gender

• gender definition


  the psychological and cultural differences between males and females in attitudes, behaviours, and roles. a person in terms of their degree of masculinity and femininity.
• sex definition


  biological fact of being a man or a woman - the biological differences between males and females.
• sex-role stereotypes


  a set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is expected or appropriate for males and females in a given society
• Imperato-McGinley et al (1974)- Batista boys


  AO1: unactive hormones only released during puberty caused 4 girls to 'change' sex by growing penises, all the 'girls' felt male before the change

  AO2: suggests gender is biological

  AO3: (-)very unique case (lacks population validity), (-) culturally biased
• Madhura Ingalhalikar et al (2004)


  AO1: used brain scanning techniques on 949 brains to test sex role stereotypes, finding females are better at multitasking (etc)

  AO2: suggests gender is fixed (nature) and that gender stereotypes are based on sex

  AO3: (+) generalisable, (+) replicable, (-) lack of detail as to why
• The case of Sasha

  AO1: 5-year-old boy whose parents raised him as gender neutral, his gender kept a secret from everyone

  AO2: suggests gender is fluid and can be decided (nurture)

  AO3: (-) case study, (-) unethical - mother faced issues via backlash
• Androgyny


  displaying a balance of masculine and feminine traits in ones personality
• Sandra Bem (1974)


  AO1: suggested high androgyny to be associated with psychological well-being, composed the BSRI - respondents rate themselves on the level of truth that a sex-stereotypical word applies to them (20 feminine, masculine and neutral in total)

  AO2: high masculine and low feminine = masculine, low masculine and high feminine = feminine, high masculine and high feminine = androgynous, low masculine and low feminine = undifferentiated

  AO3: (+) reliable and replicable, (-) quantitative, (-) no insight to degree of androgyny, (-) investigator effects
• chromosomes


  found in the nucleus of living cells and carrying information in the form of genes, the 23rd pair determining biological sex
• hormones


  biochemical substances that circulate in the bloodstream and only affect target organs
• Hines (1994)


  AO1: studied children between the ages of 3 and 8 with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (excess prenatal exposure to testosterone)

  AO2: only minor differences found between girls with CAH and the control group, limits the biological explanation for gender
• Deady et al (2006)


  AO1: investigated 25 child-free women and asked them about their attitudes towards children, measured the women's testosterone levels

  AO2: women with higher testosterone levels had lower maternal drives

  AO3: supports the biological explanation for gender
• Money et al (1972) - David Reimer


  AO1: twin boys born, one had his penis turned into a vagina after a botched circumcision, parents continued to raise him as a girl

  AO2: Reimer faced many mental health issues - which were resolved after he discovered he was a male and 'transitioned' back

  AO3: (-) UNETHICAL, supports the biological explanation for gender
• limitations of the biological explanation for gender

  reductionist, animal studies tend to be difficult to generalise to humans
• Klinefelter's syndrome


  chromosomal pattern: XXY

  physical characteristics: reduced body hair, breast development (gynecomastia) , long limbs, susceptible to breast cancer

  psychological characteristics: poorly developed language skills, lack of interest in sexual activities, shyness, poor handling of stress

  who it affects: 1 in 600 men
• Turner's syndrome


  chromosomal pattern: X0

  physical characteristics: no menstrual cycle, webbed neck, low hip-to-waist ratio, low set ears

  psychological characteristics: higher than average reading ability, socially immature, struggle relating to peers

  who it affects: 1 in 5000 women
• evaluation of atypical sex chromosomes

  (+) research has allowed for early intervention and hormone treatments, (-) lacks population validity, (-) research ignores individual differences, (-) reductionist
• Lawrence Kohlberg (1966)


  a cognitive-developmental theory of gender that is based on the idea that a child's understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age - due to biological maturation
• gender identity stage (Kohlberg)


  understanding of gender mainly revolves around labels, at the age of two children can correctly identify themselves as male or female, at three they are able to label others
• gender stability stage (Kohlberg)


  children begin to realise that people remain the same gender throughout their lives at around four years of age, they struggle to comprehend gender when people do not follow sex role stereotypes
• gender constancy stage (Kohlberg)


  around the age of six children recognise gender remains constant across time and situations - no longer fooled by outwards appearance
• evaluation of Kohlberg's gender identity theory 


