The Biological Explanation Flashcards
What are chromosomes and how many pairs does each person have?
Chromosomes are biochemical units of heredity that govern development. Each person has 46 chromosomes (23 pairs).
Female = XX, Male = XY
What determines sex in humans?
The 23rd pair of chromosomes determines sex. Female = XX, Male = XY
What is the role of the SRY gene (found in the Y Chromosome) ?
Causes the androgen (testosterone) to develop testes in the womb.
Testosterone has been linked with aggression within both males and females.
What are the role of hormones?
Hormones shape our behavior and physical characteristics.
They work on brain development and reproductive development prenatally.
At puberty, there is a secondary burst of hormones that cause sexual characteristics to develop.
What is the role of testosterone ?
Testosterone controls male sex organ development and is linked to aggression in both genders.
Evidenced by Van de Poll.
What is the role of oestrogen ?
Oestrogen controls female sex organs and menstruation.
PMT leads to increased emotion, irritability, and aggression.
What is the role of oxytocin?
Oxytocin controls lactation and bonding. Women stimulate higher levels than males, which may explain the need that women feel for intimacy.
What is Congenital Adrenal Hypoplasma and how does it affect development?
Congenital Adrenal Hypoplasma (CAH) is a rare prenatal condition where high levels of testosterone in females lead to ambiguous genitalia in newborn girls. Referred to as TomBoys.
How does the Bruce/Brenda case offer support to the biological explanation of gender ?
Dr Money believed in the ‘Theory of Neutrality’ which is the belief that nurture overrides nature. This was disproved by Bruce/Brenda as this individual was originally born a boy but was brought up and forced to be a girl however during later life turned back to male (his original gender). This suggests that there is something innate at play which determines gender.
What did Van de Poll find/do ?
Van de Poll injected female rats with testosterone which led to an increase of aggressive behaviour within these rats, clearly associating testosterone with aggression.
What did Van Goozen find regarding aggression in male to female transsexuals ?
Van Goozen found that males which turn into female transsexuals have lower levels of aggression whereas females who turn into male transsexuals have higher levels of aggression. This demonstrates that testosterone is linked to aggression and more ‘male’ behaviour.
What did Tricker find regarding testosterone and aggression?
Tricker gave male participants 10 weekly injections of testosterone or a placebo. There were no significant differences found in behavior which suggests that testosterone doesn’t lead to aggression.
How is the biological approach deterministic ?
The biological approach is 100% nature and ignores SLT explanations. There is research to suggest that our sex related behavior is caused by observing and imitating role models in our environment. Therefore this explanation CANNOT explain cultural differences in gender related behaviour as it doesn’t explain changes in behavior within today’s society.
How is the biological explanation to gender reductionist ?
This explanation is reductionist because it reduces the complexities of our gender down to genes, hormones and chromosomes. It ignores any thought processes as well as the influence our environment can have in shaping our behavior.
