Relationships or Gender or Cognition and development

Question 1

Explain what is meant by ‘androgyny’. 1 mark

Answer 1

• Possessing a balanced combination/mixture of masculine and feminine traits.

Question 2

Explain one limitation of a self-report technique. 1 mark

Answer 2

• Questionable validity

- Lack objectivity (questions about self).

Question 3

Which one of the following statements about Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of gender development is false? Write the letter of your chosen answer in your answer booklet.
Freud suggested little boys

Answer 3

• Are jealous of their mother

Question 4

Describe and evaluate Kohlberg’s explanation of gender development. (16 marks)

Answer 4

Possible content:
• Cognitive theory – relates to child’s understanding of gender.
• Stages of gender development: identity (awareness of own gender), stability (understanding of (own) gender as fixed over time), constancy (consistency) understanding that gender is unchanged despite changes in outward appearance (clothing, hair etc) or context.

• Approximate ages: identity (2–3 yrs), stability (4–6 yrs) constancy (7+ yrs). • Processes involved in transition through stages: maturation, socialisation, lessening egocentrism.

Possible evaluation points:
• Sensible focus on cognition (thinking governs behaviour) compared to, eg behavioural explanations.
• Use of evidence to support stages (eg Slaby and Frey 1975; Damon 1977).
• Cross-cultural findings confirm the three stages (eg Munro et al 1984).
• Kohlberg’s underestimation of age at which gender identity occurs, eg children seek out
same-sex playmates earlier than the proposed gender identity stage.
• Focus on description rather than explanation.
• Inability to explain why boys show stronger sex-typing than girls.
• Comparison with other explanations, eg gender schema theory.

Question 5

Briefly outline the biological explanation for gender identity disorder. 2 marks

Answer 5

• over or under-exposure to androgens in the womb (over-exposure for females, under-exposure for males) and consequent masculinisation or feminisation
• neurobiological abnormality resulting from either genes or pre-natal stress (and links to handedness)

Question 6

Explain two limitations of the biological explanation for gender identity disorder. 6 marks

Answer 6

Possible limitations:
 Biological explanations would not support the lack of continuity between childhood gender identity disorder and gender identity disorder in adulthood (Drummond et al)
 Gender identity disorder as biological determined and thus inevitable, ‘biology is destiny’
 Evaluative comparison with other explanations
 Use of evidence against the biological explanation
 Broader scientific issues eg difficulty showing cause and effect; reductionism
 Limited incidence therefore limited evidence – problems of testability

Question 7

Social psychologists are writing a report about their research into children’s toys. They write, ‘Parents still tend to buy pink for girls. In fact, it is hard to find any adverts aimed at girls that are not ‘pink and fluffy’. For boys, parents tend to buy more competitive or combat-type toys. Good against evil is a common theme in adverts aimed at boys. Even at school, playground activities are different. As children get older, boys and girls tend to have more shared interests like music’.
Discuss the influence of culture and media on the development of gender roles. Refer to the report above in your answer. 16 markers

Answer 7

Possible content:
 Social learning theory and modelling – role of factors such as observation, imitation, identification, vicarious reinforcement
 Mediating cognitive variables – children more likely to imitate models who are attractive, similar, high status etc.
 Cultural representations of gender and reinforcement in various forms of media (TV, books, computer games etc)
 Role of direct reinforcement of gender stereotypical behaviours by parents, teachers, peers
Possible applications:
 Parental reinforcement ‘parents still tend to buy pink for girls’ ‘parents tend to buy more competitive or combat-type toys’
 Stereotypical media representations ‘.. adverts aimed at girls ‘pink and fluffy’ ‘good against evil ….. adverts aimed at boys’
 Schools reinforce different activities ‘playground activities are different’
 Age as a mediating variable ‘more shared interests like music’

Possible discussion points:
 Use of evidence to support the influence of culture eg cross-cultural evidence of differences in gender roles in different societies supports the view that gender is socially determined; Serbin’s evidence of the effects of teachers on boys’ and girls’ behaviour
 Use of evidence to support the influence of media eg Wober’s study of ‘male’ and ‘female’ occupations
 Influence of media per se versus specific forms of media – not all representations are stereotyped – discussion of degree of stereotyping in different forms of media eg TV versus computer games versus books
 Age as a mediating variable
 Differences in effects for boys and girls
 Problems of inferring cause and effect and the issue of determinism
 Evaluation of evidence where used to discuss influence of culture and media
 Comparison with alternative explanations eg biological and evolutionary explanations