sex and gender differences

Question 1

Toy preferences

Answer 1

• There is a (statistical!!!) sex difference in toy preferences (Alexander, 2003):
– Boys prefer construction and transportation toys
– Girls prefer toys such as dolls
– Boys engage in more physical play (rough and tumble play)

Question 2

toys marketed for girls

Answer 2

– Barbie 3-in-1 dream camper

– L.O.L Surprise! O.M.G. Remix Super Surprise

Question 3

toys marketed to boys

Answer 3

• Laser Battle Hunters

- Harry Potter Hedwig lego

Question 4

Sex differences classically believed to arise due to social learning

Answer 4

– Modelling and reinforcement of sex typical behaviours
• May promote sex-typical cognitive abilities:
– Empathy in girls – playing with dolls
– Spatial abilities in boys - playing sports / construction

Question 5

However…

Answer 5

In non-human species, almost all sex differences in play are believed to be innate
•Pheonix et al. (1959):
- Prenatal androgens influence sex-typical play
- In female rodents treated with testosterone injections, offspring show increased rough and tumble play in females

Question 6

2D:4D ratio10 – Manning (2002)

Answer 6

• The 2D:4D ratio correlates negatively with prenatal androgen exposure and positively with prenatal oestrogen exposure
– Androgens stimulating the growth of fourth digit
– Oestrogen stimulating the growth of the second digit”.
• Male ratio indicates high androgen / low oestrogen exposure
• Female ratio indicates low androgen / high oestrogen exposure.
• Homeobox genes
– Hox a and Hox d
– Involved in the differentiation of the urinary-genital system (and the formation of digits

Question 7

So how do we address whether toy preferences are learned or innate?

Answer 7

One answer:
• Sex differences in toy preferences among non -human primates
• Alexander and Hines (2002)

Question 8

Participants (well, kind of…)

Answer 8

•Alexander and Hines (2002) gave human toys to vervets to see how they’d react
•44 male and 44 female vervet monkeys ‘participated’
•Non-invasive research!
– Trying to enrich the environment of animal enclosures

Question 9

Methodology

Answer 9

• Three types of toys given to the vervets:

• Masculine toys
– Red ball
– Police car

• Feminine toys
– A red cooking pot
– A soft doll

• Neutral toys
– A picture book
– Stuffed dog

Question 10

•Toys given to the vervets during 2 or 3 trials/sessions:

Answer 10

– First trial/session used to acclimatise the vervets

– Second/third session used for data selection

Question 11

Approaches

Answer 11

(when a vervet moved towards a toy without actually touching it)

Question 12

contacts

Answer 12

(when a vervet approached one of the toys and made physical contact with it)

Question 13

Summary of findings

Answer 13

•Each animal received two scores from 0 – 300 (seconds) to measure how long the vervet spent approaching and contacting each toy

•Approaching behaviour unrelated to sex of the vervet (male and female) of the category of toy (masculine, feminine and neutral)
•Patterns of contact behaviour:
– Male vervets spent longer with masculine toys
– Female vervets spent longer with feminine toys
– Male and female vervets spent equal time with neutral toys
– Parallel findings to human children!

Question 14

Implications for humans……

Answer 14

•There’s no evidence that vervets have a concept of ‘gender roles’ (societal expectations for the conduct of males and females)

•Even if they did, then they wouldn’t have experience of objects conforming to human gender role; they wouldn’t know:
– Police car toys and balls are masculine
– Dolls and pans are feminine
– Picture books and stuffed dogs are neutral

Question 15

•Could this instead reflect an innate sex difference:

Answer 15

• Common preferences in different primate species?

- Might predict that other primates show the same preferences?

Question 16

•May be a similar phenomenon to emotions:

Answer 16

– Humans, and some other primates, are evolved to recognise facial expressions or emotions / mood states

Question 17

Toys preferred by human girls and female vervets:

Answer 17

– The type of toys are associated with nurturance
– Human and vervet females (statistically!!!) spend longer with infants

• Some female primates have a preference for reddish-pink colours
– This is the colour of an infant’s face
– The doll had a pink face and the pot was red…

Question 18

toys preffered by human boy and female vervets:

Answer 18

– The type of toys are associated with movement

– Suggested link between monitoring movement and the development of hunting skills

Question 19

Three issues to consider…

Answer 19

1.Implications of sex differences
2.Simplistic interpretations of findings
3.Anthropomorphism 03 November 2020 2425
Isn’t it sexist to say that there are innate sex differences in humans?

Question 20

Sex and gender

Answer 20

Sex and gender are not the same
•Sex is biological: Male and Female
– Genetic sex (XX vs. XY chromosomes)
– Anatomical sex
– Secondary sexual characteristics
•Challenged by intersex individuals though…
• Gender is socio-cultural: Men and Women

Question 21

gender identity

Answer 21

– Sense of whether we’re male or female

– Challenged by transgender and non-binary individuals

Question 22

gender role

Answer 22

– Attitudes and behaviours that are considered appropriate for men and women
– Open to change over time (political bias)
– This is the thing that people (very reasonably) have issues with!

Question 23

Simplistic interpretations of findings

Answer 23

•Findings sometimes presented as ‘a group is better/worse than another’
– Not this simplistic (remember – statistical difference!)
– Reinforced by media messages – very simple interpretation
– Reinforced by stats tests (a bit)
•Gender Similarities Hypothesis (Hyde, 2005):
–Very few characteristics show large differences:
•Throwing velocity, Throwing distance, Frequency of masturbation, Attitudes towards casual sex, Physical aggression

Question 24

Conclusions

Answer 24

• Non-human primates (vervets) show the same sex differences for toy preferences as we see in humans
• When interpreting this research it is important to distinguish sex from gender and the implications that both of these terms have
• Consider the nuances in statistical findings, not just the simple message
• It’s important not to anthropomorphise too much