Gender - Paper 3 Flashcards
sex
the biological difference between males and females (including chromosomes, hormones and anatamoy)
gender
the psychologcial and cultural differences between males and female including attitudes, behaviour and social role
gender dysphoria (gender identity disorder)
when gender and sex dont align
gender reassignment surgery
- a procedure preformed to transition individuals with gender dysphoria to their desired gender
- the physical appearance and function of their exisiting sexual characteristics will be altered to fir the gender they feel they are
sex role sterotypes
a set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is expected or approproate for males and females in a given society
how are sex role sterotypes reinforced
- media
- school
- parents
- peers
David reimer
case study - nature
- stated that children are born gender neutral and suggested that gender reassignment will be successful if carried out before the child if 3
- underwent castration and plastic surgery when circumsion went wrong
- encourged to dress and act feminine
- never felt like he was a girl
smith and lloyd
sex-role sterotypes
- sample - 32 mothers
- method - babies ages 4-6
- half dressed in boys cloths , half dressed in girls cloths irrespective of their actual sex
- mother brought in and interact with child
- have a selection of toys to choose from - truck , babies , football
- results - babies assumed to be a boy were given hammers, trucks
- those assumed to be girls - were given babies and dolls
- conc - sterotypes come from people around us and start at an early
- suggests nurture
seavey et al
sex-role sterotypes
- aim - to see wether the gender label attached to a baby affected adult response
- method - 3 months old dressed in yellow baby suit in a room with a ball, rag doll and plastic ring
- 3 conditions; 1. indicated it was boy, 2. indicated girl, 3. non indication of gender
- results - 1. girl - baby , 2. boy - ring , 3. spontanously decidied the gender “its a boy got a good grip” “its a girl bc she soft”
- female participation interacted for more with the baby than males did
- conc - adults interact differently with infants, depending on wether they are male or female
.+ shortcuts - schemas
sex-role sterotypes - evaluation
- dont have to work out everything is
.- shizophrenia
sex-role sterotypes - evaluation
- “dangerous”, “crazy
- stop you wanting to do things
- hosw we treat others
- discrimination
.+ research evidence
sex-role sterotypes - evaluation
- seavy et al
- men and women act differently
female
androgyny
- affectionate
- soft spoken
- unpredictable
- warm
- loves children
males
androgyny
- athletic
- forceful
- dominant
- masculine
- competitive
neutral
androgyny
- likeable
- happy
- friendly
- independant
- loyal
androgyny
androgyny
- personality type with a balanced mixture of male and female personality traits, attidudes and behaviours
- someone who is assertive and calm
- being androgyny is a strength
- more adaptive in different situations
BSRI
androgyny
- bem sex role inventory (1974)
- 20 characteristics that would commonly be identifed masculine then 20 feminine and 20 neutral
- masculine - agressive, leader, assertive
- feminine - affectionate, friendly
- neutral - adaptable, friendly
- rated on a 7 scale likert scale
- 2 dimensional contineum (masc - femine) (andro- undifferent)
.- questionare
androgyny - evaluations
- response bias
- low validity
- cant come to accuarte conclusion on gender
- social desirablity
.- temporal valdity
androgyny - evaluations
- not relevant to now
- gender roles are always changing
.- ethnocentric
androgyny - evaluations
- basing it on americans
- assuming that is the right culture
.+ predicitve validity
androgyny - evaluations
- did pilot study
- data correlated with estimation
.+ high external reliablity
androgyny - evaluations
- tested again and got same results
method- test - re - test
.- reductionist
androgyny - evaluations
- reduces a complex topic to 60 charcateristics
dna facts
biological explantion of gender & sex
- 23 chromonsom pairs makeup a human
- chromosome are made up of dna
- chromosome 23 determines gender
- female = xx , male = xy
- not all sperm contain y
male production
biological explanation for gender and sex - chromosome
- y chromosome has the sex determining reigion Y
- SRY gene produces a protein called TDF (testies determing factor)
- TDF makes the testes devlop in the embryo
- testes produce two things; mullerin inhibiting substance (MIS) , androgens (male hormone such as testostrone)
- MIS inhibits the mullerian ducts in the embroyo from developing a uterus, cervix, and fallopian tube
- testostrone triggers the devlopment of a penis
female production
biological explanation for gender and sex - chromosome
- women dont have the SRY gene
- so TDF is not produced
- and no MIS
- ducts devlop into a uterus and fallapion tubes
how is gender behaviour influenced by our biology - hormones
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
- oestrogen
- oxytocin
- chromosome
- hormones
- testostrone
oestrogen
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
- primary female hormone, important in the development of the menstraul cycle and reproductive system
oxytocin
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
- the ‘love’ hormone produced during labour and stimulates lactaction
chromosome
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
