Gender

Sex

Whether someone is genetically male or female.

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Gender

A person's psychological sense of maleness and femaleness.

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Sex-role stereotypes

A set of fixed beliefs and expectations in a social group about how women should behave. Learned through exposure to views of parents and others. Learning can be implicit (not directly expressed) or implicit (modelling the behaviour of the same-sex).

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Androgyny

Having both male and female characteristics.

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Androgyny - Sandra Bem

Argued it was psychologically more healthy to avoid rigid sex roles; people should adopt male or female behaviours as suits their personality. Stifling personality has a psychological cost - can lead to mental disorder.

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Prakash et al (2010) - Research has found a positive correlation between androgyny and psychological health

Tested married women on masculinity/ femininity and physical and mental health. Found females with high masculinity had lower depression and those with low masculinity had higher depression. Shows androgyny has a psychoprotective effect.

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Liberman and Gaa (1986) - Response bias criticism of BSRI's validity

Analysed the data of students. Found that students classed as androgynous had higher scores than those classed as masculine and feminine. Some had a tendency to select answers at the higher end of Likert scale and so were classed as androgynous.

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Hoffman and Borders (2001) - BSRI lacks temporal validity

A group of students rated the BSRI items as masculine or feminine. Only two items were seen as masculine or feminine (the adjectives masculine and feminine). The rest didn't reach 75% agreement level so the BSRI is no longer relevant.

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Chromosomes

X-shaped bodies that carry all genetic information about an organism.

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Typical chromosome patterns

Everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes. One pair are sex chromosomes which cause people to develop external genitalia and internal genitalia. Embryos look the same but at 3 months old, a male foetus develops external genitalia.

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Klinefelter's syndrome - Atypical sex chromosome patterns

XXY configuration. Born with a penis; develops as a fairly normal male; tend to be taller than average; look less masculine (less facial hair, possible breast tissue) due to reduced levels of testosterone.

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Turner's syndrome - Atypical sex chromosome patterns

X0 chromosome (2nd sex chromosome is partly or completely missing). Born with a vagina or womb; normally shorter than average; doesn't have monthly periods due to underdeveloped ovaries.

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Hormones

The body's chemical messengers which travel through the bloodstream, influencing many different processes. Most gender development is governed by hormones.

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Testosterone

Triggers the development of male genitalia prenatally. Causes the 'default' female gender to be overridden.

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Berenbaum and Bailey (2003) - Testosterone causes the 'default' female gender to be overridden

Found that females exposed prenatally to large doses develop more tomboyish behaviour. Females' brains can be different due to large amounts of testosterone.

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Oestrogen

The default gender is female so males can develop as females unless exposed to testosterone. Oestrogen doesn't direct genitalia development prenatally. Directs the menstrual cycle. Promotes secondary sexual characteristics in puberty.

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Shi et al (2015) - Other prenatal effects of oestrogen

Found that prenatal exposure to testosterone can lead to smaller brain size.

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Oxytocin

Called the 'love' hormone; it promotes feelings of bonding in men and women. Important in breastfeeding; it causes milk to flow in a lactating mother. In women, it dampens the 'fight or flight' response and triggers the 'tend and befriend' response.

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John Money - Challenging biological determinism

Argued that how a child was reared was much more important than biological sex in gender development. Believed intersex people, like David Reimer, could be raised as a boy or girl. David showed a strong male identity.

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Reiner and Gearhart (2004) - Support for biological influences in gender development

Studied 16 genetic males born with no penises. Two were raised as males and remained as males. 14 were raised as females; eight had re-assigned themselves as males by the age of 16.

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Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) - The importance of other factors; the gender outcome for an individual is due to a combination of genes, hormones, sex of rearing and socialisation

** females have prenatally high levels of male hormones which cause varying degrees of external male genitalia. When gender is assigned at birth, it is accepted by some but not others.

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Stage 1: Gender labelling - 2-3 years old

Can label themselves and others as male or female. This is based on outward appearances (hairstyle and clothes). When appearances change, gender labels will change. Piaget described children's way of thinking as pre-operational; superficial logic.

