Psychology 2 - Sex & Gender

Question 1

What would happen if boys were given girl toys and vice versa?

Answer 1

Boys treat the girl toys like boy toys and vice versa

Question 2

What is the difference between gender and sex?

Answer 2

Gender (psychological) can be identified by attitudes and behaviour and decides if a person is masculine or feminine

Sex (biological) can be identified by hormones and chromosomes and decides if some is male and female

Question 3

What are the chromosomes and hormones for males and females?

Answer 3

Female chromosome is XX and hormone is oestrogen

Male chromosome is XY and hormone is testosterone

Question 3

What is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 3

The theory that tells us that our behaviour is a reaction from our subconcious forces and emotions

Question 4

What is the phallic stage?

Answer 4

Freud’s third stage of psychosexual development, in which gender development takes place

Question 5

What happens in the phallic stage?

Answer 5

The child of 3 - 5 unconciously desires the opposite sex parent and is jealous of the same sex parent

In order to deal with these feelings, the child begins to behave like the same sex parent

This occurs differently in boys and girls

Question 6

What is identification?

Answer 6

When a child adopts the attitudes and behaviours of the same sex parent

Question 7

Describe the Oedipus complex

Answer 7

A boy is unconciously attracted to his mother and is jealous of his father and wants to take his place

He fears that the father will discover his feelings and will castrate him

In order to deal with this fear, he gives up his feelings for his mother and identifies with his father to resolve the Oedipus complex

Question 8

Describe the Electra complex

Answer 8

A girl is unconciously attracted to her father and jealous of her mother but she doesn’t want to lose her mother’s love but she isn’t as fearful as the boy because she believes she has already been castrated

To resolve this, she identifies with her mother

Question 9

What is the psychodynamic theory of gender development?

Answer 9

Freud’s theory of what happens in the phallic stage

Question 11

Give a study into the psychodynamic theory of gender development

Answer 11

Freud (1909)

To investigate Little Hans’s phobia

At the age of 4, Hans developed a fear of horses. He was frightened that a horse might bite him or fall down. He was particularly afraid of large white horses with black around the mouth. Freud analysed this information

Freud claimed that Hans was experiencing the Oedipus complex. He unconciously desired his mother and saw his father as a rival and feared castration. He displaced the fear of his father onto horses. The white horse with the black around the mouth represented his father who had a dark beard. His fear of being bitten represented his fear of castration and his fear of horses falling down was his unconcious desire to see his father dead

This supports Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex

Question 12

Evaluate the psychodynamic gender development study

Answer 12

There is no evidence to prove Freud’s claims because he talks about unconcious feelings which can’t measured or noticed

He only analysed one person so the results can’t be generalised

Question 13

What is gender disturbance?

Answer 13

Not developing the gender identity usually associated with one’s sex

Question 14

Give a study into gender disturbance

Answer 14

Rekers and Moray (1990)

To see if there is a relationship between gender disturbance and family background

Researchers rated 46 boys with gender disturbance for gender behaviour and identity. Their family background was also investigated

Of the group, 75% of the most severely gender-disturbed boys had neither their biological father nor a father substitute living with them

Boys who don’t have a father figure present during their childhood are more likely to develop a problem with their gender identity

Question 15

Evaluate the gender disturbance study

Answer 15

Only 46 boys were rated so the results can’t be generalised

The study definitely shows that gender disturbance dramatically increases when there is no stable father figure

Question 16

What is the social learning theory of gender development?

Answer 16

The theory that tells us that gender is learnt from watching and copying the behaviour of others

Question 17

What is modelling?

Answer 17

When a role model provides an example for the child

Question 18

What is imitation?

Answer 18

Copying the behaviour of a role model

Question 19

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 19

Learning from a model being rewarded or punished

Question 20

Give a study on imitation

Answer 20

Perry and Bussey (1979)

To show that children imitate behaviour carried out by same-sex role models

Children were shown films of role models carrying out activities that were unfamiliar to the children. In one condition, all of the male role models played with one activity while all the female role models played with the other activity. In the second condition, some of the male role models and some of the female role models played with one activity while the other male and female role models played with the other activity

In the first condition, the children played with the activity that the role models of their sex played with. In the second condition, there was no difference in what the boys and girls chose

When children are in an unfamiliar situation they will observe the behaviour of the same-sex role models. This gives them information about whether the activity is appropriate for their sex. If it is, the child will imitate that behaviour

Question 21

Evaluate the imitation study

Answer 21

The study shows definite evidence of children imitating role models of their own sex

Lacks ecological validity because it takes place in an experimental setting

Question 22

Give a study on media and social learning

Answer 22

Williams (1986)

To investigate the effects of television on the gender development of children

Williams studied the effects of television on children living in Canada. At the beginning of the study, one of the towns was being provided with television for the first time while the other towns already had television. He measured the attitudes of children living in these towns at the beginning of the study and 2 years later

The children who now had television were more sex stereotyped in their attitudes and behaviour than they had been 2 years previously

Gender is learnt by imitating attitudes and behaviour seen on television

Question 23

Evaluate the media social learning study

Answer 23

It doesn’t explain why children brought up in one-parent families have no problem developing their gender

This theory is well supported by other cases and studies

Question 24

What is gender stereotyping?

Answer 24

Believing that all males are similar and all females are similar

Question 25

What a gender schema?

Answer 25

A mental building block of knowledge that contains information about each gender

Question 26

What is gender schema theory?

Answer 26

The theory that tells us that we develop our gender identity as we make more gender schemas

Question 27

Give a study on gender stereotypes

Answer 27

Martin (1989)

To show that children’s understanding of gender becomes less stereotyped and more flexible as they get older

Children heard stories about the toys that male and female characters enjoyed playing with. Some of the characters were described as liking gender-stereotyped activities while some were described as the opposite. The children were then asked to predict what other toys each character would or would not like to play with

The younger children only used the sex of the characters to decide which toys they would like but the older children used the sex of the character but also the other toys that the character played with to make their judgement

Older children have a more flexible view of gender than younger children do

Question 28

Evaluate the gender stereotype study

Answer 28

The theory seems to fit with our experiences of seeing people grow up

It could simply be that the older children are more perceptive and so they are the only ones that noticed the interest in toys not associated with the gender of the people

Question 29

What are gender roles?

Answer 29

Behaviour seen as masculine or feminine by a particular culture

Question 30

What does it mean when someone is highly gender schematised?

Answer 30

When gender is the most important factor when the person is making decisions

Question 31

Give a study on individual differences of ideas about gender

Answer 31

Levy & Carter (1989)

To show that there are individual differences in the way children think about gender

Children were shown pictures of 2 toys and asked to choose the one they would like to play with. Sometimes, there were both stereotypically masculine, sometime both feminine and sometimes one of each. The pictures were shown high and low gender schematised children

The highly gender schematised children, when one of each gender-based toy was shown, chose the toy associated with their gender. If two masculine or 2 feminine toys were shown, they couldn’t decide. The low gender schematised gender just chose the toy they liked the look of quickly

Highly gender schematised children choose things primarily because of their gender where low gender schematised children choose the things that they actually like the look of

Question 32

Evaluate the differences of gender ideas study

Answer 32

The theory is supported by a lot of evidence and it fits with our experience

It doesn’t explain why gender starts to develop at the age of 2 and why some children are more highly gender schematised than others