sex and gender

Question 1

What you need to know

Answer 1

• Definitions of sex identity and gender identity. The biological differences between females and males (chromosomes and hormones).
• The distinction between the concepts of sex identity and gender identity.
• Three theories of gender development:
  
  • psychodynamic theory, including the Oedipus and Electra complexes;
  • social learning theory, including imitation, modelling and vicarious reinforcement.
  • gender schema theory.
• Evaluation of these three theories of gender development.

Research Methods

• This section will be examined through questions focusing on the specification content. It is not to be seen as a separate area of the specification. Centres are advised that methods of investigation should be taught at appropriate places in the course, with particular topics being selected to illustrate not only the theoretical material but also methodology.

Methods of Investigation

• The use of scientific methods and techniques which aim for objectivity.
• Procedures for each method of investigation:
  
  • survey methods; questionnaires (including closed and open questions) and interviews (including structured and unstructured).
  • observation, including categories of behaviour, and inter-observer reliability;
  • case study;
• Advantages and disadvantages of each method of investigation (including ecological validity).

Methods of Control, Data Analysis and Data Presentation

• Target populations, samples and sampling methods:
  
  • random;
  • opportunity;
  • systematic;
  • stratified.
• Correlation, including an understanding of association between two variables, and of correlation relationship (without computation of formulae). Advantages and limitations of using correlations.
• Calculations, including mean, mode, median, range and percentages. Anomalous results and their possible effects.
• Graphical representations, including bar charts and scatter graphs

Ethical Considerations

• Candidates should demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
  
  • ethical issues in psychological research as outlined in the British Psychological Society guidelines
  • ways of dealing with each of these issues.

Question 2

Sex and Gender definitions

Answer 2

Sex:

Is a biological term. A child’s sex can be identified by their hormones and chromosomes (and genitals and reproductive organs).

This determines whether the child’s SEX IDENTITY Is male or female

Gender:

Is a psychological term. A child’s gender can be identified by their attitude and behaviour.

This determines whether the child’s GENDER IDENTITY is masculine or feminine

Question 3

Explain Sex idenity

Answer 3

Sex:

• Biological term.
• A child is either male or female.

Sex is identified at birth by-

MALE

hormones - testosterone

chromosomes - XY

(genitals - penis

reproductive organs - testes)

FEMALE

hormones - oestrogen

chromosomes - XX

(genitals - vagina

reproductive organs - ovaries )

Question 4

Explain Gender Identity

Answer 4

• Psychological term.
• Refers to expected ideas about attitudes and behaviour of males and females in a particular culture.

Gender identity can be identify by [SAD} ways of:

• speaking
• acting
• dressing

Question 5

Explain the link between Sex and Gender

Answer 5

For most people there is a link between sex and gender i.e.

• boys behave and think in a masculine way
• girls behave and think in a feminine way

However for some people it’s not that simple:

• some boys behave and think in a feminine way and some girls behave and think in a masculine way.
• Also some people don’t feel that their gender identity matches the sex identity they were assigned at birth at all. (Gender disturbance / dysphoria)

Question 6

Gender identity disorder

Definition

Answer 6

This term describes people who have strong feelings of being born with the wrong gender.

Now renamed to gender dysmorphia

Question 7

Gender is different in different cultures

Answer 7

• UK- we distinguish gender identities in 2 ways – Male and Female.
• Mohave Indians distinguish gender identities in 4 ways – Traditional males, Traditional females, males who choose to live as women, Women who choose to live as men.
• Facebook ‘culture’ many versions of gender and sexuality identities

Question 8

Sex and gender identity DIFFERENCES

Answer 8

• Sex= Male/female;
• Gender= Masculine/ feminine
• Sex= Biological;
• Gender=Psychological
• Sex= Same in every culture
• Gender=Different in every culture
• Sex= Hormones+Chromosomes;
• Gender=Attitudes + behaviour; how to Speak, Act, Dress

Question 9

Give some examples of typical gender identity in our culture

Answer 9

Feminine:

Speak: soft + high, ‘ladylike’

Act: emotional, caring, looking after children and home

Dress: dresses, makeup

Masculine:

Speak: low, deep

Act: strong, unemotional, work and earn money

Dress: trousers, plain fabrics (eg not flowery)

Question 10

What are the three theories of gender development?

