Gender Development Studies

SEAVEY ET AL. & THE YELLOW BABY

• 3-month old child dressed in yellow

• participating adults told various things

1/3 told child was male

1/3 told child was female

1/3 told no gender identity

• participants had the choice between a ball, a doll and a ring
• participants chose the doll when told child was female
• female participants interacted with gender neutral child, where as males didn't

SHOWS THAT ADULTS ACT DIFFERENTLY WITH CHILDREN DEPENDING ON THE GENDER THE BELIEVE THE CHILD TO BE - SUPPORTS STEREOTYPING THEORY.

URBERG & THE STORIES

• children aged 3,5,7 used
• told stories which consisted of typical gender roles like caring and bravery
• one story showed an adult, one adults and children
• children at 3 were the most rigid in their decisions
• children of 7 were the least rigid in their decisions

SHOWED THAT CHILDREN HAVE CLEAR EXPECTATIONS OF BEHAVIOURS TYPICAL TO EACH GENDER

DELOACHE ET AL. & THE THREE BEARS

• gave parents a 'three bears' story to read to their children
• the bears had no gender

• 62% of bears were labelled as male
• 16% of bears were labelled as female, but only when described to be with younger bears

SHOWS THAT, EVEN WITHOUT GENDER LABELS, MALE CHARACTERS ARE REPRESENTED MORE THAN FEMALE, EXPECT IN FEMININE ROLES

MEAD & THE CULTURES

• Observed both male and female behaviour in Arapesh, Mundugamor and Tchambuli

ARAPESH

• females were gentle and cooperative

MUNDUGAMOR 

• both males and females were aggressive and fierce

TCHAMBULI

• females - decision-makers and providers
• males - emotional and sentimental

SHOWS THAT GENDER-RELATED BEHAVIOUR IS DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT CULTURES

IMPERATO - MCGINLEY ET AL. & THE BATISTA BOYS

• studied the Batista boys
• these boys appeared female at birth but had the male XY sex chromosomes
• during puberty, testosterone levels raised, making the boys physically turn into males
• the men then lived as males, having natural biological children with their wives

SHOWS THAT BIOLOGICAL FACTORS ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO GENDER THAN SOCIAL FACTORS. THE BOYS HAD BEEN BROGHT UP AT FEMALE UNTIL PUBERTY, BUT THIS DID NOT CHANGE THEIR MALE SEX.

MONEY & ERHARDT & BRUCE

• Bruce was accidentally castrated at 7 months
• Money told Bruce's parents to raise Bruce as a female
• Bruce had plastic surgery to give him the appearance of a girl
• He took oestrogen during puberty

• Bruce stopped taking oestrogen at 12 and had plastic surgery to reverse the previous
• he said he had always felt uncomfortable wearing girls' clothes and preferred boys' clothes

SHOWS THAT BIOLOGICAL FACTORS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SOCIAL FACTORS FOR GENDER.

Money used the initial success of this case as evidence for his theory of neutrality, which then proved to be incorrect.

DABBS & THE PRISONERS

• salvia of prisoners was taken to test testosterone levels
• the type of crime and the amount of prison rules broken by the prisoners was recorded

• men with high testosterone levels were more likely to commit violent crimes and break more prison rules

• men with low testerone levels were more likely to commit crimes involving drugs and bugulary and were less likely to break prison rules

SHOWS THAT TESTOSTERONE IS LINKED TO AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR.

TRICKER ET AL. & THE PLACEBO

• using a double-blind study, organised 2 groups of males between 19 and 40
• to one group, he have 600mg of testosterone a week
• to the other, he gave a placebo

• participants and their families were given questionnaires before, during and after treatment to assess aggressiveness

There was found to be no difference in aggressive behavoour between the two groups.

SHOWS THAT TESTOSTERONE IS NOT LINKED TO AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR.

FAGOT & THE PARENTS

• children between 20 and 24 months were observed playing with parents
• typical girls' and boys' toys were available
• reinforcement and punishment from parents were observed

• parents encouraged female children to stay close, ask for help and dress up
• parents discouraged female children from playing roughly, jumping and climbing

• parents encouraged male children to play with typical male toys like bricks
• parents discouraged male children from playing wth dolls

SHOWS THAT PARENTS ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO BEHAVE IN WAYS THAT ARE GENDER-APPROPRIATE.

PERRY & BUSSEY

• showed children 4 men and 4 women
• the men and women chose between two items
• all women chose one item
• all men chose the other item
• the children were then asked which item the liked the best

• children chose the item that was chosen by adults of their own sex

SHOWS THAT CHILDREN COPY THE BEHAVIOUR OF THEIR OWN SEX.

MASTERS ET AL.

• children were shown gender-neutral toys
• they were told the toys were either male or female
• they were then shown videos of men and women playing with each toy
• the children then chose a toy to play with 

The children played with toys they were told were appropriate to their own gender

SHOWS THAT APPROPRIATENESS OF A BEHAVIOUR IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHETHER THE MODEL IS SAME SEX.

SLABY & FREY & KOHLBERG'S THEORY

• carried out the gender concept interview
• tested gender identity, stability and consistency

GENDER IDENTITY

• picture of adults was shown & children asked which gender the adult was

GENDER STABILITY

• children were asked what gender they were when they were little and what gender they would be when grown

GENDER CONSISTENCY

• children were asked whether or not they would remain male or female when wearing opposite-sex clothes

SUPPORTED KHOLBERG'S THEORY, SHOWING UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER DEVELOPS IN AGE-RELATED STAGES.

DAMON & THE GEORGE STORY

• children were read a story about George who liked to play with dolls but was discouraged by his parents
• a range of ages of children was used
• the children were asked whether this was the right thing for his parents to do

• 4 years olds said it was okay for George to play with dolls
• 6 years olds said it was wrong
• 7 year olds said he could if he wanted to, but this was unusual 

SHOWS THAT CHILDREN'S UDERSTANDING OF GENDER-APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR CHANGES WITH AGE. THIS REFLECTS THEIR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT.

BOSTON & LEVY & THE SEQUENCES

• children between 3 and 6 were given a set of 4 pictures
• these pictures were steps of 1 of 2 gender-stereotyped activities
• one set was the sequence for building a birdhouse
• one set was the sequence for cooking dinner

• children could put the sequence of events in the correct order more accurately for tasks appropriate to their own gender

SHOWS THAT THE GENDER SCHEMA IS CORRECT AS THE CHILDREN HAD BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR OWN-GENDER ACTIVITIES THAN OF ACTIVITES OF THE OPPOSITE SEX.

GREEN & THE HOMOS AND TRANNIES

• observed 37 participants between 3 and 20
• these came from atypical households with homosexual or transsexual parents
• clothing preferences, occupational preferences and roles were looked at

• all but 1 of the participants showed typical gender preferences and roles

SHOWS THAT GENDER DEVELOPMENT DOES NOT RELY ON TYPICAL MOTHER AND FATHER ROLES DURING CHILDHOOD, THEREFORE REFUTING FREUD'S THEORY.