Gender (to-do) Flashcards
what is sex?
being genetically male (XY) or female (XX)
what is gender?
a persons sense of maleness or femaleness - a psychological / social construct
what is androgyny?
introduced by Sandra Bem in 1970’s - people can be both masculine & feminine equally - supposedly more mentally healthy due to avoiding fixed gender roles
what are sex-role stereotypes?
society has expectations on how we are supposed to behave
- sex role stereotype is learned as children are exposed to the attitudes of others (e.g. girls wear pink’)
- is implicitly and explicitly learned from modelling
what is the BSRI?
Bem’s Sex Role Inventory
- 60 question test (20 male, 20 female & 20 neutral words)
- rated on a 1-7 scale
- if you had equal masculine and feminine it was classified as androgynous
- if you had low masculine and low feminine it was classified as undifferentiated
Strengths of BSRI
High Reliability
- had a high test-retest score over a 4 week period - scores ranged for 0.74-0.94 (0.8 is strong)
Use of Distractors
- the test uses words that are associated with neither male or female characteristics which reduces demand characteristics - making results more reliable & reducing extraneous variables
Limitations of BSRI
Words used
- Hoffman and Borders asked 400 students to rate each word as being M or F - the only 2 to pass the 75% agreement threshold were ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’
What is the ‘SRY’?
sexually determining region Y
- is only on the Y chromosome and causes the formation of the testes
- the testes then produce androgens making us male
what is Testosterone?
triggers the development of male genitalia and secondary sex characteristics
- Barnum and Bailey found that Females exposed to large doses of testosterone began to develop tomboyish behaviour
what is Oestrogen?
Responsible for directing the menstrual cycle and secondary sex characteristics in females
- Shi et al found prenatal exposure could lead to smaller brain size
- dampens ‘fight or flight’ response and encourages ‘fend and befriend’
Strengths of Biological approach to Gender
support for testosterone
- Wang investigated hypogonadium (testes fail to produce normal testosterone levels) - gave 22 men testosterone therapy for 180 days - found change in body shape, strength, sex function, e.c.t
Limitations of Biological approach to Gender
reductionist
- underplay explainations - e.g. cognitive approach highlighting influence of thought processes and schemas - suggests other factors have influence and gender is more complex than just our biology
Socially limited
- ignores social factors - Hofstede et al claim that gender roles around the world are more based on social norms - researches equate ‘masculinity’ with individualist culture and therefore those traits will be valued higher by capitalist states
what is the David Reimer case study?
Born Bruce Reimer had a surgical complication as a baby leaving him without a penis leading his parent to make him female - now Brenda he lived as a female but never fully adjusted and had sever mental problems and when told what happened went back to living as a male - David then killed himself
what was Piaget’s theory?
cognitive development was a result of maturation and environment
what is assimilation?
when existing schema are used on a new object
What is accomodation?
when a child adapts existing schema to understand new information that doesn’t fit into existing schemas
What is equilibriation?
a state of imbalance (from failure is assimilate / accomodate) an experience which in unpleasant and balance will be sought through equilibriation
what is Gender Labelling?
Children recognise themselves and others as boys or girls based on outwards appearance only
- ages 2-3
What is Gender Stability?
Children recognise gender is stable over time
- not consistent over situation (e.g if male does ‘female’ activity they may become a female)
- ages 4-5
what is Gender Consistency?
Children recognise that gender is consistent over time and situation
- ages 6+
What is Gender Schema Theory?
- Martin & Halverson
- Children learn schemas related to gender from their interactions with other children & adults as well as TV & videos
- therefore the schema relate to cultural norms
What are ingroup schemas?
- part of Gender Schema Theory
- groups we identify with
- we positively evaluate our ingroups and negatively evaluate our outgroups
- we seek out the behaviours of our ingroups and avoid behaviours of outgroups
- this enhances our self esteem
what is Gender Resiliance?
- part of Gender Schema Theory
- Children ignore any info that is not consistent with their gender beliefs
What are Peer Relationships?
- part of Gender Schema Theory
- ingroups share the same interests
- children will see other children of the same gender as more ‘fun’ to play with
- they may also learn about consequences if they play with their outgroup (opposite sex) and therefore avoid them
Strengths of Gender Consistency Theory
Supporting Research
- Damon found that children aged 4 thought it was fine for a boy to play with dolls but children aged 6 thought it was wrong
- Suggests Kohlberg was right about gender appropriate behaviours developing at age 6
Supporting evidence
- Slaby & Frey asked young children a series of question such as “when you grow up will you be a mummy or a daddy?”