Answer 10

• Psychodynamic theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Gender Schema therory

Question 11

Background:

Freud’s sexual stages of development

Answer 11

Freud believed that we develop sexually in 5 stages:

1. Oral stage – birth to 18 months.
2. Anal stage – 18 months to 3 yrs. old.
3. Phallic stage – 3 yrs. old – 6 yrs. old.
4. Latency stage – 6 yrs. old – puberty.
5. Genital stage – puberty onwards.

Question 12

What is the Phallic stage?

Answer 12

PHALLIC stage is the 3rd stage of sexual development according to Freud

• It occurs between the age of 3 and 5

In this stage GENDER DEVELOPMENT takes place:

• the child subconsciously sexually desires the opposite sex parent
• and is jealous of the same sex parent

In order to deal with (‘resolve’) these feeling and anxieties the child starts to

• behave like the same sex parent, this is known as IDENTIFICATION

Freud believed that this process occurred differently in boys and girls: Oedipus and Electra complexes

Question 13

Oedipus complex

Answer 13

In the phallic stage a BOY is

• unconsciously attracted to his mother
• jealous of his father and wants to take his place
• anxious that his father will see his feelings for his mother and will castrate him.
• to resolve the conflict (fear or his father versus attraction to his mother) he gives up his feelings for his mother
• and identifies with his father i.e. behaving like his father taking on a masculine gender role (Identification)

Question 14

Explain

Electra Complex

Answer 14

In the phallic stage a GIRL IS:

• unconsciously attracted to her father
• jealous of her mother and wants to take her place
• anxious that her mother will see her feelings for her father
• believes she has already been castrated and is not fearful like a boy but still anxious about losing her mother’s love
• to resolve the conflict she gives up her feelings for her father
• and identifies with her mother i.e. behaving like her mother taking on a feminine gender role (Identification)

Question 15

Define Identification

Answer 15

To adopt the attitudes and behaviours of the same sex parent

Question 16

Mum’s cartoon Phallic stage

Answer 16

Question 17

Freud – Little Hans Case study

Answer 17

Aim: To treat the phobia and investigate the gender development of a child knows as ‘Little Hans’

Method: Little Hans was a 4 year old boy whose parents followed Freud’s ideas. Over several months the boy’s father wrote to Freud, describing incidents and conversations that seemed to be related to his phobia.

The boy had been very frightened when he saw a horse fall in the street. He thought it was dead. He then developed an extreme fear of horses; he feared they would bite him and that they would fall down. He was particularly afraid of large white horses with black around the mouth. Hans told his father that he imagined he was given a much larger penis and agreed with his father’s suggestion that he wanted to be like his father.

Results: Freud interpreted this information in terms of the Oedipus conflict, noting evidence if the boy’s sexual longings for his mother and fear of his father as a rival.

Freud proposed that:

• the horse represented the child’s father,
• the horse falling down represented his unconscious desire for his father to leave or die.
• the horse biting him represented his fear of being castrated
• the black around the mouth represented his father’s beard

Conclusion: Freud’s analysis of Little Hans support ideas about the Oedipus complex

Question 18

Carl Case study

Reker

[for background info.]

Answer 18

Carl was an 8 yr. old boy who had a gender identity problem.

• He had a feminine voice
• liked to talk about make up and dresses
• preferred to play with girls.
• He pretended to be ill or injured to avoid playing with boys.
• Carl lived with his mother and did not have a stable father figure.

[His gender dysphoria backs up Freud’s theory that you need a same parent to Identify with by resolving the Oedipus complex]

Question 19

Reker and Moray Study

Answer 19

Aim: To investigate whether there is a relationship between gender disturbance (not developing the gender identity usually associated with one’s sex) and family background.

Method: They researched 46 boys with gender disturbance for

• gender behaviour
• gender identity
• family background

Results: Of the group 75% of the most severely gender disturbed had no stable father figure living with them.

Conclusion: They concluded that boys who don’t have a father figure present during their childhood are more likely to develop problems with their gender identity.

Question 20

Psychodynamic interpretation of Gender development in a lone parent household.

Answer 20

• According to Freud, if a child is brought up in a lone parent household they will have a poorly developed gender identity because they are unable to resolve the Oedipus / Electra complexes.
• If a boy is raised without his father he will not develop a masculine gender identity as there is no father to identify with so he will be homosexual.

If a boy is raised without his father he will have gender disturbance

Question 21

Evaluation of the psychodynamic theory.

Answer 21

Strength

Freud’s ideas have had a substantial impact on Psychology. He is considered the father of psychology but these days many of his theories are considered dated and controversial.

