Gender Flashcards
Define sex
Biological differences between males and females
Define gender
Psychological and cultural differences between males and females (ways of thinking, feeling, acting)
Define sex-role stereotyping
A set of shared beliefs and expectations about what is typical behaviour for males and females
What is a stereotype
Give an example
An expectation of how men and women should behave
Women cannot drive a car
Describe the supporting evidence for sex-role stereotyping
✅furnham and farragher
- content analysis of British tv adverts
-over 200 were analysed
- results: males portrayed as professional/ celebs
Females portrayed as mothers/ homemakers
What is a problem of furnham and farraghers study
Subjective interpretation in content analysis
- same behaviour may be perceived differently
- we cannot assume that viewers passively respond to them
Describe the Baby X experiment
Criticise this study
✅seavey
- 1/3 told baby was female
- 1/3 told baby was Male
- 1/3 not told gender
- found a skewing of choice of toy to fit the stereotype
- when not told gender, women handled the child more than me
❌artificial task
✅high control, methodical
Define androgyny
Who introduced this term
A combination of masculine and feminine characteristics
Sandra Bem
Was it considered healthy to be androgynous
Considered it is psychologically healthier to avoid fixed gender role stereotypes
How is androgyny measured
The bem sex role inventory:
-list of 20 masculine traits, 20 feminine traits, 20 neutral traits
Participants rate themselves on a 7 point scale for each trait, scores are added up for M + F traits
Participants given a score:
A higher score of androgyny is associated with higher levels of psychological health
Evaluate Bems sex role inventory
Issues with self report:
❌socially desirable answers
❌subjective- might get a different score every time
❌assumes u have an accurate perception of your personality and behaviour
*❌temporal validity:
The adjectives used in the BSRI were selected back in the 1970s and people’s attitudes have changed since then, eg not only men have strong personalities anymore, women do too
❌ethnocentric/ based on one culture alone
❌What did Hoffman and borders find: BSRI
Asked a group of 400 undergraduates to rate items on BSRI as masculine/ feminine
Found only two terms were still exclusively Masculine/ feminine
What does the differences in behaviour assumed to be down to in the biological explanation
Due to chromosomal and anatomical differences rather than the environmental influence
What is the difference between typical and non typical chromosomes
Typical- sex chromosomes
Atypical- sex chromosomes which are not norma (eg kleinfelters)
What are the 23rd chromosome pair for men/ women
Men- XY
Women- XX
What happens if the differences in gender behaviours between atypical and typical sex chromosome people
Then the behaviour may suggest a genetic basis for the differences
Describe klinfelters syndrome
Caused by the presence of an extra X chromosome
- XXY
- affects men
- leads to poorly developed language skills, passive and shyness, Long limbs, reduced body hairs
Describe turners syndrome
Caused by the absence of an X chromosome
- XO
- biologically female
- higher than average reading skills, socially immature, broad chest, no menstrual cycle
Evaluate the chromosomal explanation
❌environmental explanation
- may be environmental and social influences are more responsible for the behaviour differences
- for instance social immaturity may arise because they are treated immaturely by those around them
Define hormones
The body’s chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream after being secreted by glands
What is the effect of oestrogen
A female hormone responsible for the development of female sexual characteristics and menstruation
What is the effect of oxytocin
Oestrogen has been found to increase oxytocin secretion
Oxytocin is responsible for increases sociability and the formation of bonds and attachments
Feelings of contentment and calmness
Produced by pituitary gland
What is the effect of testosterone
More dominant in males, testosterone causes the Male foetus to develop Male external sex organs
-aggression
✅Describe the supporting evidence for the role of hormones
- testosterone levels were analysed using saliva samples from 692 male prisoners, then related the sample to the type of crime committed
- inmates should had committed personal crimes of sex and violence had higher testosterone than those who committed crimes about theft/ burglary
Evaluate Dabbs study
❌correlation
Study involves covariables, there are too many extraneous variables to explicitly say testosterone
❌contradictory evidence: Tricker
-gave two groups either testosterone injection or a placebo
-it was double blind
-self reported aggression levels
-no difference between groups and levels of aggression
❌biologically reductionism
How does SLT suggest that gender behaviour is learnt
Observational learning
Paying attention to role models- imitate them