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Stage 2: Gender stability - 4 years old

Recognise that gender is consistent over time but don't understand that gender is consistent across situations. Piaget described children as lacking conservation; if a person is wearing a dress, they must be a girl.

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McConaghy (1979) - Children's lack of conservation in gender stability

Found that when children under 5 were shown a drawing of a doll wearing a dress and male genitals could be seen through the dress, they decided the doll was female.

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Stage 3: Gender constancy - 6 years old

They understand that gender is constant across situations and they start to learn about gender-appropriate behaviour.

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Thompson (1975) - Support for gender labelling

Found that 2 years olds were 76% correct in identifying their sex; 3 year olds were 90% correct. Children were increasingly able to label themselves.

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Slaby and Frey (1975) - Support for gender stability

Asked young children questions e.g. 'When you grow up, will you be a mummy or a daddy?' Children's answers showed they didn't understand gender was stable over time until 3 or 4 years old.

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Slaby and Frey (1975) - Support for gender constancy

Asked different questions e.g. 'If you played football, would you be a boy or a girl?' Found that children who scored high on gender stability and constancy showed greatest interest in same-sex models.

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Bem (1989) - Methodological criticism

Criticised how gender constancy is measured.; judging gender with the knowledge of the person's genitals and clothes. In society, we determine through hairstyle and clothing.

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Martin and Halverson (1983) - Criticism of Slaby and Frey's methodology

Analysed children's responses to Slaby and Frey's questions and judged that the children were in 'pretend' mode; they were not saying what they really thought.

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Slaby and Frey - Age differences

Found that gender constancy appeared at a younger age than Kohlberg suggested, as young as 5.

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Martin and Halverson (1981) - Gender scema theory

Propose two key factors that differentiate their theory from Kohlberg's: they believe acquiring gender-appropriate information happens before constancy and this acquisition affects later behaviour.

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Schemas - Gender schema theory

Cognitive representations of aspects of the world which organise and structure other information that is presented to children. They learn what toys to play with and what clothes they should wear. Learn gender schemas from children and adults.

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Ingroup

Groups with which a person identifies.

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Ingroup and outgroup schemas - Gender schema theory

Causes children to positively evaluate their group and negatively evaluate the outgroup which enhances their self-esteem. Motivates a child to be like their group; they seek info about what their group does

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Resilience of gender beliefs - Gender schema theory

Gender beliefs cause children to hold very fixed gender attitudes as they ignore info which isn't consistent with ingroup information. Gender schemas affect what is remembered and our perceptions of the world.

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Peer relationships - Gender schema theory

When children play with other children, they believe boys and girls have different interests. Children learn to avoid the opposite sex as they are 'not like me'; are less fun to play with. They learn the consequences of different social relationships

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Martin and Little (1990) - Support for the acquiring of gender schemas before achieving gender constancy

Found that children under the age of 4 exhibited strong gender stereotypes about what girls and boys should do even though they showed no signs of gender stability or constancy.

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Martin and Halverson (1983) - Support for gender schemas organising memory

Found that children under 6 had to recall pictures of people, they recalled more gender-consistent ones (male firefighter) rather than gender-inconsistent ones (male nurse). Children pay more attention to info consistent with gender schemas.

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Bradbard et al (1986) - Support for gender schemas organising memory

Told 4-9 year olds that some gender-neutral items were boy or girl items. Found that they took more interest in toys labelled as ingroup and remembered more details about ingroup items. Children pay greatest attention to ingroup rather than outgroup.

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Hoffman (1998) - Children's gender stereotypes may not be that resilent

Found that children whose mothers work have less stereotyped views of what men do. Children are not completely fixed in their views but are receptive to some gender-inconsistent ideas.

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Levin (1921) - Support for the psychodynamic explanation of gender development from case studies

Studied 32 mental patients with manic depression and found that 22 suffered from an unresolved Electra complex and 12 had regressed to early stages of psychosexual development. A link between an unresolved phallic stage and mental health problems.