Weaknesses

• Freud’s ideas are based on the unconscious. Concepts like the libido are very difficult to test scientifically.
• Little evidence to support the Electra and Oedipus complexes.
• Freud didn’t work with children directly but relied on parents’ memories which may not be accurate
• Freud used case studies which can’t be generalised
• There has been an increase in the number of single parent households but not an increase in the homosexual population. Sex and gender identity are not the same thing
• other psychologists have shown that a range of people, not just parents, influence a child’s gender development
• Freud’s theories ignore the effect of biological factors like hormones and chromosomes and other social influences like role models other than the parents.

Question 22

Summary of the Social learning theory.

Answer 22

Social learning theory believes that GENDER is learnt from watching and copying the behaviour of others. A girl learns to be a girl and a boy learns to be a boy through the 3 processes of:

• Modelling
• Imitation
• Vicarious reinforcement

Question 23

Modelling

Answer 23

Modelling is defined as

“a role model provides an example for a child.”

This means that an adult or another child can act as role models and provide an example for the child to follow. The most likely people to be role models are:

• Similar to them – Friends, same sex parent.
• Powerful – e.g. teachers, older siblings
• Loving and caring toward the child

Question 24

Imitation

Answer 24

Imitation is defined as

‘copying the behaviour of a model’.

This means that the child will copy the behaviour shown by a role model

Question 25

Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 25

Vicarious reinforcement is defined as

‘learning from the model’s being either punished or rewarded’.

This means that the child learns from what happens to a role model when the model carries out a particular behaviour.

If the model is rewarded for the behaviour the child is more likely to imitate them that if they were punished.

Question 26

Perry and Bussey

Answer 26

Aim: To investigate if children imitate behaviour carried out by same sex models.

Method: Children were shown films of role models carrying out activities that were unfamiliar to the children.

• Condition 1: all the male role models played with one activity while all the female role models played with another.
• Condition 2: some male role models and some female role models played one activity while the others played another.

Results:

• Condition 1: the children imitated what they had seen the same sex models doing. The boys chose the activity the male role models played and the girls chose the activity the female role models played.
• Condition 2: there was no difference in the activities the boys and girls chose.

Conclusion: When children are in an unfamiliar situation they will observe the behaviour of 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 27

Media and gender development

Answer 27

The media (eg TV, radio, print, web)

provide MODELS for gender behaviour.

The media is powerful. If influences society.

Macklin and Kolbe (1984) claimed that children want to imitate characters on TV because they are often physically attractive.

TV shows males and females in stereotyped ways. i.e. women as housewives, secretaries and nurses while men are doctors, police officers and managers.

Question 28

Williams study

Answer 28

Aim: To investigate the effects of television on gender development of children.

Method: In 1975, Williams studied the effect of TV on children living in Canada. At the beginning of the study one of the towns was being provided with TV for the first time while other towns already had TV. He measured the attitudes of children living in these towns at the beginning of the study and again 2 years later.

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

Conclusion: Gender is learnt by imitating attitudes and behaviour seen on TV.

Question 29

Evaluation of the Social Learning theory

Answer 29

Strength

•The theory is well supported by research. There are a large number of studies, that have found that children learn their gender through the observation and imitation of role models

Weaknesses

• Doesn’t explain why children brought up in a one parent household without a strong same-sex role model don’t have difficultly developing their gender.
• Doesn’t explain why 2 children brought up in the same household behave differently (e.g. one brother masculine, one brother more feminine)
• This approach believes that gender is learnt therefore ignores the biological difference.

Question 30

Gender Schema Explanation

Answer 30

Gender Schema Gender schema is defined as

‘a mental building block of knowledge that contains information about each gender’.

Schemas are strengthened or changed as we learn more information from the world around us.

Gender schema contain information about behaviours, clothes, activities, personality traits and roles for males and females. These may include stereotypes.

A gender stereotype is believing that all males are similar and all females are similar

e.g. all women cook, all men play sports

Question 31

Gender Schema

and Highly Gender Schematised definitions

Answer 31

Gender stereotypes

believing that ALL males are similar and that ALL females are similar

Highly gender schematised

where gender is an important way of thinking about the world so information is organised according to what is gender appropriate and what is gender inappropriate

Question 32

Martin and Halverson stages

Answer 32

They believe that gender schemas develop with age.

