Gender Flashcards
1
Q
What is gender?
A
someone’s sense of how male or how female they perceive themself as
2
Q
What is sex?
A
Sex is a biological fact- whether someone is born biologically male or biologically female.
3
Q
What are sex-role stereotypes?
A
They are also known as gender stereotypes. A sex role stereotype is learned from birth and is based on the behaviors that are considered to be social norms based on your sex.
4
Q
What are three points supporting sex-role stereotypes?
A
- Some believe it to be important in a child’s development
- It can give people a sense of identity
- It can give people a sense of self-actualisation
5
Q
What evidence is there against sex-role stereotypes?
A
Androgynous people (people who do not fit sex-role stereotypes) have been shown to have higher levels of psychological health and better self-esteem.
6
Q
What is androgyny?
A
The idea that a person can be masculine and feminine by combining a number of male and female characteristics.
7
Q
What is the Bem Sex Role Inventory (How was it formulated)?
A
It is a psychological test, used to measure androgyny , formulated by Sandra Bem. This was developed by asking 100 american undergraduates what characteristics they find attractive/preferable in men and women. This was then reduced down to 20 male and 20 female characteristics. The person taking the test would then rate how much they related to/ identified with the characteristic.
8
Q
What are two criticism relating to construction for the BSRI?
A
The BSRI is nomothetic and has a population bias.
9
Q
What are the three hormones related to gender?
A
Testosterone, Oestrogen and Oxytocin
10
Q
What is the role of testosterone in determining sex?
A
It is produced prenatally and cause the growth of male genitalia
11
Q
How can an XY individual not present as a male?
A
If their tissue becomes resistant to testosterone, the male genitals will not grow, despite the individual still having the XY chromosome.
12
Q
How can prenatal testosterone affect women?
What is the name of a study that proves this.
A
XX women can also more tomboyish behavior and male-specific interests if exposed to more testosterone prenatally (often related to mothers taking taking testosterone containing drugs).
Berenbaum and Bailey 2003
13
Q
What part of puberty is Oestrogen important in?
A
Oestrogen is important in stimulating secondary sexual characteristics, such as breast development and the menstrual cycle.
14
Q
What response does Oxytocin produce?
A
Oxytocin evokes feelings of contentment, calmness and love. It can also dampen and the fight-or-flight response
15
Q
What steroid can dampen the effect of oxytocin?
A
Testosterone
16
Q
What is klinefelter’s syndrome?
A
When male individuals are born with an extra X chromosome.
17
Q
What are three of the physical symptoms of Klinefelter’s syndrome?
A
- Small testes and low testosterone levels during puberty
- lack of facial hair and pubic hair
- Presence of breast tissue and low muscularity
18
Q
What are two behavioral symptoms of KLinefelter’s syndrome?
A
- Poor language skills
- Risk of anxiety and depressive disorders
19
Q
How does someone end up having Klinefelter’s syndrome?
A
It is not inherited from parents but instead occurs during meiosis
It usually occurs in offspring of parents who conceive age 40+
20
Q
What is Turner’s syndrome?
A
A syndrome affecting females where the individual only has one X chromosome (or one is deficient).
21
Q
What are some physical symptoms of Turner’s syndrome?
A
- can cause miscarriages, non-functional ovaries, lack of breast development and infertility
- Can cause cause heart, vision and hearing problems
- Short and stout, with a wide chest and underdeveloped breasts
22
Q
What is the treatment for Turner’s syndrome?
A
Oestrogen and growth hormones.
23
Q
What were the three stages of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development?
A
Gender labelling, gender stability and gender consistency.
24
Q
What age does the gender labelling stage tend to fall within?
A
2-3 years old
25
What psychosexual stage is about the same age as the gender labelling stage?
The Latent stage
26
What happens in the gender labelling stage of Kohlberg's theory of gender development.
The child begins to notice physical aspects of being male or being female and will therefore label themselves as being male or female based on these physical aspects. Therefore the child will change their perception of someone as a boy or a girl based gender stereotypes in appearance (i.e. having long hair).
27
What happens in the gender stability stage of Kohlberg's theory of gender development?
Children discover that gender is something that is consistent over time. However, they still base gender on outer appearance. Schemas are now fixed on what makes someone male or female.
28
What age coincides with the gender stability stage of Kohlberg's theory of gender development?
around 4-7 years old.
29
What age coincides with the gender consistency stage of Kohlberg's theory of gender development?
around the age of six/seven plus
30
What happens in the gender consistency stage of Kohlberg's theory of gender development?
Children begin to understand that gender is constant across all situations. This is when focus begins to shift from just outward appearance to behavior. This will then influence the child's behavior.
31
What did Freud believe determined gender?
