Gender Key Terms

• Sex

  Biological differences between males and females including chromosomes, hormones and anatomy
• Gender

  The psychological, social and cultural differences between boys/men and girls/women including attitudes behaviours and social roles
• Gender roles

  Roles that have been assigned specific to gender
• Sex role stereotypes


  A set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is expected or appropriate for males and females in a given society
• Androgyny


  Displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in one's personality
• Bem Sex Role Inventory

  The first systematic attempt to measure androgyny using a rating scale of 60 traits (20 masculine, 20 feminine and 20 neutral) to produce scores across two dimensions: masculinity-femininity and androgynous-undifferentiated.
• Chromosomes

  Found in the nucleus of living cells and carrying information in the form of genes. 23rd pair of chromosomes determines biological sex
• Hormones


  A biochemical substance that circulates in the blood but only affects target organs. They are produced in large quantities but disappears quickly
• Testosterone


  A hormone from the androgen group that is produced mainly in the male testes. Associated with aggressiveness
• Oestrogen


  Primary female hormone important in the development of the menstrual cycle and reproductive system.
• Oxytocin


  A hormone which causes contraction of the uterus during labour and stimulates lactation
• Atypical sex chromosome patterns


  Any sex chromosome pattern that deviates from the usual XX/XY formation and which tends to be associated with a distinct pattern of physical and psychological symptoms.
• Klinefelter's syndrome


  Affecting males in which individuals genotype is XXY characterised by a tall thin physique, small infertile testes and enlarged breasts
• Turner's syndrome


  A chromosomal disorder in which affected women have XO genotype, causing developmental abnormalities and infertility
• Gender identity


  A child recognises that they are a boy or girl and possesses the ability to label others as such in Kohlberg theory gender identity is acquired around age 7
• Gender stability


  Happens around age 4. The child understands that their own gender is fixed and they will be male or female when they are older.
• Gender constancy


  Reached around age 6, a child realises that gender remains the same over time and situations. They begin to identify with people of their own gender and behave appropriately to gender-role stereotypes
• Gender schema


  An organised set of beliefs and expectations related to gender that are derived from experience. Such schema guide a person's understanding of their own gender and gender-appropriate behaviour in general.
• Oedipus complex


  a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
• Electra complex


  a girl's sexual desires toward her father and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival mother
• Identification


  A desire to be associated with a particular person or group often because the person/group possesses certain desirable characteristics
• Internalisation


  An individual adopts the attitudes and/or behaviour of another
• Social learning theory


  A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
• Differential reinforcement


  Rewarding some behaviours in preference to others. A form of selective reinforcement
• Modelling


  Imitating a role model or producing a specific behaviour that may then be imitated by the observer
• Mediational processes


  Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response
• Culture


  The ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society
• Media


  communication, including television, radio, and newspapers, that often reaches and impacts a large audience
• Self-efficacy


  Ones confidence in being able to do something. Such confidence generates expectations and these act as self-fulfilling prophecies
• Cultivation theory


  exposure to media messages over the course of time will change an audience's perception of reality
• Counter stereotypes


  Idea or object that goes against a standardised mental picture that is held in common by members of a group
• Gender dysphoria


  When a person experiences discomfort because there is a mismatch between teheir assigned sex and their gender identity
• Brain sex theory


  suggests dysphoria is caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a person's biological sex
• Socially sensitive research


  Studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research.
• Social constructionism


  The way we understand the world is created through the lens of cultural understanding
• Gender roles


  A set of behaviours and attitudes that are considered typical of one gender and atypical of the other