• From the age 2 children know whether they are a boy or a girl and they can identify people belonging to these groups.
• Once children become aware of the different sexes they learn about gender from what they see and experience in their environment. At this stage ideas are RIDGID +STEREOTYPED
• By the age of 6 they have a DETAILED + COMPLEX schema of their own gender but know less about the other gender. A boy might, for example learn everything about football and avoid everything about babies
• As they get older they gain more knowledge and the schemas become more FLEXIBLE e.g. some women can be builders

Question 33

Martin study

[choose between this and Levy and Carter. Know a full description of 1 and understand the other]

Answer 33

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

Method: 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,
• Some of the characters were described as liking no gender stereotyped activities.

The children were then asked to predict what other toys each character would or would not like to play with.

Results:

The younger children used only the sex of the character to decide what other toys he or she would like to play with. i.e. boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls.

The older children, however, considered both the sex of the characters and the other toys that the character enjoyed playing with. E.g. girl who likes playing with trucks is less likely to play with a doll.

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

Question 34

Individual differences in gender development.

Answer 34

There are individual differences though. Not all children develop schemas in the same way.

Even as they get older some children remain highly gender schematized with

FIXED, RIGID, UNCHANGING SCHEMAS

•While low gender schematised children have schemas that can change and develop as they experience, children who are highly gender schematized look for information to support their ideas and ignore or remember incorrectly information that doesn’t support their schema (e.g. if a child saw a conversation between a male and female nurse they might recall it as 2 female nurses). A less gender stereotyped child would remember accurately.

Question 35

Levy and Carter study

Answer 35

Aim: To show that there is individual difference in the way children think about gender.

Method: Children were shown pictures of 2 toys and asked to choose the one they would like to play with.

• sometimes, the toys in the pictures were both stereotypically masculine
• sometimes they were both stereotypically feminine
• sometimes there was one masculine toy and one feminine toy

These pictures were shown to high and low gender schematised children.

Results:

• highly gender schematised children chose quickly between the pictures when they were shown one masculine and one feminine toy. If, however, they were shown 2 masculine toys or 2 feminine toys they took longer to choose because they either wanted both of the toys or neither.
• less gender schematised children chose on the basis of personal preference. It therefore took them less time to choose between the toys on the pictures.

Conclusion: Highly gender schematised children choose toys on the basis of whether or not they are appropriate for their sex. Less gender schematised children choose on the basis of their personal preference.

Question 36

Evaluation Gender Schema Theory

Answer 36

Strengths

• Most psychologists believe this is the most detailed and thorough explanation of gender development as its well supported by evidence.
• It has intuitive appeal (fits in with our experience)

Weaknesses

However, it doesn’t explain:

• WHY some children are more highly gender schematised than others
• WHY gender begins to develop at the age of 2.
• WHY children choose same sex friends and gender appropriate toys before they are able to correctly identify themselves as male or female.

Question 37

Summary of how we develop gender identity

Answer 37

Psychodynamic:

we resolve the Oedipus and Electra complex and IDENTIFY with our same sex parent

Social Learning:

We imitate our same sex role models through vicarious reinforcement

Gender Schema Theory:

we construct a mental building block of ideas about gender from the world around us. (we can be highly schematised or low schematised, but most children as they mature become low G schematised)

Question 38

All sex and gender definitions

Answer 38

Sex identity:

Is a biological term. A child’s sex can be identified by their hormones and chromosomes (and genitals and reproductive organs).

This determines whether the child’s SEX IDENTITY Is male or female

Gender identity:

Is a psychological term. A child’s gender can be identified by their attitude and behaviour.

This determines whether the child’s GENDER IDENTITY is masculine or feminine

Phallic stage

Freud’s 3rd stage of psychosexual development, in which gender development takes place.

Identification

To adopt the attitudes and behaviour of the same sex parent.

Oedipus complex

The conflict experienced by a boy in the phallic stage because he unconsciously desires his mother and is afraid of his father.

Electra Complex

The conflict experienced by a girl because she unconsciously desires her father and is afraid of losing her mother’s love.

Gender disturbance

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

Modelling

A role model provides an example for a child.

Imitation

Copying the behaviour of the model.

Vicarious reinforcement

Learning from the model being either rewarded or punished.

Media:

means of communication - e.g. television, radio the internet and newspapers

Gender stereotypes

believing that all males are similar and all females are similar

Gender Schemas

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

Gender roles

Behaviour seen as masculine or feminine by a particular culture.

Highly gender schematised

where gender is an important way of thinking about the world so information is organised according to what is gender appropriate and what is gender inappropriate