Gender

• Gender


  The psychological traits of masculinity and femininity
• Sex


  Whether a person is biologically male or female (i.e. what sex organs and chromosomes they have)
• Gender


  Whether a person is psychologically masculine and/or feminine (i.e. how they act and what they identify as)
• Sex-role stereotypes


  • Women are more nurturing than men
  • Men are more aggressive than women
  • Men like football, women don't
  • Caring for children is women's work, men do the DIY
  • Pink is a girl's colour, blue is a boy's colour
• Some sex-role stereotypes are valid, others have no basis in biology and are entirely created by culture
• Androgyny


  When someone has a mix of both feminine and masculine traits
• Bem sex-role inventory


  A self-report method that measures a person's masculine and feminine traits
• Personality types in Bem sex-role inventory

  • Masculine: High masculinity and low femininity
  • Feminine: High femininity and low masculinity
  • Androgynous: High masculinity and high femininity
  • Undifferentiated: Low masculinity and low femininity
• Chromosomes


  Carry genetic information, the 23rd chromosome pair determines biological sex
• Klinefelter's syndrome


  • Affects roughly one in 750 males, caused by having XXY chromosomes instead of XY
• Turner's syndrome


  • Affects roughly one in 5,000 females, caused by having only one X chromosome
• Hormones


  Chemicals produced in the body by glands, affect gender development
• Testosterone


  The primary sex hormone in males, higher levels contribute to stereotypical male behaviours
• Estrogen


  The primary sex hormone in females, higher levels contribute to stereotypical female behaviours
• Oxytocin


  The 'love hormone', associated with bonding, nurturing, trust, and sociability, typically higher in women
• Cognitive explanations of gender development


  See gender resulting from active changes in thought over time as a child grows up
• Kohlberg's theory


  A cognitive explanation of gender development
• Gender schema theory


  A cognitive explanation of gender development
• A potential negative consequence of biological explanations of gender development is that it could reinforce harmful stereotypes
• If males have a slight advantage in spatial reasoning on average, it might cause society to discriminate against women entering fields that require spatial reasoning (e.g. engineering) even if the woman is equally or more able than the average man
• A lot of evidence for the role of hormones in gender development comes from animal studies and so the results might not apply to humans
• Cognitive explanations of gender development

  See gender resulting from active changes in thought over time as a child grows up (as opposed to social learning theory, which says gender is just passively observed and imitated)
• Kohlberg's theory of gender development


  Based on Piaget's theory of cognitive development, arguing that gender development occurs alongside general development in thinking that comes with age
• Kohlberg's stages of gender development

  1. Gender identity (18 months - 3 years)

  2. Gender stability (3 - 5 years)

  3. Gender constancy (>6 years)
• Gender identity


  The child identifies themself as male or female and can categorise others as male or female, but does not recognise the stability of gender
• Gender stability


  The child realises that their gender is stable, i.e. that they will remain the same gender for life, but may not apply this same stability to others
• Gender constancy


  The child realises that theirs and other people's gender is permanent and constant over time and in different situations despite superficial changes
• After the child reaches gender constancy, they seek out and imitate role models who match their gender
• Strengths of Kohlberg's theory

  • Evidence supporting Kohlberg's theory
  • Holistic - compatible with biological and social explanations
• Weaknesses of Kohlberg's theory

  • Conflicting evidence - children's gender development happens earlier than Kohlberg's theory suggests
  • Methodological concerns - validity of Kohlberg's theory based on interviews with young children
  • Other factors - a truly holistic account will include biological and social influences
• Gender schema theory


  Children start developing gender schema - mental frameworks to understand gender - at around 2-3 years old, and use these schemas to make sense of the world and affect their behaviour
• Gender schema theory differs from Kohlberg's theory in that it argues children behave in gendered ways from a much earlier age
• Strengths of gender schema theory

  • Evidence supporting gender schema theory
  • Predictive power - people are biased towards information that fits their pre-existing schema
• Weaknesses of gender schema theory

  • Conflicting evidence - children demonstrate gender-typical behaviour before forming gender schema
  • Schema may not change behaviour - many couples with gender-equal values still organise roles stereotypically
• Psychodynamic explanations of gender development

  Focus on unconscious conflicts between different aspects of the mind, like Freud's psychoanalytic theory
• Freud's explanation of male gender development (Oedipus complex)

  1. Child develops sexual attraction to opposite-sex parent and dislike of same-sex parent

  2. Child identifies with same-sex parent to resolve this conflict

  3. Child internalises same-sex parent's personality and gender
• Freud's explanation of female gender development (Electra complex)

  1. Girl believes she has been castrated and desires a penis, develops desire for father and dislike of mother

  2. Girl represses feelings for mother and identifies with her instead

  3. Girl internalises mother's personality and gender
• Strengths of psychodynamic explanations

  • Evidence supporting psychodynamic explanations, like Freud's case study of Little Hans
• Weaknesses of psychodynamic explanations

  • Methodological concerns - case studies involve subjective interpretation
  • Unscientific - unconscious concepts are difficult to observe and measure
  • Conflicting evidence - children show gender awareness earlier than Freud's theory suggests
  • Gender bias - theory is androcentric and focused on male development
• Social learning theory explanation of gender development

  Gender results from observation and imitation of gender role models, which can be reinforced through praise or punishment