- 23 pairs in the human contaning gentic infomation
- 23rd pair determines the biolgy of the child
- female = xx , male = xy
hormones
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
- hormones are chemical substances produced in the body which control and regulate the activity of certain cells or organs
testostrone
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
- a hormone produced mainly in male testes (smaller amounts in female ovaries)
nann van de pol
biological explanation for gender and sex - hormones
injected female rats with testostrone and they became more agressive
how is gender influnced by biology (brain)
biological explanation for gender and sex - brain
- pre frontal cortex
- frontal cortex
- amygdala
- suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
pre frontal cortex
biological explanation for gender and sex - brain
- plays critical role in the human capacity to regulate emotions
- targets and matures two years earlier in women than men
- could explain emotional maturity in women and why they are more difficult to anger
frontal cortex
biological explanation for gender and sex - brain
- involved in logical decision making
- fatter and moe complex in women than men
- explaining why women are better at decison making
amygdala
biological explanation for gender and sex - brain
- plays an important role in fear and anger in a situation
- men and women have differnt patterns in activity in this area
- could explain why men act more agressivly in situations
suprachiamastic nucleus (SCN)
biological explanation for gender and sex - brain
- associated with our physiological gender identity
- the hormone testostrone affects the size of this area and 3x bigger in men than women
- could explain why men and women have differnt gender identity
.- reductionist
evaluation for the biological explanations of gender
- reduces gender down purly to bioloical explantion
- ignores all other influences and simplifies a complex thing
- therefore less useful to explain gender
.- social learning theory is a better approach
evaluation for the biological explanations of gender
- learning through others through observations
- girls see women being rewarded for feminine behaviour
- better at explaining differences within gender
.+ supporting research (young)
evaluation for the biological explanations of gender
- gave unborn rats testostrone and found that female offspring were born masculated
- females were more agressive, different sized brains and showed mounting
- .- animal study
.+ supporting evidence (wang)
evaluation for the biological explanations of gender
- increased testostrone is linked to sexual behaviours
- studied men with low amounts of testostrone (given more)
- improves labido and muscle strenght
- therefore had a big influence on male sexual arousal and phsycial development in adulthood
- counter study - o’connor
- found no significant increase in sexual drive
.+ david reimer
evaluation for the biological explanations of gender
- never felt comfortable being a girl
- suggested xy chromosome are moe important than enviroment
- not reprosentive - extremly unique situation
- born xy but raised as a girl
chromosome abnormalities
chromosome abnormalities
- under biological explantion but could be asked by itslef
chromosome abnormalities
chromosome abnormalities
- turners syndrome
- klinefelters syndrome
turners syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- the gender chromosome (23rd pair) is x0 - only applies to women
- effects 1 in 2000
- not inherted from parents (from mutations) - not environment or age
- random mutations
- the second x is altered or missing (45x not 46xx)
- presents differently in everyone
physcial sympotoms for turners syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- shorted
- ovaries effectes - no period or growth spirt
- wide neck
- puffy feet & hands
- bones weak
- heart issues
- sheild chest
psychological symptoms for turners syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- lesrning
- increase reading ability
- poor visual memory
- socially immature
treatments for turners syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- diagnosis happens from puberty onwards
- anaylsis blood
- hormone treaments to grow
- ivf to have baby
klinefelters syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- affecrs 23rd chromosome (47xxy)
- have an extra x chromosome
- 1 in 600 boys affected
- not inherted but older parents have a higher risk
- less testostrone (testies not working)
- different in everyone
physical symptoms of klinefelters syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- reduced firtality
- taller than expected
- lower muscle
- less facial and body hair
- gynaecomastria (man boob)
- increases chance of breast cancer
- more likly to get type 2 diabties
psychologcial symptoms of klinefelters syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- low mood and anxiety
- shy, passive
- changes to behaviour and learning (poot reading ability)
- lack in interest in sexaul activity
treatments for klinefelters syndrome
chromosome abnormalities
- testostrone replacement therapy
- pill
- gel
- injections
cross sectional study
chromosome abnormalities
- getting all ages 8-16 instead of a longitunal study of one person
support
how to use chromosome abnormalities with the biological explanation
