40 years ago?

A
  • ‘Acceptable’ gender behaviours have changed massively since then.
  • This means ideas of masculinity and femininity are outdated = temporal validity.
  • Also the scale was developed by a Western notion of ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’.
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14
Q

How many pairs of chromosomes does a human have?

A

46; 23 pairs.

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15
Q

What sex chromosomal patterns do;

(i) men have
(ii) women have

A

(i) XY
(ii) XX
- Baby’s sex determined by the sperm.

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16
Q

What gene does the Y chromosome carry in relation to sex? And what does it do?

A
  • The ‘Sex-determining region’ or SRY.

- Causes testes to develop.

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17
Q

What are androgens?

A

Male sex hormones

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18
Q

Without androgens what happens to the embryo?

A

It develops into a female.

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19
Q

What do pre-natal hormones do to the baby?

A

Act upon brain development and cause development of reproductive organs.

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20
Q

What do hormones do at puberty?

A
  • Trigger the development of sexual characteristics such as pubic hair.
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21
Q

What hormone controls the development of male sex organs?

A

Testosterone.

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22
Q

What hormone determines female sexual characteristics and menstruation?

A

Oestrogen

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23
Q

What evidence supports the role of chromosomes and hormones?

A

1) - The case of David Reimer.
- Dr Money encouraged Reimer’s parents to raise him as a female after a botched circumcision.
- He was raised in a stereotypical feminine way and called Brenda.
- Money wrote about the success of gender neutrality, but Brenda suffered from severe psychological and emotional problems.
- She became David after being told he was a male.

2) - Van Goozen et al. (1995) studied transgender individuals who were undergoing hormone treatment and being injected with hormones of the opposite sex.
- Transgender women showed decreases in aggression and visuo-spatial skills whilst transgender men showed the opposite.

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24
Q

What is contradictory evidence to the role of chromosomes and hormones in sex and gender?

A
  • Tricker et al. (1996)
  • In a double-blind study.
  • 43 males given weekly injection of testosterone or a placebo.
    = no significant differences in aggression were found after 10 weeks.
  • Slabbekoorn (1999) demonstrated that sex hormones had no consistent effect on gender-related behaviour.
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25
Q

A part from contradictory evidence, give another limitation of the role of chromosomes and hormones in sex and gender.

A

1) Places an overemphasis on nature:
- If gender identity is down to biology, we would expect to find many more differences in males and females behaviour than there actually are.
- Maccoby + Jacklin (1974) found significantly more differences in behaviour within the sexes than between them.
- SLT would also point to importance of social context.

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26
Q

Give 2 conditions that display atypical sex chromosome patterns?

A

1) Klinefelter’s syndrome

2) Turner’s syndrome

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27
Q

Describe Klinefelter’s syndrome

A
  • Appears as a male
  • Affects between 1 and 500 and 1 and 1000 people.
  • Sex chromosome structure is XXY.
  • Breast development, underdeveloped genitals.
  • More susceptible to health problems more commonly found in females such as breast cancer.
  • Linked to poorly developed language skills and reading ability.
  • May not respond well to stressful situations, problems with memory and problem solving activities.
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28
Q

Describe Turner’s syndrome

A
  • Biological females
  • Sex chromosome structure of just X
  • Affects approx. 1 in 5000 biological females.
  • No menstrual cycle; do not develop breasts.
  • Webbed necks, hips not much bigger than waist.
  • Higher than average reading ability; lower performance on spatial, visual memory and maths tasks.
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29
Q

How do atypical sex chromosome patterns contribute to the nature-nurture debate?

A
  • By comparing people who have these conditions with chromosome-typical individuals it becomes possible to see psychological and behavioural differences between the two groups.
  • e.g. Turner’s syndrome tend to have higher verbal ability, typical of females.
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30
Q

How does research into atypical sex chromosome patterns have practical applications? How did Herlihy et al. (2011) contribute to this?

A

(i) Will lead to more accurate diagnoses and positive outcomes for the future.
(ii) - Study of 87 individuals with Klinefelter’s showed that those who had been identified and treated from a young age had significant benefits compared to those diagnosed in adulthood.

