Hassett et al 2008

Question 1

Explain Hasset et Als previous study(background to the study)

Answer 1

-Found that prenatal hormonal exposure to human infants could affect toy preferences in human children

-some girls a had genetic condition (CAH), so exposed to higher levels of androgens in the womb,

-these girls displayed more masculine toy preferences, even when receiving increased socialization to encourage them to play with female-typical toys

-so this highlights how toy preferences are influenced by hormones and not just what parents teach children

Question 2

Explain the Wallen 2005 study (background to the study)

Answer 2

-female primate fetuses were given high levels of prenatal androgen doses, to investigate its masculinzing effects

-found that long duration androgen doses masculinized genitillas and behaviour, suggesting that their innate response to their male like appearance is what produced behavioural changes

-whereas for those given only low doses, only communication was masculinized but behaviour was not

Question 3

Explain the use of monkeys
(In terms of the background to the study)

Answer 3

-rhesus monkeys are used as a model, because they can be easily controlled whilst also being genetically close to humans

-monkeys are not raised to play with toys, therefore any differences in behvaiour must be simply due to biology

Question 4

Explain the GENERAL psychology being investigated in the study

Answer 4

Whether behavioural differences are as a result of social differences or biological differences.

-behaviour can be observed for male and female preferences for toys, between animals and human children,
Because if there are similarities then this supports the idea of biology playing a role in choices

Question 5

Explain the concept of sex differences and the role of nature (in terms of the psychology being investigated)

Answer 5

-hormones such as estrogen and testosterone have been proven to cause differences in male and female brains, therefore have been associated with cognitive processing

-therefore hormones can be associated with cognitive preferences such ads toy preferences,

-this suggests that in order to suit their specific cognitive ability, children will choose their toys accordingly, which is why they choose this in terms of what they can do with it, eg teddies to cuddle and trucks to be pushed

-so innate differences in brain is what makes some toys more appealing than others

Question 6

Explain the concept of socialization and the role of nurture (in terms of the psychology being investigated)

Answer 6

This argues that sex differences occur from socialization and an individuals personal sense of masculinity or femininity

-eg boys may be more actively discouraged form opposite sex behvaiour whereas girls may be ignored for it

Question 7

State the aim of the study

Answer 7

To investigate whether sex differences in toy prefernces in rhesus monkeys were the same as those in the toy prefernces in human children

Question 8

Explain the first part of the procedure of the study (before the monkeys where let outside)

Answer 8

1) prior to each observation, monkeys waited indoors whilst a pair of toys was positioned in the outdoor area

-two categories of toys were used, wheeled and pushed, bc these were comparable to stereotypical gender assignments

-6 wheeled toys, ranging from 16 cm to 46cm used, and 7 plush toys, ranging from 14 to 73 cm.
(Eg include wine the Pooh, raggedy an, wagon, truck, car)

-placement of toys was also counterbalanced, so at first wheeled on right and plush ong left then opposite way round.
-And always placed 10 meters apart from each other

Question 9

Describe and give statistics about the type of toys used

Answer 9

Split between wheeled and pushed, to fit saignements of gender

-6 wheeled toys used, ranging from 16 to 46cm, 7 plush used, ranging from 14 to 73 cm,
-eg inslcude Winnie the Pooh, raggedy Ann, scooby doo, and wagon, truck, car

Question 10

Once the monkeys were allowed outside, explain the procedure of the study

Answer 10

2) seven, 25 minute observations were done and each time a different pair of toys was used

3) two observers used a behavioural checklist to record different interactions with the toys, (eg, sniffing, carrying, mouthing)
-ambiguous behaviour were discussed until the observers agreed how to code for it

-overall, the total frequency of each specific behaviour was recorded, the total duration of time spent doing a specific behaviour, and the subject, so thr age, gender and social ranking.
-social ranking was determined by observing grooming, so the monkey performing the grooming was the subordinate one

4)a video camera was also focused on each toy so that the interactions could later be wateched for analysis,
And data was entered into palm pilots equipped with handobs, a program designed for time stamped behavioural info

Question 11

Give the independant and dependant variables of the study

Answer 11

IV- placement of toys + Type of toys
DV- behaviour,(so frequency and duration) and subject(so social rank and age)

Question 12

Describe the controls kept in the study

Answer 12

-placement of toys was counterbalanced, so first wheeled on right and then plush on left and then swapped

-a different pair of toys was used for each observation eg wagon and winnnie the Pooh, then truck and raggedy an (a total of 7 observations were done and ecah were 25 mins each)

-type of toys used were restricted to wheeled and plush only

-monkeys kept indoors whilst toys were being placed

-a variety of ifferent behavioural measures were used, such as frequency of behvaiour, duration, and subject

Question 13

Describe the findings if the study in terms of frequency

Answer 13

Frequency;

-male monkeys showed a preference for wheeled toys
73% wheeled
9% plush
18% no preference

-female monkeys showed no consistent prefernece

39% wheeled
30% plush
30% no preference
-ahtough there was still a slight peference for plush toys this was not very significant

Question 14

Describe the findings in terms of social ranking

Answer 14

-female high ranking monkeys interacted more with plush toys

-overall, the higher the ranking, the more the frequency of interaction was for both types of toys

-the only male high ranking monkey did not interact with any of the toys

-so therefore social ranking influenced females but not males

Question 15

Explain the findings of the study in terms of duration

Answer 15

Duration

-male monkeys played longer with wheeled than plush

-no significant difference between time spent playing with plush and with wheeled for females

-male monkeys played longer with wheeled toys than females played with wheeled toys because standard deviation was higher, for makes it was 7.59, and for females it was 2.2

Question 17

Explain the research method and design used

Answer 17

-an experiment was used but also an observation
-it was an experiment because they were trying to find a causal relationship between the monkeys sex and and their toy preferences
-but it was also an observation because video recordings were used for later analysis

-a natural but also controlled environment was used
-natural because the research centre it was the monkeys natural enclosure where they had been living 25 years,
-controlled because eg monekys kept indoors whilst toys were placed, and because type of toy used was restricted to wheeled and or plush

-independant measures design used,
Which is where diff particanst take part in each experimental condition
-so in this case, 2 groups were used, mal and female monkeys
-bc gender is a naturally occurring independant variable

Question 18

Explain the type of sampling used and the characteristics of the sample

Answer 18

-convenience sampling. Bc only tested monekys based on their availability at the centre
- all taken from Yerkes National primate research centre
-they were a multi male multi female social group who had lived together in the enclosure for 25 years
-all came from a matrilineal social structure
-there was a mixture of juveniles and adults

Question 19

Give the statistics if the sample used

Answer 19

-initial sample was a troop of 135 monkeys
-14 were excluded because they had had previous exposure to prenatal hormones
-39 babies less than 3 months excluded because difficult t tell them apart by sex

-so ta remianing 34 of the monekys interacted with the toys on more than five occasions, with 11 males and 23 fe4males in the final sample