gender

• gender & sex A01:
• sex and gender A01:

  sex is biological and determined by the genetic makeup i.e XX/XY

  biological sex is innate and cannot be changed

  gender is a psychological status either male or females its focused by attitudes and beliefs/roles associated with being male or female

  gender dysphoria is when biological sex doesnt make up how a individual feels inside

  gender reassignment is surgery that allows people to bring their sexual identity in line with their gender identitiy
• androgyny A01:

  Androgyny is displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in ones personality

  individuals who have androgynous personalities are better adapted to a range of situations
• measuring androgyny & the BSRI

  the bem sex role inventory items are masculine feminine or neutral

  BSRI has 60 questions and a 7 point Likert scale

  20 masculine 20 feminine and 20 neutral items

  in total theres 4 catagories that can be made from answers:

  masculine - high score on masculine traits low on feminine

  feminine - low score on masculine high on feminine

  androgynous - high score on both masculine & feminine

  undifferentiated - low score on both masculine and feminine
• androgyny and BSRI A03:

  + bsri is found to be reliable as it was developed by 50 male and 50 females judging 200 traits in terms of gender desirability and only the top 20 were used

  
  

  -bsri has cultural bias as it was an american study and was created in america so its subjective to western approach non western countries would associate some traits as more feminine or more masculine
• the role of chromosomes/hormones A01

  chromosomes are made from DNA genes humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes males have XX females XY

  the Y chromosomes contain a gene called the sex determining gene SRY
• the role of chromosomes/hormones A01:

  testosterone - controls the development of male sex organs

  if males produce less or no testosterone then no male sex organs appear high testosterone is linked to agression

  oestrogen - controls female sexual characteristics including menstruation during the menstrual cycle

  oxytocin - hormones to do with lactation & bonding

  women have higher oxytocin levels than men

  higher oxytocin levels explain why females are more interested in intimacy relationships than males
• the role of chromosomes and hormone A03:

  -one limitation of of chromosomes and hormones is that they ignore social factors focusing more on biological factors
• atypical sex chromosomes patterns A01:

  Klinefelter's syndrome:

  affects 1:500/1000 males

  its an additional X chromosome (XXY)

  2/3 unaware they have it

  physical symptoms:

  breast development reduced body hair underdeveloped genitals

  psychological symptoms:

  poorly developed language symptoms lacks interest in sexual activity
• atypical sex chromosome patterns A01:

  Turners syndrome:

  affects 1:5000 females

  absence of X chromosomes (XO) instead of (XX)

  45 chromosomes rather than 46

  Physical symptoms:

  webbed neck no menstrual cycle

  psychological symptoms:

  higher than average reading abilitiy

  socially immature
• atypical sex chromosome patterns A03:

  + one strength of atypical sex chromosomes syndrome is the contribution to nature/nurture as by seeing who has atypical and who has typical chromosomes we are able to compare the psychological/behavioural differences

  +another strength of atypical sex chromosomes is the ability to manage the syndromes as continued research into the syndromes allows their to be diagnosis into the the two syndromes as well as positive outcomes
• cognitive explanations: Kohlberg's theory A01:

  kohlbergs theory is a cognitive development approach as a child thinks about their gender its emphasised its developed over time

  kohlbergs 3 stages of gender devlopment:

  stage 1 - gender identity (2 years of age)

  stage 2 - (gender stability ( 4 years of age)

  stage 3 - gender consistency ( 6 years of age)
• cognitive explanations : Kohlberg's theory A01:

  stage 1 gender identity -(2yrs)- children can correctly identify themselves as boy or girl at 3yrs they can identify other gender but knowledge is limited

  stage 2 gender stability -(4yrs)- children realise they stay the same gender for a long time they struggle to apply this knowledge though

  as they can see a male with long hair and think its a girl

  stage 3 gender consistency -(6yrs)-

  children now recognises that gender remains consistent and can apply it gender consistency is where the children begin to find gender appropriate role models
• cognitive explanations: kohlbergs theory A03:

  + one strength resarch support a group of children were shown a video of a boy playing with a doll there was 2 groups one being 6yrs olds the other 4yrs olds the 4yr olds thought it was fine the 6yrs old thought it was wrong

  -one limitation is methodology supporting studies BEM suggested that children were confused by the change in appearance because of cultural democratics i.e hair clothes/etc
• gender schema theory A01:

  gender schema - an organised set of beliefs /expectations related to gender that comes from experience

  • understanding gender increases with age gender schema is developed at gender identity
  • using gender schema gender scripts are created
  • using gender schema and scripts they begin to pay more attention to a set of actions associated with their own sex
  • children have better understanding with schemas related to their own gender
• gender schema theory A03:

  + one strength is research support children are more likley to remember gender consistent behaviours
• psychodynamic explanations of gender development A01:

  psychodynamic theory states childhood events have great influence on adult life as childhood events remain in the unconscious

  freud said as we go through development we encounter conflicts which occur at each stage

  child has unconscious sexual desire for opposite sex parents

  fears the same sex parent

  (Castration anxiety) - boys fear punishment from fathers for desire of mothers

  (penis envy)- girls think they has a penis removed and blames mother
• psychodynamic explanations of gender development A01:

  frued said theres 5 biological drives gender occurs at the phallic stage before this theres no concept of gender so after the Oedipus complex and electra complex where children realise their gender they then identify with the same sex parent
• psychodynamic explanations of gender development A03:

  + one strength is research support for the Oedipus complex for boys normal development depends on being raised by one male father in a study of 49 boys 75% were conducted gender disturbed theres boys has no father influence suggesting being raised by no father has a negative influence on gender identity

  -one limitation is that most of freuds thoughts are untestable
• social learning theory and gender development A01:

  behaviour such as gender is learned through observation&reinforcment

  direct reinforcement - is when boys/girls are reinforced for certain behaviours i.e boys being active girls cleaning

  indirect reinforcement/vicarious - gender behaviours are reinforced positively/negatively by others if a boy is teased for being feminine he is less likley to be feminine
• social learning theory& gender development A01:

  children identify with role models preferably same sex identifying with them and acting like them

  the 4 mediational processes of slt are implimented in gender devlopment

  attention - a boy watching his fav footballer

  retention - remebering the footballers skills

  motivation - desire to be like the footballer

  motor reproduction - the boy reproduces the skill
• social learning theory & gender development A03:

  + one strength is research support for differential reinforcement a study was conducted where babies 4-6months were dressed half the time in boys clothes half the time in girls babies assumed to be boys were encouraged to be adventurous babies assumed to be girls were encouraged to be given a doll suggesting that gender appropriate behaviours is stamped in at a early age

  -one limitation is of slt to explain gender development is that it does not explain the development process children who are 2 cant learn the same way a 9yr old can learn
• influence of culture and gender roles A01:

  nature - if gender behaviour is consistent across all cultures we consider it biological

  nurture - if gender behaviour is culturally specific we consider is due to socialisation

  buss found cultural similarities as consistent mate preferences in 37 countries women wanted wealthy men and men wanted physical attractiveness

  mead found cultural differences some women in some countries were dominant and males were passive vice versa
• influence of culture and gender roles A03:

  + following mead and buss research in industrialised environment women are more active when it comes to the work place but in a traditional society women are more house wifes suggesting culture does have an impact on gender roles

  -meads research has been critiscied as she looked into different tribes in samoa and another researcher said mead mis catagorised them
• the influence of media on gender roles A01:

  children are most likley to imitate same sex media role models this maximises the chance of gender appropriate behaviours being reinforced

  bussey and bandura found that the media provides rigid stereotypes

  men are independent and females are dependent