Gender Flashcards
What are sex-role stereotypes?
a set of shared expectations within a social group about what men and women should do and think
What causes us to behave like we do?
sex-role stereotypes - this is because we take on roles and our behaviour is related to the social norms which are associated with that role.
When are sex-role stereotypes learnt?
as a child because we are exposed to the attitudes of their parents
What is androgyny?
means the combination of male and female characteristics
How do you measure androgyny?
the BSRI
What is the method of the BSRI?
each person rates them self on a scale from never to almost never true, on 20 masculine traits, 20 feminine traits and 20 neutral items.
then all scores are added up for the masculine and feminine traits and then the person is given a score for feminity, masculinity and androgyny.
How was the BSRI adapted?
a 4th category was added - called undifferentiated which was low scores for both masculine and feminine
What is the 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)
What are the benefits of sex role stereotypes and androgyny?
- androgyny and mental health have research support
Prakash showed high androgyny was associated with depression in women
What are the limitations of sex role stereotypes and androgyny?
- BSRI could be internally invalid due to confounding variable - all behaviours on the BSRI are all socially desirable so high score could mean high self esteem
What is the role of chromosomes?
determines someone’s sex through sex chromosomes which is XX for a female XY for a male
What are the 2 atypical sex chromosome patterns?
klinefelter’s syndrome
turner’s syndrome
What is klinefelter’s syndrome?
is due to XXY chromosomes, which means individuals are born with a penis and develops as a fairly normal male.
- individuals tend to be much smaller
- look physically less masculine because of the reduced testosterone levels and less facial hair
What is Turner’s syndrome?
is due to an XO configuration which means the second sex chromosome is partly or completely missing
- individuals are born with a vagina and womb
- causes them to be shorter than average and have a lack of periods due to underdeveloped ovaries.
- webbed neck, narrow hips
Definition of intersex
someone who is neither distinctly male or female
What are the 3 main hormones?
testosterone
oestrogen
oxytocin
What is the role of testosterone?
- affects the development of genitalia
- and brain development
What is the role of oestrogen?
- female sex hormone
- promotes development of secondary sexual characteristics e.g breast development
- and controls the menstrual cycle
What is the role of oxytocin?
- called the love hormone as it promotes the feeling of bonding in men and women
- is produced in the pituitary gland
- important when breastfeeding due it causing milk to flow
Benefits of the role of chromosomes and hormones in sex and gender
- real world applications - intersex people could develop problems e.g Turner’s syndrome can be identified at birth and given treatment (hormone supplements)
Limitations of the role of chromosomes and hormones in sex and gender
- biological determinism - Money and Erhardt claimed only sex rearing (if your a boy you get raised as a stereotypical boy) determined gender.
What are the 2 theories which are the cognitive explanation of gender development?
Kohlberg’s theory
gender schema theory
What are the stages in Kohlberg theory?
gender labelling
gender stability
gender constancy
Who created the gender schema theory?
Martin and Halverson
What are the 2 differences between gender schema theory and Kohlberg’s theory?
the process of acquiring gender-relevant information happens before gender constancy is achieved
What are the 2 differences between gender schema theory and Kohlberg’s theory?
- the process of acquiring gender-relevant information happens before gender constancy is achieved. Basic gender identity (gender labelling) is sufficient enough for a child to identify themselves as either a boy or a girl. However Kohlberg claimed this did not happen until after gender constancy
- Martin and Halverson go further to explain how the acquisition of stereotypes/schemas affects later behaviour .
What is a schema?
a cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain
How are schemas related to gender development?
children learn schemas related to gender from their interactions with others, as well as the tv etc.
this means that schemas are related to cultural norms
What is the function of gender schemas?
organising and structuring other information which is present to children e.g they learn what toys are appropriate for each gender
What are ingroup and outgroup schemas?
ingroup refers to the groups which the person identifies with, and then this causes them to positively evaluate their own group and negatively other outgroups.
this means that the child is motivated to be more like their own group and avoid behaviours of the outgroup
What are the scores of the BSRI mean?
masculine - high masculine, low feminine
feminine - low masculine, high feminine
androgyny - high ratio of masculine to feminine
undifferentiated - low masculine, low feminine
What are the 3 stages in Kohlberg’s theory?
Gender labelling
Gender stability
Gender constancy
What happens in stage 1 of Kohlberg’s theory (gender labelling)?
- between the ages of 2-3
- children label themselves and others as boy or girl
- the label is based on appearance only
- Piaget suggests this is because children at this stage have pre-operational thinking - lack interns logic
What happens in stage 2 of Kohlberg’s theory (gender stability)?
