gender

• androgyny AO1

  • involves having male and female characteristics
  • Bem argues androgynous invididuals have a different cognative style and adopt different relevent behaviours independant of gender concepts
  • BEM SEX ROLE INVENTORY - surveyed 100 stanford undergrad students on which traits they find desirable for each sex
  • self report survey : 60 items on 7 point likert scale. 20 sterotypically masculine, feminine and gender neutral
  • categories: masculine (high m low f) feminine (high f low m) androgynous (both high) undifferentiated (both low)
• androgyny ao3

  Most adjectives in the BSRI are socially desirable, so people with

  high self esteem score higher overall than people with low self esteem.

  So the scale may measure self esteem (an intervening variable)

  rather than androgyny.

  In addition, positive response bias leads some people to score all

  their responses highly.

  results may not be a true measure of androgyny
• ANDROGYNY AO3

  The BSRI could be considered to lack temporal validity. The adjectives

  used were selected in the 1970s.

  400 undergraduates to rate the BSRI

  items, and only 2 terms were still endorsed as masculine and feminine

  these were the words masculine and feminine.

  All other items failed to reach 75% agreement.

  This suggests that people’s attitudes have changed over time and the

  BSRI is no longer valid.
• ANDROGYNY AO3

  research support for androgyny being psychologically healthy.

  100 married women in India were tested . Women with higher masculinity scores had lower scores for depression, anxiety, stress and

  physical health issues. Those with high femininity scores were less healthy.

  a different scale was used not BSRI
• CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES AO1

  • chromosomes : 23 pairs, female - xx male- xy

  every foetus develops female genetalia but differentiates into vulva vagina and testes penis after 3 months - due to y gene sex determining

  • Hormones: testostrone - surges during puberty - creates secondary sexual characteristics eg deep voice.

  produced in adreneline glands of both sexes - relates to sex drive. women produce 10% of what men have

  • Oestrogen -found in women during puerty - secondary sexual characteristics -breasts, menstruation, body hair. during cycle women experience heightened emotions (PMT)
• CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES AO3

  evidence for the role of testosterone in gender related behaviour.

  XX females exposed prenatally to androgens later show more tomboyish behaviour.

  Female monkey exposed prenatally to testosterone were more aggressive. Although generalising from non-human animals to humans is problematic as humans are more subject to social and cultural influences than animals.

  androgens may influence brain development.
• CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES AO3

  limitation is that there is an overemphasis on nature.

  SLT points to social context in learning our gender identity and role,

  suggesting it is not considered when focusing on biology.

  The biological explanation cannot easily explain cross-cultural differences. In Western society genders are becoming more androgynous but this is less so elsewhere.

  This suggests that there is too much of an emphasis on nature in

  this approach to fully understand sex and gender.
• CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES AO3

  Evidence for the role of hormones also comes from males who do

  not have a penis who are sometimes raised as females.

  14 intersex males raised as females eight had reassigned themselves by age 16.

  David Reimer’s penis was damaged as a baby and he was raised as a

  girl but was unhappy and later transitioned to a male.

  biological factors have a key role in gender development.
• ATYPICAL CHROMOSOME PATTERNS AO1

  • klinefelters - 1 in 750 males. XXY chromosomes

  Reduced body hair, Some breast development at puberty, Long gangly limbs

  Poorly developed language skills and reading ability, Tend to be passive, shy and lack interest in sexual activity

  • turners - 1 in 5000 women. XO chromosome

  no menstrual cycle, no breasts, low set ears, webbed neck.

  high reading ability, Performance on spatial, visual memory, mathematical tasks is poor, socially immature
• ATYPICAL CHROMOSOME PATTERN AO3

  limitation of the research into atypical sex chromosome patterns is that the samples are unrepresentative and atypical.

  individuals with unusual conditions, particularly those with conditions

  that impact upon their physical appearance, are unlikely to be treated the same way as their peers.

  it is difficult to tell apart contribution of nature and nurture to gender differences.

  this makes it difficult to generalise from the cases studied to the wider population as it is likely that life experiences may play a significant role.
• ATYPICAL CHROMOSOME PATTERN AO3

  limitation of the research into atypical sex chromosome patterns is

  the lack of causal relationship.

  It’s possible that the impacts of environmental/social influences are

  more important than the research suggests.

  For example, social immaturity in females with Turner’s syndrome may

  be due to the way others respond to their physical immaturity rather than to a biological cause related to their chromosomes.

  can't assume differences are purely down to nature
• ATYPICAL CHROMOSOME PATTERN AO3

  One strength of the research into atypical sex chromosome patterns is

  its contribution to the nature-nurture debate.

  Comparing chromosomes-typical and atypical individuals highlights

  psychological and behavioural differences.

  From such results we might infer that these differences have a

  biological basis resulting from the abnormal chromosomal structure.