- the difference between turners and klinefelters individuals espacially in boys and girls support nature nurture debate
- its how gentics have mutated
- nothing to do with the enviroment
problem (1)
how to use chromosome abnormalities with the biological explanation
- 1/3 patients areaware they have the condition
- 2/3 arent aware and act differently
- if 100% nature then they would all be affected and see the difference
- if the extra or less of the x was that significant then it would
problem (2)
how to use chromosome abnormalities with the biological explanation
- ‘social immaturity’ in turners may be due to being treated more babyish
- klinfelters may be more shy due to bullying
- society is also affecting
- having ____ caused - probs not true as nurture may be response to physcial look
object permanence
cognitve explantation for gender differences
- something is there even if you cant see it
egocentrism
cognitve explantation for gender differences
- not understanding others
conservation
cognitve explantation for gender differences
- understanding that despite superfical appearance, the basic properties of an object stays the same
cogntive explanation of gender development - A01 for both
cognitve explantation for gender differences
- emphasises the development of thought patterns
- a childs perception of gender behaviour is crucial for their acquistion of gender
- physical changes in the brain - simple , complex , abstract thought
- series of development stages
- stages are in the same order for everyone but go through at different speeds
- understanding of gender develops with intelligence and brain
kohlberg gender constancy theory
cognitve explantation for gender differences
- gender identity (2-4yrs)
- gender stability (4-6yrs)
- gender constancy (6-7+yrs)
gender identity (2-4yrs)
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory
- can label gender but only based on appearance
- can only really identify if someone is ‘like me’ or not
- gender is not considered permanant
gender stablility (4-6yrs)
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory
- their own gender is constant and wont change
- other poeple may change gender due to appearance (long hair or skirt)
gender constancy (6-7+yrs)
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory
- gender is constant across time and situations , for them and for others
- they undertsand gender approproate behaviour
gender concept interview (slaby & frey)
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory
- 2 groups of kids (4yrs, 6yrs)
- 3 phases - boy doll , boll doy with skirt , boy doll with skit and long hair
- “is it a boy or a girl”
- 4yrs - boy , girl , girl (gender stability)
- 6yrs - boy , boy , boy (gender constancy)
evaluation of gender concept interview
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory
- lacks mundane realism
- bad temporal valifity
- miscommunication in question - might not understand , did they even undertsand the question or did they do 50/50 guess
concurrent validity
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory eval
- backed up by pre established theories
- piaget
- egocentrism and conservation - constancy
- piaget and kohlberg agree on the same
- constistency
constancy not supported
cognitve explantation for gender - kohlberg gender constancy theory eval
- many children begin to show gender appropriate behaviour before gender constancy is achieved
- kay bussey and albert bandura found that children as oyung as the age of 4 feeling good about playing with gender approproate toys and bad about the opposite
- contradicts kohlberg but could support gender schema theory
schema
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- organised mental reprosentation of infomation about the world, events or people - stored in LTM
- devlops simple ideas into complex understandnings
- relating experiencing together
gender schema theory
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- suggests an active constuction of the world (seeking out info)
- devlops from our parents ,p peers, media and experiences
- kids under 8 only undertsand their own gender - later learn the opposite gender
- children will reject/forget things that dont fit into their schema
- schemas leads to own gender identity - start doing that as soon as they identity themselves with a gender
- aquire gender identity around 2-3
in group
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- the gender we identify with
- e.g if youre a girl you identify with girls
- we better understand our own gender schema
outgroup
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- groups we dont identify with
- e.g if youre a girl you dont identfy with boys
- we devlop our outgroup schemas later
- by 8, both in and outgroup schemas devlope eveninly
- once they have both fully devloped they postivly evaluate their own group
- avoid outgroup behaviour
- being in an ingroup builds child self esteem
similarties between schema theory and gender constancy
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- both cognitve devlopment theories
- both believe a child identifies own gender at a young age
- both involve egocentrism
- both fit with the biologial approach
differecnes between schema theory and gender constancy
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- kohlberg has clear stages
- age understanding gender appropriate behaviours is different
are they both right