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31
Q

How do atypical sex chromosome patterns lack generalisation?

A
  • Unusual and unrepresentative sample of people.
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32
Q

How can identification of atypical sex chromosome patterns affect personal relationships?

A
  • Those who look different are unlikely to be treated in the same way as peers.
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33
Q

A part from an unusual sample, give another limitation of atypical sex chromosome pattern research

A

1) What’s typical vs atypical?
- contribution of these 2 syndromes is to show what is not typical of a female/male and behaviours with the two.
- Turner’s individuals said to be ‘social immature’ are based on typical level of social maturity
= based on stereotypical assumptions rather than fact.

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34
Q

How many cognitive explanations of gender are there? Name them

A
  • Kohlberg’s theory

- Gender Schema theory

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35
Q

What is the main assumption of Kohlberg’s theory

A

That a child’s understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age.

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36
Q

Name all of Kohlberg’s stages of gender development

A

1) Stage 1 - Gender identity
2) Stage 2 - Gender stability
3) Stage 3 - Gender constancy

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37
Q

Describe what happens during the ‘gender identity’ stage

A
  • Around the age of 2, children correctly identify themselves as a boy or girl.
  • Around age 3, they can identify others as male or female.
  • Identifying does not go much beyond simple labelling.
  • Not aware sex is permanent
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38
Q

Describe what happens during the ‘gender stability’ stage

A
  • From about age of 4.
  • Realise they will always stay the same sex.
  • Can’t apply this logic to other people in other situations.
  • Confused by external changes in appearance, e.g. may describe a man with long hair as a woman.
  • Also believe sex will change if they engage in activities associated with the other gender.
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39
Q

Describe what happens during the ‘gender constancy’ stage

A
  • Around the age of 6.
  • Children recognise gender remains and constant and consistent across time and situations and can apply this logic to others.
  • Not fooled by changes to outward appearance.
40
Q

At what stage do children seek gender-appropriate role models to identify with and imitate?

A

Gender constancy

41
Q

How do Slaby + Frey (1975) support Kohlberg’s stages?

A
  • Children presented with split-screen images of males and females performing the same tasks.
  • Younger children spent roughly the same amount of time watching both sexes; whilst children in constancy stage spent longer looking at the model who as the same sex as them.
42
Q

How does the biological approach support Kohlberg’s theory?

A
  • Munroe et al. (1984) found cross-cultural evidence of his theory in countries as far as Kenya and Samoa
    = suggest gender development is maturational
    = influenced by hormones/genes?
43
Q

How is the gender constancy stage contradicted?

A
  • Bussey and Bandura (1992) found children begin to demonstrate gender-appropriate behaviour before constancy is achieved.
  • Found children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ about playing with gender-appropriate toys and ‘bad’ about doing the opposite.
    = GST instead?
44
Q

How does Kohlberg’s theory have methodological issues?

A
  • Used interviews with children as young as 2/3.
  • Although tailored for specific ages; Kohlberg may not have acknowledged that very young children lack the vocab required to express their understanding.
  • May have complex ideas about gender = but limited verbal ability.
45
Q

Who came up with Gender Schema Theory?

A

Martin + Halverson

46
Q

How is the GST similar to Kohlberg’s theory?

A

It argues children’s understanding of gender increases with age.

47
Q

How does the GST contrast the SLT of gender?

A

Suggests we develop our understanding of gender by actively structuring our own learning, rather than being passive learners.

48
Q

What is a schema in relation to gender development?

A

Mental constructs that develop via experience and are used by our cognitive system to organise knowledge around particular topics.

49
Q

According to the GST, when is the gender identity established?

A

Around age 2 or 3.

- The child then begins to search the environment for info to develop their schema.

50
Q

How does the schema expand/develop??

A
  • To include a wide range of behaviours and personality traits.
  • Fixed around stereotypes e.g. I am a boy so I must play with trucks.
51
Q

According to the GST, at what age does a child have a fixed and stereotypical idea about what is appropriate for its gender?

