Gender

Question 1

Sex

Answer 1

-Biological and anatomical differences between males and female

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

-The social, cultural and constructed roles deemed appropriate for males and females

Question 3

Scientific importance

Answer 3

• Report sex differences to see the impact on sexes and create/reinforce stereotypes
• Past research is inconsistent, sex and gender seen as same until late 70’s

Question 4

Maccoby and Jacklin (1974)

Answer 4

• Reviewed hundreds of studies looking at intelligence, temperament and motivations
• differences caused by biological factors, socialization and imitation of the same sex parent (identification or social learning)
• They found that girls have better verbal abilities where as boys have better visuo-spatial and mathematical ability (adolescence), males are also more verbally and physically aggressive

Question 5

Hyde (2005)

Answer 5

• Analysed 46 meta-analyses of cognitive, verbal, nonverbal, aggression, leadership and moral reasoning traits
• The only differences were that men masturbate more, have more positive attitudes towards sex in uncommitted relationships and are more aggressive

Question 6

Awareness of observation

Answer 6

-If ppts know they are being observed they act more consistent with their gender roles showing the impact of social context

Question 7

Positivists (behaviorists and biological)

Answer 7

-suggest gender bias does not matter and we should focus on the dualism of masculinity and femininity

Question 8

Early research

Answer 8

• Goal was to highlight differences between genders so were presented as opposite, complementary, reciprocal and equal
• Focus on difference obscures power inequality and legitimates continued production of difference and inequality

Question 9

Connell (1987)

Answer 9

• unitary sexual character
• masculinity and femininity are a body of traits which includes characters, roles, abilities and temperaments embedded in men and women
• Gender identity = static, unitary and stable

Question 10

Mary Whiton Calkins

Answer 10

-First female president of APA in 1905

Question 11

Inequality

Answer 11

• Women were barred from universities and excluded from certain jobs, paid less and given fewer opportunities for promotion
• Early 20th century 12% of the list of psychologists in American Men of Science were women
• Women doctors were not allowed into American Medical association until 1915 and Royal Society in 1948
• In the UK, women’s position in psychology was more favorable including in the BPS in its inception in 1901

Question 12

Beatrice Edgell

Answer 12

-First British woman to obtain PhD in psychology
Cognitive psychology (measuring the mind)

Question 13

Victoria Hazlitt

Answer 13

• Student of Edgell, first studied animal learning

- Pioneering work in understanding introverts vs extroverts

Question 14

Korn, Davis and Davis (1991)

Answer 14

• Asked large groups of leading historians of psychology and graduate department of psychology chairpersons to list their top 10 most important psychologists of all time. Which found they were all white males (no women)
• However, in 1990s 42% of PhDs in psychology were awarded to women and in 2011 75% were women

Question 15

Bettelheim (1965)

Answer 15

-‘As much as women want to be scientists, they foremost want to be companions of mens and mothers’

Question 16

Bowlby (1953)

Answer 16

-Linked motherhood to being at home, white 20-30-year-old middle class married women who stay at home

Question 17

Crawford and Unger (1995)

Answer 17

-Research methodologies can be biased by not recording the sex/gender of participants or researching one sex more than others in particular contexts e.g. men and aggression / the effects of working women on children

Question 18

Male standard

Answer 18

• Men become norm to which women are compared
• Although both have the same mood swings premenstrual syndrome is studied by not hyper testosterone
• In 1985, masochism (good wife syndrome) was added to DSM 3
• Men’s problems are externally attributed, and women are internally attributed

Question 19

Masculine language bias

Answer 19

• Women have lower self esteem and men are conceited
• Women undervalue their work and men overvalue it
• Women are less self-confident than men, men are not as realistic as women
• Women are more likely to admit they are hurt, men are more likely to
• Women find it difficult to develop a separate sense of self and men have more difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships
• The phrases are just as bad but the phrases against men were seen as more jarring by both genders, as women are used to being discriminated against, suggests the language we use has masculinity bias

Question 20

Gender bias in academic psychology

Answer 20

• More women study developmental, family and counselling whereas more men study cognitive
• Although more women than men study psychology only 30-50% of researchers and assistants are women
• 60% of lecturers are women
• women drop out at each point of the career ladder

Question 21

Sexism in research

Answer 21

• Questions based on existing theory
• Male samples cant be generalized to women
• Male participants are more convenient and sex/gender is often unreported
• Non significant results and non-hypothesized gender differences should still be reported
• Correlation is a pattern not a significant gender difference - misleading
• Results based on one sex are often applied to both e.g. Erikson and Kohlberg

Question 22

Erikson’s 8 (1950)

Answer 22

• Only used a male sample to study developmental stages but claimed it was universal
• Men work out identity before they find a relationship whereas women do this at the same time. This suggests females are abnormal compared to this chart

Question 23

Kohlberg’s 6

Answer 23

• Only studied men for his theory of moral development

- Girls and women develop morality very differently so look morally deficient compared to the chart

Question 24

First wave of feminism

Answer 24

-

Question 25

Second wave of feminism

Answer 25

-

Question 26

Third wave of feminism

Answer 26

-

Question 27

Feminist critique of science

Answer 27

• Research on all male samples has undiscussed implications, theories produced should not be taken as standard or generalized to women
• Psychological explanations of behaviour favour biological instead of social
• Heterosexuality is taken as norm (for men and women)

Question 28

Challenging androcentric psychology

Answer 28

• A lot of research shows huge similarities between gender so we should focus on how social factors influence gender (huge investment in gender differences e.g. products and research).
• Bem’s (1993) androgyny scale: Integration of masculine and feminine

Question 29

Feminist subject

Answer 29

• We should focus on positive differences to glorify women’s differences rather then put women down e.g. nurturing, caring, equality and democracy vs male aggression, violence, competition and authoritarian
• Led to the view that if women were in charge the world would be quite different
• However, gender differences only account for 5% of variance in social behaviour so we should stop looking at gender differences

Question 30

Importance of feminist view

Answer 30

-Identifies unrecognized sources of bias to increase critical thinking which broadens the scope of research by looking at under-researched areas e.g. violence against women AND men. Looking at women’s experience has enriched and extend understanding of human functioning