Gender

• Sex


  Biologically male or female
• Gender


  Social and psychological characteristics determining how masculine or feminine an individual is
• Androgynous


  Displaying equal levels of masculine and feminine traits
• BSRI


  50M & 50F rated 200 words as feminine or masculine, reduced to 20 words for M, F and neutral. Androgynous = 34%M & 27%F
• BSRI is out of date and not representative of all age groups
• BSRI


  • High test-retest reliability
  • Lacks validity as it is self-report
• Sex Role Stereotypes


  Set beliefs that people hold about appropriate behaviour for M & F
• Sex Role Stereotypes


  • Learnt from birth
  • Seen in media and varies across cultures
  • Influence gender behaviour through the process of socialisation
• Smith and Lloyd study


  Adults treated children differently according to their perceived sex. Boys were encouraged to be more active and were given stereotypical boy toys. Girls were held closer and were given stereotypical girl toys
• Suggests that stereotypical views of masculinity and femininity influence the way children are reared
• Chromosomes


  Females = XX, Males = XY
• Ovaries


  Release oestrogen - regulates menstruation, is vital for fertility and develops secondary sexual characteristics
• Testes


  Release testosterone - develops secondary sexual characteristics
• Oxytocin


  Role in reproductive behaviour and facilitate childbirth and breastfeeding
• Administrating oestrogens shortly after menopause


  Prevents a decrease in verbal memory
• Male rats injected with more testosterone


  Were more aggressive than female rats
• Female rats injected with an antagonist of oxytocin


  Showed a delay in maternal behaviour
• David Reimer proves hormones are more powerful than socialisation when it comes to gender behaviour
• Reductionist and deterministic
• Klinefelter's


  Male with XXY chromosomes - underdeveloped genitalia, some breast development and low fertility levels. Poor language & reading abilities
• Turner's


  Female with XO chromosomes - Short webbed neck, no ovaries, lack of menstruation & infertile. Poor spatial & mathematical abilities. Higher than average verbal ability
• Studying atypical sex chromosomes allows us to see what influence chromosomes have on gender behaviour
• Shows support for the biological explanation for gender as it shows different chromosome patterns lead to systematic differences
• Kohlberg's theory


  Cognitive - assumes gender knowledge increases in line with cognitive abilities
• Stages of Kohlberg's theory

  • Gender identity (2-3): correctly identify and label M/F. Knowledge is fragile & is based on outward appearance, also believes own sex can change.
  • Gender stability (4-6): sex is fixed/stable over time, can't decenter or conserve
  • Gender constancy (7): can decenter & conserve, use genitalia to determine sex, seek out gender role models (self-socialize)
• Children with high gender constancy

  Paid more attention to same-sex role models when shown films of M & F performing gender-stereotypical behavior
• Kohlberg's theory underestimates children's abilities when it comes to gender
• Bandura's bobo doll study suggests children observe & learn from same-sex role models at the age of 3
• Children under the age of 4 showed no signs of gender stability or constancy but showed strong stereotypical views of what M & F are permitted to do, this suggests they acquired info about gender roles before Kohlberg suggested & more in line with gender schema theory
• Schema


  Organised group of related concepts about the world
• Gender schema


  Organised mental structures that contain an understanding of the attributes and behaviours that are appropriate for M & F
• In-group schema


  Schemas for the group you belong to
• Out-group schema


  Schemas for groups you don't belong to
• Children focus on in-group info that strengthens their stereotype, info that is not consistent with this is forgotten or ignored</b>
• Schemas become more complex as the child matures
• Showed children aged 5&6 pics of people carrying out schema consistent & schema-inconsistent activities


  Found recall of schema-consistent was better than schema inconsistent - people change info to fit schema as theory suggests
• Gender schema theory doesn't explain individual differences - why children of the same environmental influence respond differently to gender-appropriate behaviour
• Gender schema theory struggles to account for gender differences in behaviour - why girls are more likely to do masc activities than boys doing fem even tho B & G schemas were the same
• Psychodynamic theory


  Gender development occurs in the phallic stage (3-5yrs)
• Identification


  Child associates themselves with same-sex parents, acquiring their characteristics