A

Age 6.

52
Q

What is ingroup information? And how does it relate to gender?

A
  • Schema appropriate for their own gender.

- They pay more attention to and have a better understanding of info for their own gender.

53
Q

At what age do children have elaborate schemas for both genders?

A

Age 8

54
Q

What evidence supports the GST?

A

1) Martin + Halverson (1983):
- children under the age of 6 were more likely to remember photos of gender-consistent behaviour than photos of gender-inconsistent behaviour when tested a week later.
- also tended to change sex of person carrying out gender-inconsistent activities.

2) Martin + Little (199) found children under 4, who showed no signs of stability or constancy, demonstrated strongly sex-typed behaviour and attitudes.

55
Q

A part from research support, give 2 strengths of the Gender Schema theory.

A

1) Explains rigidity of gender beliefs:
- theory accounts for the fact that young children hold very fixed and rigid gender beliefs.
- info. that conflicts with existing schema would be ignored in favour of info that confirms ingroup schema.
- children display ingroup bias in paying more attention to info that is relevant to their experience.

2) Complements Kohlberg’s theory:
- Stangor + Ruble (1989) have suggest gender schema and constnacy may describe two different processes.
- Schema is concerned with how organisation affects memory =why gender-inconsistent info is misremembered.
- Constancy = motivation; once children have this concept, they are motivated to find out more and conform it.

56
Q

Give a limitation of Gender schema theory

A

1) Overemphasis on the role of the individual in gender development:
- schemas and other cognitive factors may be over exaggerated.
- not sufficient attention played to role of social factors, pos/neg sanctions.
= why does schema develop and take the form it does?

57
Q

How many psychosexual stages are there, can you name them in order too?

A
  • 5.
    1) Oral
    2) Anal
    3) Phallic
    4) Latency
    5) Genital
58
Q

At what stage does gender development occur?

A

Phallic stage, 3-6 years old.

59
Q

How are boys and girls ‘bisexual’ before the phallic stage?

A
  • No concept of gender identity

- Neither masculine nor feminine.

60
Q

What do; ___ experience at the phallic stage?

(i) boys
(ii) girls

A

(i) Oedipus complex

(ii) Electra complex

61
Q

Describe the oedipus complex in gender development

A
  • Boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mothers; jealous of their father who stands in the ways of the boy.
  • Boy recognises his Dad’s power and fears he may be castrated by his father.
  • Resolve this = boy gives up love for his mother and identifies with father.
62
Q

Describe the electra complex in gender development

A
  • Girls experience penis envy, seeing themselves as being in competition with their mother for their father’s love.
  • Girls develop double-resentment;
    1) Mother is a rival
    2) Lack of penis, believing the mother castrated the daughter.
  • Over time = accept they will never have a penis and substitute it for the desire to have children.
63
Q

Why do children identify with the same-sex parent?

A

As a means of resolving their complexes.

= internalise gender identity.

64
Q

What contradictory evidence is there to psychodynamic explanation of gender development?

A
  • Limited evidence.
  • Implies sons of very harsh fathers should go on to develop a more robust sense of gender identity
    = higher levels of anxiety should produce stronger identification.
  • Blakemore + Hill (2008) - boys with more liberal fathers tend to be more secure in their masculine identity.
65
Q

How does psychodynamic explanation lack an adequate explanation for female development?

A
  • Theorising of female development by Jung
  • Criticised as reflecting the patriarchal Victorian era within which he lived and worked.
  • Horney (1967) , a feminist psychoanalyst, argues that a more powerful emotion of penis envy is male experience of ‘womb envy’.
    = both cultural concept than innate
    = androcentric assumption to assume females want to be like men.
66
Q

Apart from lack of evidence and inadequate explanations for female development, give 2 further limitations of the psychodynamic explanation of gender development

A

1) What about non-nuclear families?
- Freud theory relies on two parents of different genders.
= assuming that being raised in a non-nuclear family would have an adverse effect on a child’s gender development.
- Golombok et al. (1983) found children from single-parent families went on to develop normal gender identities.
- Green (1978) studied a sample of 37 children who were raised by gay/transgender parents
= 1/37 had a non-typical gender identity.

