Gender (to-do)

Question 1

what is sex?

Answer 1

being genetically male (XY) or female (XX)

Question 2

what is gender?

Answer 2

a persons sense of maleness or femaleness - a psychological / social construct

Question 3

what is androgyny?

Answer 3

introduced by Sandra Bem in 1970’s - people can be both masculine & feminine equally - supposedly more mentally healthy due to avoiding fixed gender roles

Question 4

what are sex-role stereotypes?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

what is the BSRI?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Strengths of BSRI

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Limitations of BSRI

Answer 7

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’

Question 8

What is the ‘SRY’?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

what is Testosterone?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

what is Oestrogen?

Answer 10

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’

Question 11

Strengths of Biological approach to Gender

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Limitations of Biological approach to Gender

Answer 12

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

Question 13

what is the David Reimer case study?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

what was Piaget’s theory?

Answer 14

cognitive development was a result of maturation and environment

Question 15

what is assimilation?

Answer 15

when existing schema are used on a new object

Question 16

What is accomodation?

Answer 16

when a child adapts existing schema to understand new information that doesn’t fit into existing schemas

Question 17

What is equilibriation?

Answer 17

a state of imbalance (from failure is assimilate / accomodate) an experience which in unpleasant and balance will be sought through equilibriation

Question 18

what is Gender Labelling?

Answer 18

Children recognise themselves and others as boys or girls based on outwards appearance only
- ages 2-3

Question 19

What is Gender Stability?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

what is Gender Consistency?

Answer 20

Children recognise that gender is consistent over time and situation
- ages 6+

Question 21

What is Gender Schema Theory?

Answer 21

• 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

Question 22

What are ingroup schemas?

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

what is Gender Resiliance?

Answer 23

• part of Gender Schema Theory
• Children ignore any info that is not consistent with their gender beliefs

Question 24

What are Peer Relationships?

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Strengths of Gender Consistency Theory

Answer 25

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

Question 26

limitation of Gender Consistency Theory

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Strength of Gender Schema Theory

Answer 27

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

Question 28

limitations of Gender Schema Theory

Answer 28

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