- the answers given showed they did not recognise these traits were consistent until ages 3/4
- agrees with Kohlbergs ages and features for gender stability
limitation of Gender Consistency Theory
Methodological issues
- Bem found that 40% of children aged 3-5 were able to constancy if shown a naked picture of the child-to-be-identified first
- demonstrating its about physical differences not the clothes and hairstyles
Strength of Gender Schema Theory
Research Support
- Martin & Halverson found that children were more likely to be able to recall photos of gender appropriate behaviour than gender inappropriate after a week
- they also found the children would alter the gender inappropriate behaviour to make it appropriate on recall
Cultural Differences
- Cherry argues that gender schema influence what counts as culturally appropriate gender behaviour
- Traditional cultures will raise children with schemas consistent to this view
- Societies with less rigid perceptions of gender will raise children with more fluid gender schema
limitations of Gender Schema Theory
Earlier Gender Identity
- Zosuls did a longitudinal study of 82 children from mothers reports of childrens language from 9-21 months
- The key measure of gender identity was taken from when children labelled themselves as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’
- This occured on average at 19 months / when the baby could first communicate
- This suggested Martin & Halverson underestimated childrens ability to label themselves
what is the Oedipus complex?
Psychodynamic explanation
- in the phallic stage of development buys develop an incestuous feeling towards their mothers
- this leads to hatred for their father
- but still fears his father due to feeling castration anxiety
- to resolve this conflict the boy gives up his love for his mother and identifies with his father
What is the Electra complex?
Psychodynamic explanation
- during phallic stage girls feel Penis Envy
- they feel resentment towards their mother as they are competing for their fathers love
- over time girls accept they have no penis and the penis envy turns into desire to have children
- they eventually identify with their mothers
what is Little Hans?
a case study from Freud
- Hans was a 5 year old who had a fear of being bitten by a horse
- Freuds interpretation of this was the fear of being bitten representing castration anxiety
- Freud suggested that the fear was an unconscious defence mechanism of displacement
a Strength of the psychodynamic explanation for gender
Freud theory requires the presence of a father figure
- Rekers and Morey rated the gender identity of 43 boys based off interviews
- Those who were gender disturbed 75% had no father figure
limitations of psychodynamic explanation for gender
Stevenson and Black
- did a meta analysis of 67 studies
- found buys over 6 without a father figure showed more masculine behaviours than boys with fathers
use of Case Study
- this made lead to researcher bias, reduced generalisability, hard to replicate, expensive and time consuming.
how can social learning theory explain gender?
- children will see others vicarious reinforced for sex-appropriate behaviour
- they will see differential reinforcement in boys and girls being reinforced for different behaviours
- children will imitate role models they identify with (usually same gender)
strengths of SLT in gender
Smith and Lloyd
- 32 new mothers recorded playing with an unknown 6 month old baby
- the babies were either dressed as a boy or a girl
- the first toy offered to the male babies was a toy hammer
- the first toy for the girls was a doll
- suggests differential reinforcement
Rust
- gender behaviour was measured in 2000 children with a sibling and 3000 children without
- those with an older brother demonstrated more masculine behaviour
- those with an older sister had more feminine behaviour
- siblings as role models leads to gender development like them
a limitation of SLT in gender
doesn’t explain development with age
- modelling can occur at any age
- illogical that a 2 year old would learn the same as a 9 year old
- Conflicts with Kohlberg’s theory
SLT explaination of gender in culture?
is it reinforced by peers, teachers, and parents
- cultural variation in gender suggests SLT processes
SLT explaination of gender in media?
Gender normative roles are displayed as attractive and rewarded in media
- media personalities act as symbolic models
- media reinforces cultural stereotypes form the cultures it was created in
what is gender dysphoria?
when people feel a mismatch from their biological gender and what they feel they are
- is a source of stress and discomfort
what is Brain Sex Theory?
suggests Gender Dysphoria is based in brain structure
- controlled by the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis (BST)
- said to be bigger in men than women
- transgender women have same size as women
what is the Genetic explanation for Gender Dysphoria?
Coolidge et al assessed 157 pairs of twins for gender dysphoria
- found 62% of variance could be genetic factors
Limitations of Brain Sex Theory
Hulshoff Pol et al
- found that BST could be due to hormone treatment rather than dysphoria
In the studies Brain Sex Theory is based off the examinations of the brain was done post mortem - meaning the hormone replacement would’ve taken place
Socially sensitive
- labelling gender dysphoria as a mental disorder may be socially sensitive
a strength of BST
Rametti et al
- found a difference in white matter in the brain between males and females
- the white matter would be representative of what the person viewed their gender as rather than biological
what is the social constructionism explanation for gender?
its the idea the gender dysphoria arises from being forces to be male or female