2) Lack of scientific methodology:
- unfalsifiable
- not lab study based, not objective.
= pseudoscience?

67
Q

What is direct reinforcement in the explanation of gender development?

A

Children more likely to be reinforced for demonstrating gender appropriate behaviour.

e. g. boys as assertive, active, engage in rough play
e. g. girls as passive, gentle.

68
Q

The way in which boys and girls are encouraged to show gender-appropriate behaviour is called what?

A

Differential reinforcement.

69
Q

What is indirect (vicarious) reinforcement? Explain how it affects gender development.

A
  • Learning through consequences.
  • Favourable consequences = more likely to imitate gender behaviours.
  • Unfavourable consequences = much less likely to imitate gender
70
Q

How does identification affect gender development?

A
  • Identifies with a person him/herself sees as ‘like me’. or someone they want to be i.e. role models.
71
Q

What are the mediational processes of gender development?

A

1) Attention
2) Retention
3) Motivation
4) Motor reproduction

72
Q

What evidence is there for differential reinforcement?

A
  • Smith + Lloyd (1978) involved 4-6 months who, despite their gender, were dressed half the time as boys, other half as girls.
  • The adults who saw the baby as a male gave the baby hammer-shaped rattles and encouraged to be adventurous; whilst females were handed a doll and were reinforced for being passive
    = differential reinforcement from an early age.
73
Q

How does the SLT explain changing gender roles?

A
  • Stereotypically masculine and feminine behaviour less rigid than it was.
  • SLT –> shift in expectations/norms leading to changes in what is reinforced.
  • BA cannot explain changes over time.
74
Q

Give 2 limitations of the SLT of gender development

A

1) Not a developmental theory:
- not provide an adequate explanation of how learning processes change with age,
- Dubin (1992) - although the child may take note of the behaviour of same-sex role models at an early age
; selection and imitation of behaviour does not come until later.

2) Does not fully consider biological approach:
- David Reimer suggests its not possible top override biological influences.
- innate differences between boys and girls reinforced by social norms?
= only partial, biosocial theory instead?

75
Q

In terms of culture, how does Mead’s (1935) research back up the nurture debate?

A
  • Research into tribal groups of New Guinea.
    1) Arapesh = women were gentle and responsive (Western femininity)
    2) Mundugumor = men were aggressive and hostile (Western masculinity)
    3) Tchambuli = women were dominant and they organised village life; men were passive and considered to be decorative (reverse)
76
Q

In terms of culture, how does Buss’ (1994) research back up the nature debate?

A
  • Found consistent mate preferences in 37 countries across all continents;
  • Women sought men offering wealth and resources.
  • Men looked for youth and physical attractiveness.
77
Q

In terms of culture, what did Munroe + Munroe (1975) find?

A
  • In most societies, division of labour was organised along gender lines.
78
Q

How does the media reinforce SLT?

A
  • SLT; children more likely to copy gender-appropriate behaviours of sexes
    = media show this
79
Q

What did Bussey + Bandura (1999) find with media gender stereotypes?

A
  • Males = independent, ambitious, advice givers.

- Women = dependent, unambitious, advice seekers.

80
Q

What did Furnham + Farragher (2000) find with media stereotypes?

A
  • Men were more likely to be shown in autonomous within professional contexts, whereas women were seen in domestic settings
81
Q

What did McGhee + Frueh (1990) find with media influence on gender?

A
  • Children who have more exposure to popular forms of media tend to display more gender-stereotypical views in their behaviour and attitudes.
82
Q

How have Mead’s findings been challenged?

A
  • Freeman (1966) claimed that Mead misled participants had been heavily influenced her preconceptions.
    = Freeman criticised for lack of objectivity.
    = quality of research?
83
Q

How would imposed etic affect validity the findings of culture and media research on gender?