He believed that gender identity either develops through the resolution of the oedipus complex or the electra complex.
32
What is the oedipus complex?
The arousal of unconscious sexual desire for ones mother and fear/dislike for ones mother in young boys
33
What is the electra complex?
The arousal of unconscious sexual desire for ones mother and fear/dislike for ones mother in young girls.
34
What is castration anxiety?
Young boys fear that the father will realise the boys attraction to his mother and therefore cut off his penis.
35
What is penis envy?
When young girls believe that they don't have a penis as she has been castrated, so the girl therefore desires having a penis.
36
What process did Freud believe led to electra/oedipus complexes determining our gender identity?
Identification. The child will identify with the parent of the same gender and incorporate factors into their own personality, therefore internalizing their gender.
37
What did Freud theorize about how strongly the different genders identified with their parents?
Freud believed that girls only passively identify with their mothers while boys strongly identify with their fathers.
38
What was Freud's theory on passivity of genders?
He suggested that boys cast off passivity to become active and dominantly male. Females, however, would retain this passivity to eventually become timid and submissive.
39
what is Gender Identity Disorder?
A definition of abnormality, classified in the DSM IV. It involves the external sexual characteristics of one body being perceived as opposite to the psychological experience of oneself as male or female.
40
What is one social explanation for GID relating to learning theories?
The individual can have the cross-gender behavior they exhibit be reinforced during childhood, causing them to continue the cross-gender behavior. For instance, if parents either encourage or compliment cross-gender behavior, this ill perpetuate the cross-gender behavior.
41
What is one explanation of GID relating to social learning theory?
Cross-gender behavior can also be learned through SLT-specific observation and imitation.
42
What are two explanations of biological factors that could affect GID?
- One could suggest that GID is due to an inherited abnormality
- one could suggest that GID is a result of hormonal imbalances during foetal growth in the womb.
43
What is one evaluation of SLT being theorised to be a causation of GID?
Whilst SLT does explain the development of cross-gender behaviors, it does not explain why a sufferer will have such strong feelings about being the wrong sex?
44
What is the best approach when speculating the causation of GID?
The interactionist approach.
45
What was the methodology of B___________t's study?
Beijsterveldt
He tested on twins (both monozygotic and dizygotic) to see whether both twins displayed cross-gender desires or behaviors. This was an attempt to see if GID was determined by genetic factors.
46
What were the findings of B___________t's study?
Beijsterveldt
He found that there was more sharing/similarity of cross-gender behavior in monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins. He suggested that 70% of cross-gender behavior could be explained by genetic factors.
47
What were the findings of R____s study (1995)?
Rekers
He suggested that we should not diagnose young people with GID as this will just make them feel abnormal and therefore make their condition worse.
48
What were the findings of H___ et. al. (2009)?
Hare
He suggested that male transexuals have a variant allele- the AR allele- that makes someone more likely to be transexual.
49
What is one criticism of Beijsterveldt's study?
He tested on only children (twins), which make his findings less applicable to adults/the entire population.
50
What is one criticism of Hare et. al?
He only tested on male transexuals, which shows gender/population bias.
51
What is the name for the thinking style in Kohlberg's gender labelling stage?
pre-operational thinking.
52
What are two features of pre-operational thinking?
- It lacks internal logic
| - It is not consistent as it is based on external factors that can change.
53
What is the idea of conservation within the gender stability stage?
Around the age of 7, children have no concept of conservation. Conservation is the idea that individuals retain the same internal factors, regardless of their physical and external behavior and appearance.
54
What happens at the end of the gender stability stage?
Children begin to realise that gender and appearance are separate.
55
What do children begin to believe in the gender consistency stage?
The child begins to realise that gender is independent from time, place or appearance and begin to show preferences for gender appropriate behavior to their own gender.
56
what sort of behaviors do people accept and reject in gender consistency?
They accept gender appropriate behavior and reject gender inappropriate behavior.
57
what is one criticism of Kohlberg's theories?
Could be said to lack construct validity as girls are shown to develop gender constancy before boys and display masculine behaviors for longer than men display feminine behaviors, which suggests the stages may vary between the genders.
58
What is one criticism of Kohlberg related to issues and debates?
His theories are biologically determinist as they focus on fixed stages rather than environmental factors.
59
What is one criticism of Kohlberg relating to research.
all research was carried out on children, which could have meant there were more extraneous variables and demand characteristics.
60
What type of study was beijsterveldt et. al.
A twin study
61
What was beijsterveldt et al testing?
Whether cross gender behaviour was more commonly found in both individuals in a pair of twins in monozygotic or dizygotic twins (therefore testing if these behaviours were genetic)
62
What were the findings of B________t et al?