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory
- strangor and rubble suggest both theories complement eachother
- descrbing 2 different cognitve processes
- maybe gender schema theory explains the memory part
- remeber thing in your ingroup and forget or change things that dont
- maybe kohlberg theory exmplains motivation
- children in gender constancy have realised gender identity and are motivated to find out more
- how they should act
supporting evidence
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory evaluation
- martin and halverson - found that children under the age of 6 were more likly to remebr photographs of gender consistent behaviour
- they changed the gender of the inconsident one when recalled suggesting memory disorts to fit gender schema
- will remeber their own in group
- as they are only 6 years old then they have yet to stop reflecting the idea of out groups
supporting evidence
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory evaluation
- carol martin and jane little
- found that children under 4 showed no signs of gender stablity or constancy
- demonstrated stronly sex typed behaviouts and attitudes
- a leniate theory
- not as tight
- contradicts kohlberg but supports gender schema
accounts for the fact that children hold very sterotypical view
cognitve explantation for gender - gender schema theory evaluation
- aubry et al - longitunal study , once understand gender they will pick items they belive match their sex
- boys seeing men naked , girls seeing a women on a building site
- women working on a building site is moe likyl to be ignored and they will focus on women working in hair salons
- show ingroups are strong in every day life
psychodynamic A01
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- tripartite personality - ID, EGO , Superego
- oediupus and electra complex
- pyschosexual stages - oral, anal , phallic , latency , genital
- defence mechanism - denial , regression , displacement , projection , repression
oral stage
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- the labido is centured in a baby mouth, pleasure gained from activites such as sucking, biting and breatsfeeding
anal stage
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- pleasure gained from explelling and playing with faeces, child learns to hold onto and control bowel movements (potty training)
Phallic (most important)
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- libido becomes focused on curiosity and pleasure involving genitals; which becomes directed towards the opposite sex = odeipus and electra complex
Latency
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- desire diminish, no libado , children develop socially and cognitvly at this stage
genital
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- re- emergence of libido and directed at love objects outside the family
- task is to develop healthy relationships
psychodynamic theory of gender
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- the psychodynamic explanation of gender comes from one of freuds pyschosexual stages
- it devlops through succesful completion of the electra complex and the oedipus complex
identification and internalisation
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- the crux of freuds theory is that children of both sexes identify (identifcation) with the sane sex parent as a means of resolving their respective complex
- boys adopt the attidues and values of their father and girls of their mother
- this invloves children taking on board the gender identity of the same sex parent, a process freud calls internalisation
- essentially both boys and girls reciev a second hand gender identity all at once at the end of the phallic stage
girls going through the electra complex
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- gender devlopment happens in the girls therd psychosexual stage - the phallic stage when she is 3
- child has unconsious sexual feeling towards their father
- this leads to feelings of anger and jealously towards their mother for having affections for their father
- child devlops even more hatred towards the mother as blames her for not having a penis (penis envy) - belive mother castrated her
- over time acceot theyr dont have a penis and turns to desire for a baby
- as mother can have babies starts to identify with her
- child internalises femal gender behaviours from mother and gender starts to devlop
boys going through the oedipus complex
psychodynamic explanation of gender
- gender devopment happens in phallic stage age 3-6
- child has unconsious sexual feelings towards their mother
- leads to anger and jelously towards father
- child realises father is more powerful and leads to fearing father (castration anixiety)
- to reslove child stops hating father and identifies with him
- the child internalises male gender behaviour from his father and gender devlops
gender comes from research into non nucleaur family
psychodynamic explanation of gender - evaluation
- suggests that children without both a mother and father would devlop abnormally
- would not have their own gender
- golombok - demonstrated that single parent families went on to devlop normal gender identities
- lowers credibility
little hans
psychodynamic explanation of gender - evaluation
- supporting study (only)
- subjective
- researcher bias
- population validity
- secondary data
scientfic valdity