  (+)Damon 1977, (+)Slaby and Frey 1975, (-) supporting research relies on unsatisfactory methods to asses gender constancy, (-) different degrees of gender constancy
• Damon (1977)


  concluded that young children have no concept of gender-appropriate behaviour and that older children have a more developed sense of gender
• Slaby and Frey (1975)


  children who scored highly on both gender stability and constancy showed the greatest interest in same-sex models and therefore attention to gender-appropriate behaviour
• Carol Martin and Charles Halverson (1981)


  cognitive-developmental theory which argues that children's understanding of gender changes with age
• gender schema


  an organised set of beliefs and expectations related to gender that are derived from experience, such schemas guide a person's understanding of their gender and stereotypically gender appropriate behaviour
• in-groups vs out-groups within children


  children tend to have a better understanding of the schema that are appropriate to their in-group, when they grow up they develop an elaborate schema for both genders
• evaluation for gender schema theory


  (-) low temporal validity, (-) relies on nuclear families, (-) doesn't explain why some children reject in-group (deterministic), (+) Bradbard et al (1986), (+) Martin and Little (1990)
• Martin and Little (1990)


  tested children (3-5 years old) on different stages of Kohlberg's gender identity theory, and clothing and toy preferences - they found that children only require gender identity for preferences and knowledge to be influenced
• Bradbard et al (1986)


  when 4-9 year olds were told certain neutral items were boy or girl items they took greater interest for ingroup labelled toys
• Oedipus complex


  how boys resolve their love for their moths and feelings of rivalry towards their fathers
• Electra complex 


  girls resolving their love for their fathers and feelings of rivalry towards their mothers
• the psychodynamic explanation of gender development


  • freud stated that children who haven't reached the phallic stage haven't developed a gender identity and are 'bisexual' in the sense that they are neither masculine nor feminine
  • the focus of please in the phallic stage is the genitals therefore causing the children to undergo the Oedipus/Electra complex
  • Carl Jung suggested that girls identify with their mothers as a result of accepting that they will never have a penis (penis envy)
• evaluation of the psychodynamic explanation for gender development


  (-) lack of research support/evidence, (-) androcentric, (-) lacks temporal validity, (-) relies heavily on nuclear families, (-) unscientific
• Social Learning theory as an explanation for gender identity


  suggests that the source of information is social and that gender development results from observational learning from social agents who model and reinforce gender roles
• gender in the west vs the east

  West= gender expression is more fluid

  East= more rigid traditional gender roles
• Mead (1935)


  studied gender roles and behaviour in three different tribal societies living close to each other in Papa New Guinea:

  Arapesh: put a high value on cooperation, all children raised to be gentle, child-bearing was by both parents

  Mundugmor: hated the whole idea of pregnancy and were more quarrelsome

  Tchambuli: men were regarded as emotional and unfit for leadership while women took care of serious matters.

  All tribes sent the men to war.
• Williams and Best (1990)


  tested 2800 students in 30 different countries using a 300-item adjective checklist, participants were asked to decide whether the adjectives corresponded to men or women. overall women were seen as more nurturant whilst males more aggressive (universal agreement on stereotypes about gender)
• Williams et al (1960s)


  AO1: found that there is a higher level of gender-stereotypical expression in children who have access to multiple TV channels as opposed to children with no TV or only one channel

  AO2: suggests that media influences children to have a more exaggerated expression of gender

  AO3: (-) sample of only Canadian children (ethnocentric), (-) lacks temporal validity, (-) pseudoscientific, (-) not replicable
• gender identity disorder


  a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity, it affects males more than females and an estimated 1 in 11000 have the condition