Beijsterveldt
the behaviours were more commonly shared in monozygotic twins, so it was suggested that as much as 70% of of cross-gender behaviour could be explained by genetic factors.
63
What is internalisation?
Accepting others beliefs as they match with our own
64
What is identification?
Complying to the behaviors and then changing our belief after information is presented to us.
65
What is indirect reinforcement?
A combination of vicarious reinforcement and observation
66
What is direct tuition?
When information is learnt through TV programmes, parental instructions etc. and would then be rehearsed/learned.
67
Name one study related to SLT and gender?
Bussey 1959
68
What was the contents of B____y's study?
what does this suggest about SLT and gender
Bussey
He repeated a study similar to the bobo doll study and found that children showed imitation via vicarious reinforcement related to gender. He also found that children refused to copy non-stereotypical behaviors. This suggests that SLT can not account for androgyny, so can not explain every aspect of gender development.
However, the kids were more likely to be more lenient towards themselves for gender-inconsistent behavior rather than gender consistent behavior.
69
Briefly outline M__d 1935
Mead
Overt Participation observation study on tribespeople in Papa New Guinea. She found the Arapesh people to be gentle, cooperative and kind, the Mundugumor people to be aggressive and narcissistic. SHe found the women in the Tchambuli tribe to be assertive, hostile and domineering, while the men were emotional and sensitive.
70
Briefly outline B_____a and B____y 1999
Bandura and Bussey
It was a content analysis of a large range of film and print media. They found that men were displayed as confident, independent, assertive and interesting while women were more presented as dependent, anxious, emotional etc.
71
Briefly outline M____e et. al. 1980
McGhee
Kids age 6-12 who watched >25 hours a week of media expressed significantly more stereotypes than those watching <10 hours a week.
72
Briefly outline P_____e 1978
Pingree
The study compared children watching stereotypical or counter-stereotypical adverts. The children took a questionnaire related to gender-appropriate behaviors. There was a significant difference. This then triggered the media to use this as a technique.
73
How does the Samoan culture relate to gender being culturally biased?
Samoa culture has three genders (there is a extra feminine male gender. This shows difference in attitudes towards gender in different cultures.
74
What were the discoveries of Hare et. al 2009? (relates to genes)
He studied 112 male to female transgender transexuals' DNAand found them to have significantly longer androgen receptor genes, which reduces the ability of testosterone to cause changes in development.
75
How can the BSTc relate to atypical gender development?
Male to female transexuals BSTc is similar to the size of the female average, while female to male transexuals BSTcs are usually are usually within the male range
76
What is the BSTc?
It is a structure that incorporates information from the limbic system and is used to monitor stress-readiness levels.
77
How can stress affect the brain?
Female neurons have more dendritic spines than male neurons, but this can be changed with stress.
78
How can stress affect gender development prenatally?
During pregnancy, everytime the mother experiences stress, some areas of the baby's developing brain will change their sex characteristics.
79
What gender are all brains?
Intersex/androgynous
80
What did R___chand__n and M_G___h suggest?
Ranachandran and McGeoch
That there are specific brain locations that relate to sexual organs, so some people may feel a genital organ even if it is not there. This occurs if this area is disrupted during development. This can lead to experiencing a phantom penis and can lead to a loss of feeling in male genitals.
81
What is DDT and what is its effect on gender development?
DDT is an insecticide, used on crops, that contains oestrogen which can reach the bloodstream if exposed to humans. Vreugdenhil found that boys born to DDT exposed mothers showed more feminine characteristics.
82
What did C____s et. al. 1991 suggest?
| trauma
Coates
| That childhood trauma may lead to gender dysphoria.
83
What did S____r 1975 suggest?
| mothers
Stoller
That boys that developed dysphoria had very close relationships with their mothers, with blurred boundaries, causing boys to over identify with their mothers.
84
What did Z____r et al 2004 suggest?
Zucker
That dysphoric girls were often rejected by their fathers as young children, resulting in over-identification with the father and increased imitation of male behaviors.
85
WHat is genda dasforeea?
Chronic distress due to a perception of sex and gender mismatch. This excludes intersex conditions.
86
How is gender identity disorder different than genda dasphoria?
GID has been replaced with gender dysphoria (spectrum), as having an atypical gender is not a disorder, but the chronic stress dysphoria causes and the way it affects your life does.
87
How did Martin and Halverson's genda schema theory contrast Kohlberg's theories?
They suggested that we can identify gender identity at gender labelling stage, rather than having to wait until gender constancy. This all depends on how much attention you pay to gender-specific behavior.
88
How does a child form gender schemata?
They will internalise information from cultural norms, so often involve stereotypes. The more cultural norms that the child is exposed to and the more attention this is given determines how early the schema is formed and how stereotypical the schema is.