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Okami et al (1998) - Support for an association between child sexual awareness and later sexual behaviour

Studied children from 6 to 18. Found that girls were more likely to get pregnant if they had seen sexual activity when they were younger. Shows that girls who were exposed to sexual scenes converted their penis envy into a wish for a baby.

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Patterson (2004) - Freud's theory lacks predictive validity; the Oedipus concept suggests children would have difficulty acquiring a gender identity if they have parents of the same sex

Found that gender development was the same regardless of whether parents were same sex or opposite sex.

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Bandura (1991) - SLT as applied to gender development

Claimed that gender role development results from learning from social agents who model and reinforce gender behaviours.

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Indirect reinforcement - SLT as applied to gender development

Children observe others' behaviours and learn the consequences of these behaviours; see examples of gender behaviour at home, school and in the media; learn when behaviours should be repeated through vicarious reinforcement.

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The role of mediational processes - SLT as applied to gender development

Children will repeat behaviours they have observed when the expectation of reward is greater than the expectation of punishment.

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Maintenance through direct reinforcement - SLT as applied to gender development

If a child is rewarded for some gender-related behaviours or see a same-sex person performing a certain behaviour and being rewarded, they are likely to repeat the same action in similar situations again.

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Direct tuition - SLT as applied to gender development

Children learn through explicit instructions about gender-appropriate behaviour. This begins when children acquire linguistic skills.

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Self-direction - Environmental determinism; SLT as applied to gender development

Bandura believed people can direct themselves and are not just shaped by their environment. Once children have internalised gender-appropriate behaviour, behaviour isn't reliant on rewards and punishments, they direct themselves.

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Perry and Bussey (1979) - Support for modelling

Showed videos to 8 and 9 year old children of boys and girls selecting either an apple or a pear. They were given a choice of fruit and they selected the fruit they had seen their same-sex model select.

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Margaret Mead (1935) - Too much emphasis on social process rather than biology; cross-cultural research shows that there are some universals in how men and women behave which supports the role of biology

Studied people in Papau New Guinea and found that men were more aggressive in all groups despite some large variations in gender roles.

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Bussey and Bandura (1992) - Support for self-direction

Showed 3-4 year olds videotapes of children playing with gender-inconsistent toys. Younger children disapproved of others but didn't disapprove of themselves. Older children disapproved of both. Self-regulation increases with age.

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Social learning theory - Cultural and media influences on gender roles

Concerns the role of social factors in gender development. There are two sources of socialisation: culture and media.

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Gender roles - Cultural and media influences on gender roles

The different behaviours, jobs, tasks that men and women take.

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Culture - Cultural influences

Rules, customs, morals and childrearing practices that bind a group together.

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Cultural influences - What are gender roles influenced by?

Genes, hormones, stereotypes, reinforcement, but these are in turn influenced by culture.

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Cultural differences

Gender expectations vary from one culture to another.

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Media - Media influences

Tools that store and distribute information e.g. books, films, TV.

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Bussey and Bandura (1999) - Role models in the media

The media portrays males as independent and those who pursue engaging occupations and hobbies, but women are shown as dependent, unambitious and emotional.

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Hodges et al (1981) - Role models in the media

Men are shown as exercising control over events whereas women are shown at the mercy of others.

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McGhee and Frueh (1980) - Role models in the media; those who have high exposure to gender representations tend to display more stereotypical ideas about gender roles than light viewers

Conducted a 15 month longitudinal study and found that children 25+ hours a week held more sex stereotypes than those who watched 10 hours or less.

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Vicarious reinforcement - Media influences

Media gives info about the likely outcomes of behaviours for males and females. Seeing similar others succeed raises a person's beliefs in their capability whereas seeing similar others fail causes a person to doubt their own ability.

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Counter-sterotypes - Media influences

Media can change gender stereotypes by presenting men or women in unusual roles.

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Pingree (1978) - Counter-stereotypes; Media influences

Found that stereotyping was reduced when children were shown commercials with women in non-traditional roles.

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Eagly and Wood (1999) - Evidence shows that biology is at least as important as cultural influences; Limitation of cultural influences

Argue that physical differences between men and women allow them to perform certain tasks more efficiently - men have greater speed and upper-body strength and women have childrearing and nursing skills.