psychodynamic explanation of gender - evaluation
- hard to prove
- e.g oedipus complex is thought to happen entirly wihtout the child knowing
- unconcious , impossible to test
- lacks scientific credibitly
androcentric
psychodynamic explanation of gender - evaluation
- male orientated explanation
- electra came through other theoriest later on
social learning theory
social learning theory for explaining gender
- proposed by bandura
- classical and operant conditioning
- mediational processes - attention , retention , reproduction and motivation
- behaviour is learnt from the environment through the process of observational learning (vicarious reinforcement)
bandura bobo doll study - supoorting evidence and A01
social learning theory for explaining gender
- moddeling (watch adult)
- agression arousal (annoy the child)
- test for delayed imitation (what do they do to the doll)
- those who observed agressive model showed more agressive behaviour
- girls showed more physical agression after watching a mole model, more verbal agression after a female model
- boys were more likly to imitate same sex models than girls
what has the most influce
direct tuition v modeling
social learning theory for explaining gender
- firect instruction is more important than modelling (martin et al)
- boys played with toys labbeled ‘boy toys’ even if they saw girls playing with them
- but wouldnt play with ‘girls toys’ even if they saw girls playing with them
supporting evidence (fagot)
social learning theory for explaining gender - evaluation
- observed children 2yrs playing at home with parents
- recorded the rewards and punishment
- boys rewarded for playing with gender appropriate toys & punished for playing with dolls
- girls rewarded for staying close to their parents and told off for rough and tumble
- confirms hypothesis that gender behaviour is reinforced
- - done in the us and in 1970s (genralisability and temporal valdity)
supporting evidence - perry & bussey 1979
social learning theory for explaining gender - evaluation
- shown a video of boy or girl choosing an apple or a pear
- kids given choice of fruit
- kids chose the same fruit as same sex adult
- - this only occured if the behaviour was not counter to gender sterotypes (apple & pear, truck & doll)
sociatal changes
social learning theory for explaining gender - evaluation
- as we see si many changes in gender
- faster than we could evolve
- so it cant just be biology and society has a big influence in it
postive reinforcement
social learning theory for explaining gender
- rewarding for correct behaviour
- E.G - boys are rewarded by their parents for playing with boy appropriate toys
- E.G - “arent you a good boy, playing with your trains”
punishment
social learning theory for explaining gender
- reciving something that reduces the behaviour
- E.G - telling a boy off for playing with a doll - “thats not for you, thats for you sister”
differential reinforcement
social learning theory for explaining gender
- reinforcing different behaviours depending on wether the child is male or female
- E.G - boy - “handsome, strone , brave” - play fight
- girl - “cute, pretty” - afternoon tea
vicarious reinforcement
social learning theory for explaining gender
- learning through other peoples rewards and punishments
- E.G - seeing your mum wear makeup and your dad saying she looks pretty
identifcation with a role model
social learning theory for explaining gender
- sharing similar characteristics with someone you look up to
- E.G - boys looking up to their dads or a famous person ( footballer)
moddeling behaviour
social learning theory for explaining gender
- copying behaviour of a role model (or attempting)
- E.G - playing football because your dad plays football
attention
social learning theory for explaining gender
- playing close attention to something
- E.G - observing a famous footballer and seeing them play
retention
social learning theory for explaining gender
- making a schema for something and remembering it
- E.G - remebering the skill that he did on the pitch
motivation
social learning theory for explaining gender
- what makes you want to be like your role model/imiate the behaviour
- E.G - the boy wanting to be like his hero (identifcation)
motor reproduction
social learning theory for explaining gender
- being physically capable to carry out the action/characteristics
- E.G - trying to reproduce
nature
culture & gender
- gender differences result from innate differences between female and male (genes, chromosome, nervous system and hormones)
interactionism
culture & gender
- gender differences are caused by innate tendacies and are modifed by the enviroment factors
nurture
culture & gender
- gender differences result from the different experiences that females and males have as they develop (learning from family, peers, society)
culture
culture & gender
- cross cultural research is a valuable contribution to the nature-nurture debate in gender;
- universal features would suggest an innate basis for gender and support the nature view
- culturally specfic features would suggest that gender is learnt and supports nurture views
- cross cultural research - investigations carried but across more than one society
cross cultural research
culture & gender
- cross cultural research does not solve the nature nurture debate
- it is impossible to seperate the roles
