Gender

• Androgyny


  Displaying both traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics
• Atypical Gender Development


  Any non-cis gender development. This could be due to abnormal chromosomes and/or abnormal hormone exposure in the womb, which results in a mismatch between gender identity and biological sex.
• Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)


  Used to measure the degree of femininity, masculinity, or androgyny that a person exhibits
• Chromosomes


  Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes - linked to gender development. XX (female) and XY (male).
• Electra Complex


  Conflict during phallic stage in which girls supposedly love their fathers romantically and want to eliminate their mothers as rivals
• Freud's theory of gender development

  Gender development takes place during the third stage of his psychosexual theory of personality development. He called this the phallic stage, which occurs between three and six years old. During this stage, the child's libido is focused on his or her genitals.
• Gender


  In psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female
• Gender Identity


  The first stage in Kohlberg's cognitive explanation of gender development. A child typically reaches the gender identity stage by the age of 2, when they recognize that they are male or female and can correctly label their own and other peoples' gender. Children base these judgements on outward appearance only: hairstyle, clothing, etc. Children also lack realisation that gender is fixed, so a little boy might think that he will grow up to be a 'mummy'.
• Gender Identity Disorder


  The previous term for Gender Dysphoria
• Gender dysphoria


  The condition of feeling one's emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one's biological sex.
• Gender Schema Theory


  Explains how individuals become gendered in society. Once children form a basic gender identity they start to develop gender schemas.
• Gender Stability


  The second stage in Kohlberg's cognitive explanation of gender development. It occurs at around 4 years old and continues until a child is approximately 7. In this stage, children recognise that gender is consistent over time, and that boys grow into men, and girls grow into women
• Hormones


  The body's chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream and influence many different processes. The same sex hormones exist in both males and females, but they differ in terms of quantity and the effect that they have upon different parts of the body. Testosterone, Oxytocin, Oestrogen.
• Identification


  Occurs when a person adopts an attitude or behaviour due to a desire to associate with a particular person or group. This is an important concept in Freud's psychodynamic explanation of gender development: the Oedipus complex is resolved when a boy identifies with his father and then internalises his father's gender identity.
• Klinefelter's


  tAtypical sex chromosome, XXY, results from two or more X chromosome in males - males with female charactersitics e.g. female breast tissue
• Kohlberg's theory


  Cognitive developmental approach which emphasises the role of thinking or cognition in the development of gender. The basic principle of Kohlberg's theory is that a child's understanding of gender develops with age (due to maturation).
• Media Influence on Gender

  Changes in behaviour that are attributed to exposure to media, such as film, TV, books and magazines. The media tends to portray males and females in stereotypical ways (e.g. males as independent and directive, and females as unambitious and emotional)
• Oedipus complex


  According to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father- occurs in the Phallic Stage
• Oxytocin


  A hormone released by the pituitary gland that causes increased contraction of the uterus during labor and stimulates the ejection of milk into the ducts of the breasts. The 'love' hormone.
• Sex


  The biological differences that distinguish males from females
• Sex-role Stereotypes


  The shared expectations within a society or social group regarding what is appropriate behaviour for men and women. Stereotypes are fixed beliefs about a particular group of people (e.g. men are strong; women are caring) and roles are the behaviours individuals show in a particular situation, which are affected by expectations (e.g. males being heroic; females caring for children or elderly relatives).
• Social Learning Theory


  States that individuals develop gender by imitating role models and through vicarious reinforcment.
• Testosterone


  The most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty
• Turner's Syndrome


  A chromosomal disorder in females in which either an X chromosome is missing, making the person XO instead of XX, or part of one X chromosome is deleted.
• Mediational processes


  Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response. Attention, Retention, Motivation, Reproduction, Self Efficacy.