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Freeman (1984) - Criticisms of Mead's research and other cross-cultural research; Limitation of cultural influences

Criticized Mead's research as indigenous people may tell researchers what they want to hear. He worked with native Samoans who told him they had created a false picture of their behaviour.

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Charlton et al (2000) - Media effects may be insignificant; Limitation of media influences

Looked at the effects of TV on a community previously without it and found no changes in aggressive behaviour. This was because of pre-existing community values which reduced the effect of exposure on media.

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Gender identity disorder (GID)

A psychiatric condition when a person feels uncomfortable with their assigned gender and have a strong identification with the opposite gender.

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Hare et al (2009) - Transsexual gene; Biological explanations of GID

Studied the DNA of 112 MtF transsexuals and found they were more likely to have a longer version of the androgen receptor gene than in a 'normal' sample. This abnormality reduces the action of testosterone and prenatally under-masculines the brain.

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The brain-sex theory - Biological explanations of GID

Male and female brains are different and transsexuals' brains may not match their genetic sex.

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BSTc - The brain-sex theory; Biological explanations of GID

A region of the brain which is in the thalamus. It's twice as large in heterosexual men as in heterosexual women and contains twice the no. of neurons. The size of the BSTc correlates with preferred sex rather than biological sex.

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Dutch studies (Zhou et al, 1995; Kruijver et al, 2000) - BSTc; the brain-sex theory; biological explanations of GID

Found that the no. of neurons in the BSTc of MtF transsexuals were similar to that of females.

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Ramachandran (2008) - Phantom limb and cross-wiring; Biological explanations of GID

Suggested that gender dysphoria is an innate form of phantom limb syndrome.

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Ramachandran and McGeoch (2007) - Phantom limb and cross-wiring; Biological explanations of GID

Proposed that the image of sex organs is innately hardwired in the brain which is opposite to the person's biological sex. This means some males feel they should not have a penis and some females feel they should have one.

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Environmental effects (pesticides) - Biological explanations for GID

Environmental pollution may be causing problems e.g. the pesticide DDT contains oestrogen which means that males are prenatally exposed to high levels of female hormones causing a mismatch between genetic sex and hormone influences.

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Social explanations of GID

How a child is socialised.

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Mental illness - Social explanations of GID

Some psychologists believe that GID is related to mental illness which is linked to some childhood trauma or bad upbringing.

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Coates et al (1991) - Mental illness; Social explanations of GID

Case history of a boy with GID. This was a defensive reaction to his mother's depression following an abortion. Suggests that the trauma have led to a cross-gender fantasy as a means of resolving anxiety.

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Stoller (1975) - Mother-son relationships; Social explanations of GID

Proposed that GID results from distorted parental attitudes. Did interviews with GID individuals and found that they showed overly-close mother-son relationships. Likely to lead to greater female identification and confused gender identity.

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Zucker (2004) - Father-daughter relationships; Social explanations of GID

Females identify as males due to severe paternal rejection in early childhood. Unconsciously, they think that they may gain acceptance from their father if they become male.

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Chung et al (2002) - Criticism of the brain-sex theory

The differences in BSTc volume between men and women doesn't develop until adulthood, whereas most transsexuals report that their feelings of gender dysphoria began in early childhood. The different in BSTc could not be the cause of gender dysphoria.

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Zucker et al (1996) - Support for social explanations

Studied boys diagnosed with GID and their mothers. 64% were diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder compared with 38% whose symptoms were subclinical. Points to some kind of disordered attachment to a mother as a factor in GID.

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Owen-Anderson et al (2010) - Support for social explanations

Found high levels of emotional over-involvement in mothers of boys with GID. Shows that some family psychopathology causes GID.

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Furuhashi (2001) - More than one explanation needed

Studied Japanese male patients with GID and found there were two groups in MtF transsexuals: those who want to be female from childhood ('the core' group) and those whose GID doesn't appear until adolescence (the 'periphery' group).

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Gender

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