- as soon as children are born they are identified as either male or female
- immdeiatly, their socilisation into a particular socetiy starts alone with the gender role expectations
- constant interaction of both
margaret mead
culture & gender
- looked at three different tribes
- arapesh tribe
- mundugmour tribe
- tchambuli tribe
- looked at the gender role differences
arapesh tribe
culture & gender - margaret mead
- both genders were gentle, loving and co-operative
- both boys and girls are treated the same
- both parents ‘bear a child’ and even the men take to the bed as if they are giving birth, while mother is in labour
mundugumour tribe
culture & gender - margaret mead
- ex - cannibals
- both male and females are arragant, fierce and quarrelsome
- hate pregancy and child rearing
- hang babies in baskets on the walls if they cried to much
tchambuli tribe
culture & gender - margaret mead
- females are interested in economic affairs & look after traiding and gathering food
- males are sentimental & emotional, sit in groups gossiping
findings
culture & gender - margaret mead
- gender norms are different everywhere - this supports social learning theory
- HOWEVER
- accused of alpha bias - exagerrating
- suggests men are more agrressive and women are more nurturing in every culture
- could be innate but the degree of expression changes
media
culture & gender
- communication channels, such as tv, film and books
- through which news, entertainment, education and data made available
malinowski - nurture
culture & gender
- studied trobiand islanders
- found the women were sometimes highly secuall agressive
- gangs of women would capture and rape men in other tribs
- and would boast about it after
whiting and edwards - nature
culture & gender
- looked at 11 non-western societies
- girls were more nurturing than the boys
- girls were encouraged to spend more time with their mothers and given domestic roles
- boys were assigned to outside work
gender dysphoria
atypical gender development - gender dysphoria
- DSM-V classifies atypical gender development
- a condition where indivudals experience a mismatch between their assigned sex and the gender they feel they are
- used to be called gender identity disorder
- not the same as adrogyn - having both characteristics - gender dysphoria is not being happy
- affects less than 0.5% and affects more males than females
- can occure at a young age
- lots identify as transgender
critera for diagnosis
atypical gender development - gender dysphoria
- strong sense of discomfort with their own assigned sex
- the experiece of GD has to be persient for 2 years
- must have strong identification with opposite sex/gender
- strong desires for the opposite sex primary and or secondary sex characteristics
- wish to have hormone replacement/surgery
- experience will affect the ability to function in everyday life
- no biological disorder should be present at the same time e.g turners syndrome
a genetic explanation
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - genetic
- twin studies have shown that there is a higher concordance rate for gender dysphoria in MZ twins than DZ twins
- heylens - compared 23MZ twin pairs with 21 DZ, where one of each pair had diagnosed with GD
- in 9(39%) of the MZ twins also had GD
- none of the DZ did
androgen insensitivity syndrome
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - genetic
- caused by a gentic fault thats usally passed bu their mother
- the foetus in the womb doesnt react to testostrone and male sexual devlop properly
- may appear female but dont have a womb or ovaries and have fully or partial undescended testicles
- the women wont have it themsleves
consequences of androgen insensitivity syndrome
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - genetic
- most children with AIS are brought up as girls
- the parents decide how they treat and bring them up
- in most cases the child feels the gender they are brought up with
- but some have gender dysphoria
the brain sex theory
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - brain
- certain structures in our brains are sexually dimoprhic (the sexes of the same species have different characteristics)
- the stria terminals - a bundle of fibres in the brain which carries messages from the amygdala (thought to be 40% bigger in men)
- research shows that men with GD has a similar brain to women than men
phanton limb syndrome
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - brain
- ramachandran suggests that GD is an innate form of phanton limb syndrome
- in GD its is suggested that the image of sex organs is innatly hardwired in the brain in a manner of the opposite sex
- some men feel they shouldnt have a penis and some females belive they should have a penis
ramachandran and mcGeoch
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - brain
- found that normal indivduals who have had surgery to remove sex organs for medical reasons
- around 60% of normal people who had undergone penile amputation experience phantom penis
- only 30% of GD men had it
- suggesting there was no hard wiring to a penis representation in the brain in the first place
hormones
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - hormones
- exposure to prenatal hormones determine the masculinastion or feminisation of the foetus with testotrone being produces in the Y chromosome is detected and oestrogen continuing to be produced or not