89
Outline in group/out group bias
A natural bias that causes us to maximise the positive qualities of our ingroup and minimise the negative qualities of our ingroup in order to better our self esteem.
90
How can memory and attention bias relate to our genda schemas?
Information that isn't gender consistent is often disregarded, not given any attention, so is never encoded into the STM, so is never perceived.
91
how can theory of mind relate to gender and peer influence?
AS children get older, they learn that everyone has the same biases towards their ingroup. This means they fear rejection or hostility from peers if they interact too much with the outgroup or don't conform to the behaviors of the ingroup.
92
Name one positive and one negative of genda skeema theery?
- Good as backed up by research relating to memory and how it is biased towards our gender schema
- Though it could be argued to have good construct validity, most of the studies supporting this theory were carried out on children, so would have shown demand characteristics or social desirability, as they may have lacked mundane realism.
93
What is one way the media inadvertently discourages androgyny and encourages gender stereotypes?
Women are seen to succeed when they're feminine
Men are seen to succeed to when they are male
Gender-specific characteristics are usually exaggerated in protagonists and underrepresented in antagonists.
94
What is one piece of research supporting androgyny being beneficial for psychological health?
Prakash et al
- tested 100 married females in India on masculinity/femininity and how this correlated to health issues such as depression and anxiety
- tested their androgyny using the personal attribute scale
- females with high masculinity scores had lower depression scores and vice versa
95
How high are the test-retest correlation coefficients for the BSRI?
0.76-0.94
96
WHat is one of the criticism for the bem sex role inventory involving extraneous variables?
An intervening variable between androgyny and psychological health could be self esteem. the adjectives in the BSRI are all quite socially desirable, so a person who scored high on both feminine and masculine traits (as they identified with all these statements) would be likely to have higher self esteem than someone who chose less statements as they only chose male or female statements, so would not appear androgynous on the test.
97
What is one criticism of the BSRI related to temporal validity?
- The adjectives used in the BSRI were selected in the 1970s,
- In 2010, 400 uni undergrads reviewed the items on the BSRI and found that only 2 terms were unanimously agreed to be masculine or feminine (masculine and feminine)
- there is less of a distinct dichotomy between masculine and feminine adjectives.
98
What support shows that biology plays a key role in gender development?
Reiner and Gearhart
- studied 16 genetically male born individuals born with no penis
- 14 raised as girls, 2 raised as boys
- 8 reassigned themselves as males by the age of 16
99
What is the issue with most hospitals assigning sex at birth due to their genitalia?
You can be genetically one gender but have biological factors/syndromes/diseases that causes you to have different genitalia, such as in congenital adrenal hyperplasia, where XX females are exposed to a lot of male hormones prenatally so will be born with varying degrees of male genitalia.
100
How can culture and social influence affect how biology affects gender?
For instance (as was the case with the Batista family in the Dominican Republic) If you are born with female genitalia, but you are XY, so develop male genitalia during puberty, the ease of transition between genders can vary with cultures (it was very easy in the DR)
101
What is one piece of research supporting gender ingroup schemas?
Bradbard told 4-9 year olds that certain gender neutral items (e.g. burglar alarms or pizza cutter toys) were male or female, The kids would then be more interested in toys labelled with their ingroups.
102
How did Hoffman suggest that family dynamics can affect children's stereotypes?
Families with working mothers will have children with less stereotyped views of what men do
103
How is GST helpful for understanding the attitudes of children (regardless of parental teaching)?
That purely due to cognitive development, we have biased cognitions whilst developing gender identity, so often act sexist whilst they are a child.
104
What case study supports the Oedipus Complex?
Little Hans
- had oedipus complex, his mother said he would have him castrated if he asked her to touch his penis
- He associated this with how a father told his daughter to not touch a horse or it will bite her finger off
- associated castration anxiety with horses-developed fear of horses
105
What is one issue with the data collected from Freud's theory of gender development and psychoanalysis?
Always based on qualitative data, so can be subjective.
106
What is on assumption of Freud's theory that has NO SUPPORT and could be argued to be socially sensitive?
That children from single parent families will have more difficulty developing a gender identity
107
What is one example of direct tuition (an element of SLT) affecting gender development, showing that modelling is not the only factor of SLT influencing gender?
Martin et al:
| Boys were more likely to play with toys labelled "boys' toys", even if girls played with them (no models involved)
108
What is are two criticisms of the idea of the BSTC varying between people with GID?
The BSTC doesn't develop until adulthood, and children can develop dysphoria in childhood.
The varying size of the BSTC is said to be due to hormonal imbalances, as hormone therapy has been shown to affect it's size.