  This adds to our understanding of the nature-nurture debate and

  suggests that innate influences have a powerful effect on psychology and behaviour.
• COGNATIVE - KHOLBERG AO1

  children gradually develop the ability to think about gender through stages as they become more able of understanding complex thought

  1. 2-3 - GENDER LABELLING - can identify themselves and others based of appearance. long hair, dress = girl
  2. 4 - GENDER STABILITY - understand that girls grow into women and boys grow into men. stable view over situations and would be confused by external changes. eg man with long
  3. 6 - gender consistency - realise gender is constant throughout all situations. able to learn gender appropriate behaviour
• COGNATIVE - KHOLBERG AO3

  research support for gender stability

  a study had found young children thought a doll in a dress was female despite it showing male genitalia
• COGNATIVE - KHOLBERG AO3

  Research evidence supports Kohlberg’s three stages.

  young children questions like: ‘Were you a little girl or boy when you were a baby?’ and found that children didn’t recognise gender stability until 3-4 years old.

  Also children who scored highly on stability and constancy showed

  greater interest in same sex models.

  This supports Kohlberg’s developmental stages and his prediction

  that children who have achieved constancy will pay more attention to

  same sex models.
• COGNATIVE - KHOLBERG AO3

  limitation - Kohlberg’s theory is that the ages may need adjusting.

  a study had found gender constancy appeared as young as 5.

  This may be because children have a lot more exposure to gender

  information nowadays, for example through the media.
• GENDER SCHEMA THEORY

  1. 2-3 - children develop a gender identity and search environment to develop schemas
  2. 6 - understand ingroup and have schemas based on fixed stereotypes of their own gender - i am a boy, i like cars
  3. 8- understanding of ingroup and outgroup - develop elaborate schemas of both genders, identify more with ingroup to boost self esteem - boys are better then girls
• GENDER SCHEMA THEORY AO3

  recent research indicates that gender identity may form even earlier.

  a researcher observed children playing and concluded that they were using gender labels by 19 months.

  children may show gender-typed preferences even earlier than this.
• GENDER SCHEMA THEORY AO3

  Gender schemas are supported by research showing children pictures

  inconsistent with stereotypes.

  children under 6 remembered more gender consistent pictures (female teacher, male firefighter) than gender inconsistent ones (female chemist, male nurse).

  Schemas even caused distortions of memories so that children shown a boy holding a doll described it as a girl.

  evidence support
• GENDER SCHEMA THEORY AO3

  reasearch support

  4-9 year olds were told that gender neutral items (burglar alarms, pizza

  cutters) were boy or girl items.

  The children took a greater interest as items labelled as ‘ingroup’.

  They also remembered more of the ‘ingroup’ objects a week later.

  shows how gender schemas help children to organise new

  information in memory and therefore supports their existence in

  gender development.
• PSYCHOANALYTIC - FRUED AO1

  Freud suggested that children pass through psychosexual stages of development.

  • In the first 2 (oral and anal), a child is perceived as bisexual as gender identity is not existing and there is no difference between boys and girls.
  • However when they reach the phallic stage where the libido energy is focussed on the genitals, gender identity occurs through completion of either the Oedipus or Electra complex.
• PSYCHOANALYTIC - FRUED AO1

  OPEDIUS COMPLEX - incestous feelings towards mum, hatred for dad. rival for mums affection but scared dad will castrate. gives up feelings for mum and identifies with dad . internalises gender

  ELECTRA COMPLEX - The girl sees herself in competition with the mother for her fathers affection. then resentments mother as the girl believes she has no penis of her own as the mother removed her penis when she removed her own - penis envy. penis desire then becomes desire for a baby. gives up her desire for her father in fear she will lose the love of her mother.
• PSYCHOANALYTIC - FRUED AO3

  psychodynamic theory of gender development lacks predictive

  validity.

  It predicts that children in one-parent families or with same-sex parents

  will have difficulty acquiring a gender identity or normal gender-role

  behaviour, which is not supported by evidence.

  children of lesbian parents develop gender identities in a similar way to children of heterosexual parents and have normal social relationships.

  opedius and electra complex may be inaccurate
• PSYCHOANALYTIC - FRUED AO3

  Feminists dismiss Freud’s idea of inferior female development due to penis envy.

  Freud admitted that he didn’t really understand women.

  many people object to the idea that children experience sexual drives at a young age.

  penis envy can be considered as a symbolic envy of male power rather than taken literally
• PSYCHOANALYTIC - FRUED AO3

  An alternative psychodynamic explanation could be used to better explain gender development.

  mothers and daughters are closer because they are the same sex, whereas boys become more independent. This is supported by observations that mother-daughter pairs play more closely.

  boys and girls attempt to identify with the father but only sons

  succeed.

  The advantage of this alternative explanation is that it does not predict

  problems in families with same-sex parents.