- if foetus us over/underexposed to appropriate hormones, this can create abnormalities
- a female foetus may be exposed to to much testostrone - this could lead to physical changes such as body hair, enlarged cliterous and bone structure
research support - hare et al (gentic)(AIS)
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - evaluation
- 112 m2f transgender individuals
- discorved genetic variations where androgen receptors were insensitive to testostrone in males with GD
- this abnormality was more evident in the m2f transgender individuals than in non-transgender males
- supports biology more than psychologcal ones
research support - swabb
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - evaluation
- found that the size of the SDN are in transgender individuals was the same size as the gender they identified as
- HOWEVER
- there may only be a bidirectional relationship between the brain and the GD - cant say the size of SDN causes GD (could be GD causes the size)
opposing to swabb - chung
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - evaluation
- found that size abnormalities in the stria terminallis did not happen later in adulthood, much later than syptoms of GD were experienced
- suggests the brain may not be the cause of aytypical gender devlopment but may be the result of having the condition
- no cause and effect
general A03 for biological explantion for GD
gender dysphoria - biological explanation - evaluation
- .+ real life application
- implications for aytupical include hormone treatment and surgery
- these positive implication have helped many people with GD to match their psychological identity
- psychologcal support is not always as effective without biologcal
- .- doesnt offer a broad view (reductionist)
- GD is much more complex than prolems with physiology given that some symptoms are likly to cause by both biology and social
- should be an interactionalist approach
psychodynamic explanation
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation
- ovesey and person
- GD comes from unresolved seperation anxiety during the odeipus complex phase of infantile development
- to counter the seperation the child resorts to a reparative fantasy of symbiotic fusuion with the mother
- the speration anxiety is never completly allayed, but continouss intp adulthood
- E.G absent father, child fuses to father
symbiotic fusion
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation
- when a child have a deficiency in their perception of their paretn as a seperate individual from themselves
- they have a disorted view of the parent-child relationship
- they then think they are the same as their parent
social learning theory explanation
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation
- GD is caused by the absence of the same sex role model
- therefore you identify with the opposite sex role model
- imiate their behaviour
- E.G girls mum leaves so associsate with dad
- rekers (1986) - found that GD in boys are more lkly due to absense of fathers
- studied 36 transgender girls (m2f) and found that 75% had an absense father
- HOWEVER
- later research suggests there is no affect of absense parents in GD
dual pathway model (cogntive explanation)
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation
- attitudinal pathway (normal gender development of schemas) -> sterotypical male/female
- personal pathway(child find themself in a situation where they do abnormal gender activties such as playing with dolss, then develop schemas) -> agrogynous/GD
dual pathway model - liben and bigler
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation
- made an extension to the dual pathway model
- normal developmental pathway is for gender schemas to devlop which in turn direct gender approprotae behavour and attitudes
- non-sex typed schema for gender resulting in androgynous behaviour and feelings and flexible attitudes about gender, in a minoritylead to GD
- However
- fails to explain how the intial non-typical play behaviour devolps in the first place
case study - james
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation - eval - psychodynamic
- lived with granma and had seperation anxiety when she died
- adopted sterotypical female behaviours
- after he went to therapy for greif his GD was cured
- this is not scientific , falseifiable , subjective , cant prove symbiotic fusion
- HOWEVER
- reckers found seperation from parents was a common denominator in GD
- 36 m2f , 75% had absent fathers
lacks scientfic credibility
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation - eval - dual pathway
- schemas can no be proven or disproven (can’t falsely)
- internal process
- theory cant describe why schemans develop in the first place
fails to explain anomalies
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation - eval - social learning
- many children are postivly reinforced for appropriate gender behaviours and will still get gender dysphoria
- very normal to not have 1 paretn and dont have GD
- suggest GD is not learnt but could have biological influence
supporting evidence - glaude
gender dysphoria - psychological explanation - general evaluation
- not significant difference in hormone levels found in, male homosexual, heterosexual and men with GD
- suggests biology isnt the cause of GD
what is needed to be a science
- falsify
- hypothesis testing
- replicable
- objective
- empirical