- around the age of 4
- children recognise that gender is consistent over time
- don’t understand that gender is consistent across situations like males taking part in female activities doesn’t mean that they are female
- they are still swayed by appearance which related to Piaget’s concept of conservation
What is conservation?
Refers to the ability to understand that, despite change in appearance the basic properties or an object stay the same.
What happens in stage 3 of Kohlberg’s theory (gender constancy)?
- around the age of 6
- children realise that gender is constant across situations
- which means that they develop gender constancy
- as they have gender constancy now they start to learn gender appropriate behaviours
What is gender constancy?
Is the recognition that your gender is a constant in different situations.
What are the advantages of Kohlberg’s theory?
- research support - for gender labelling, Thompson found out 2 yrs old were 76% accurate in identifying their sex whereas 3 yrs old were 90% accurate. Also, evidence for gender stability as when children were asked questions like would you be a mummy or a daddy, the answers the children gave showed that they did not recognise that these traits would be stable over time until they were 3 or 4. Has strong internal validity
What are the disadvantages of Kohlberg’s theory?
- lacks construct validity - research shows boys develop gender constancy before girls, and girls perform masculine tasks for much longer than boys will perform feminine tasks. This indicates a single stage for both genders is invalid. Huston (1985) suggests this is due to SLT - male role models are more socially powerful so boys are under greater pressure to identify with role models and do so quicker. This highlights the nature-nurture debate in psychology; Kohlberg and Piaget’s assumption of fixed, generalised stages are based on biological determinism and ignore social learning factors.
- GST can explain how and why gender constancy happens whereas Kohlberg cannot
What does ingroup mean?
to the group which a person identifies with
What does ingroup and outgroup schemas suggest a child will do?
once a child has identified with any groups this will lead them to positively evaluate their own group and negatively evaluate the other group. Which motivates the child to be like their own group and avoid behaviours of the group
What does resilience of gender beliefs assume about children?
GST explains how gender beliefs will become fixed and powerful. So this means information that isn’t schema consistent is ignored.
What is the influence of peer relationships in GST?
in-group/out-group bias directs children towards same-sex peers and away from opposite-sex peers. This was shown in Kohlberg’s theory and the idea of Gender Constancy but he didn’t describe why. But this does because 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).
What are the advantages of the gender schema theory?
- research support - Martin and Halverson did memory studies which showed that children recalled information better for gender-appropriate/ stereotypical information than conflicting info. Furthermore research shows children pay more attention to stimuli that are ingroup-relevant, supporting GST’s predictions about schema. This shows it has strong internal validity.
What are the disadvantages of the gender schema theory?
- gender schemas may distort information - which was shown by Martin and Halverson when children were shown consistent or inconsistent pictures, information would be distorted.
What are the two cognitive terms which are used in the psychodynamic explanation (Freud) ?
identification
internalisation
What is identification?
a form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a group
What is internalisation?
occurs when an individual accepts the attitudes of behaviours of another
What is the oedipus complex?
occurs during the phallic stage of development, when a boy wishes his father is dead because of the rivalry for the mother’s love.
What happens in the phallic stage of a boy?
- 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.
- 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
What is castration anxiety?
fear of loss of genitals
What is the electra complex?
occurs during the phallic stages of development, when a girl blames her mother for her lack of penis (penis envy) but is resolved by the wish of having a baby
What happens in the phallic stage of females?
- girls are initially attracted to their mother but are confused when they discover she has no penis.
- girl blames mother for lack of penis (penis envy), as they think 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.
Who proposed the electra complex and why?
Jung (1913) to address the criticisms that Freud’s theories were gender biased (beta bias).
What are the issues with phallic stage fixation for males?
oedipus complex suggests all healthy men have overcome their repressed anxiety. Those without a father figure will never attain this.
The boy may then become promiscuous because he internalised the belief that women are unattainable.
He may also internalise female behaviours and become homosexual.
What are the issues with phallic stage fixation for females?
electra complex implies girls (and single-parent boys) identify with their mother as a compromise or last resort - nobody chooses femininity.
He suggested feminine behaviours were inferior and showed weakness - the realisation that they lack what it takes to be a man forced them to settle for the woman’s role. This is why women are more often anxious/amoral
What are the advantages of the psychodynamic explanation of gender development?
Levin (1921) reported on 32 cases of 32 mental patients who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Psychoanalysis revealed that 22 appeared to be suffering from an unresolved Electra complex or penis envy, and 12 had regressed to earlier stages of psychosexual development. This suggests it could lead to mental health problems.
What are the disadvantages of the psychodynamic explanation of gender development?
- both criticized for exaggerating sexual awareness - complexes are dependent on the fact that children are aware they have genitals. Bem did a study where the findings were that children aged 3-5 years did not know what the opposite sex genital looked like, which would it make it impossible for the complexes to develop