A
  • Cross-cultural research undertaken by Western researchers.
  • Theories and methods from West.
  • Berry et al. (2002) - imposed etic can make methods and findings meaningless.
    = lack validity.
84
Q

A part from Mead’s findings being challenged and validity, give 2 further limitations of the influence of culture and media on gender roles.

A

1) Research is correlational:
- media reflecting societal norms or vice versa?
- children without media exposure are rare so comparisons are hard.

2) Counter-stereotypes exist:
- Pingree (1978) found gender stereotyping was reduced if children were shown adverts with women with women in non-stereotypical roles.
= Pingree found pre-adolescent boys stereotypes became stronger with non-stereotypical models.

85
Q

What is Gender Identity Disorder (GID) ?

A
  • Strong, persistent feelings of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one’s own assigned sex.
  • Many individuals with GID identify as transgender and may opt for gender reassignment surgery.
86
Q

What category of diagnosis diagnoses GID as a psychological condition?

A

DSM-5.

87
Q

What is the brain sex theory?

A

GID caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a person’s biological sex.

88
Q

What areas of the brain sex theorists interested in?

A

Dimorphic areas - areas which take different form depending on gender.

89
Q

In relation to the BSTc, what did Zhou et al. (1995) find?

A
  • Studied the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis which is around 40% larger in males.
  • In post-mortem studies of six male-to-female transgender individuals, the BSTc was found to be a similar size to that of a typical female brain.
90
Q

In relation to the GID, what did Kruijver find?

A

Studied the same brain tissue as Zhou, but rather looked at number of neurons; similar to female once again.

91
Q

In relation to genetic factors of GID, what did Coolidge and Heylens et al. (2012) find?

A

(I) Coolidge:
- assessed 157 twin pairs for evidence of GID using DSM-4.
- prevalence of GID was estimated to be 2.3%; 62% of these said to be accounted for by genetic variance
= inherited?

(ii) Heylens et al. (2012):
- compared with 23 MZ twins with 21 DZ twins where one of each pair was diagnosed with GID.
- 39% of the MZ twins were concordant for GID compared to none of the DZ twins.

92
Q

In terms of the social-psychological explanation for GID, explain what Ovesey + Person (1973) found?

A

Ovesey + Person (1973):
- GID in males caused by experience of extreme separation anxiety before gender identity has been established.
- The child fantasises of a symbiotic fusion with his mother to relieve the anxiety
= Consequence –> ‘becomes the mother’ and thus adopts a female gender identity.

93
Q

Who supported Ovesey + Person (1973) ?

A

(I) Stoller (1973)
- in interviews with GID males, they displayed overly-close mother-son relationships that would lead to greater female identification.

94
Q

In relation to the BST, what did Liben + Bigler (2002)

A
  • They extended GST that emphasises individual differences.
  • Two pathway for development;
    1) Dual pathway theory - follow GST, normal development.
    2) Personal pathway - gender attitudes affected by his/her activity.
  • their personal interests may become more dominant than the gender identity = influence schema.
  • e.g. boys may assume playing with dolls may assume its for boys as well as girls.
    = androgyny in most cases; GID in a small number of cases.
95
Q

How has the brain sex theory been criticised?

A
  • Hulshoff Pol et al. (2006) found that transgender hormone therapy did affect the size of the BSTc
    = changes due to hormones.. not cause of GID?
  • Chung et al. (2002) - pre-natal hormone influences are not triggered until adulthood.
96
Q

A part from the criticism of the brain sex theory, give 3 more evaluative limitations of research into atypical gender development.

A

1) Twin studies evidence is weak:
- show low concordance rate.
- difficult to separate nature and nurture of twins.
- studies very small and rare –> generalisations?

2) Biological explanations oversimplified:
- simplifies complex condition (GID) to a simpler genetical/neuroanatomical/homronal level.
- interactionist theory of both nurture and nature instead?

3) Psychoanalytic explanation lacks support:
- Rekers (1986) gender disturbance in boys is more likely associated with the absence of the father rather than fear of separation with mother.
- Very difficult to test separation anxiety.
= unfalsifiable.

AQA Psychology (11 decks)

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