Essay Plans
Gender
Paper 3 - Section B
,Sex and gender
Discuss sex-role stereotypes (8)
Para 1 → Outline: Sex role stereotypes (AO1)
● SRS - set of ideas about traits that expected for males / for females
● SRS are generally shared by members of a society/culture
● SRS act as a short-cut to appropriate behaviours in a given context
e.g girls behave in ways they understand to be typically female (VV)
● SRS developed through observation, imitation and reinforcement (SLT)
Para 2 → Application (AO2)
● At 7 children are aware of different expectations of M/F
● Pictures of sex-role stereotypical behaviours are consistent with children’s schema
of what it means to be male or female - will be more acceptable
● Children will rate pictures showing sex-stereotypical behaviours higher
Para 3 → Discussion (AO3)
● Support for parental influence - Smith and Lloyd: gender stereotyping by adults
● Norms have shifted towards less stereotypical child-rearing / gender neutrality
● So sex-role stereotypes have less temporal validity
● Negative effects of stereotypes eg academic / career expectations
● Positive effects of stereotypes - act as a cognitive short-cut
,Androgyny
Discuss androgyny and the BSRI (16) / Discuss Bem's research into androgyny (8)
Discuss the strengths and limitations of Bem’s theories and research (16)
Para 1 → Outline: What is androgyny / Who is Bem(AO1)
● Flexible gender role (balance of both masculine / feminine traits)
● Bem challenged traditional ideas - added androgynous to gender identities
● Taking on the gender that feels appropriate to the situation
● Gender role stereotypes: limits opportunities for boys / girls, ignores talent, unfair
● Adaptive compared traditional stereotyped gender identities of ‘boy’ or ‘girl’
Para 2 → Outline: what is the BSRI(AO1)
● Bem designed the BSRI questionnaire to test her ideas
● Systematic attempt to measure androgyny using 60 traits (20 F / 20 M / 20 N)
Produced scores on masculinity-femininity / androgynous-undifferentiated
● 34% of male p’s / 27% of female’s p’s were androgynous
● Found to be more adaptable to situations and a greater sense of well-being
Para 3 → Strengths: androgyny / psychological health (Prakash) (AO3)
● Prakash tested 100 married F in India on masculinity / femininity
● Measured a range of outcomes: physical health, depression, anxiety, stress
● Females high in masculinity had lower depression scores etc. (VV)
● Supports androgyny has a psycho-protective effect - those with masculinity +
femininity were better off in terms of health (Bem's prediction)
Para 4 → Strengths: BSRi is reliable - test retest high correlation (AO3)
● Over a 4 week period correlations ranging from 0.76-0.94
● Short BSRI (30 items) also had a good correlation with the original version
● Improvements made - less socially desirable traits removed eg. gullible / childlike
● Demonstrates the BSRI is effective / reliable in assessing levels of androgyny, M+F
Para 5 → Weakness: invalid - lacks internal and external validity (AO3)
● Scoring high on androgyny can also correlate with high self esteem
● Liberman & Gaa - those more androgynous simply had higher overall scores
● Results may be to do with the system of testing (not testing what it said)
● Temporal validity, BSRI was created in 1970s - adjectives no longer in the same way
● Hoffman & Borders state most terms were no longer viewed as M+F (TV)
Para 6 → Weakness: over simplistic / reductionist / deterministic (AO3)
● Golombok & Fivush - gender identity is a more global concept than BSRI suggests
● Broader issues (interests / perception of abilities) should be considered to fully
understand gender identity
● Suggests BSRI doesn’t provide an accurate depiction of androgyny levels (validity?)
Para 7 → Weakness: issues with the questionnaire (AO3)
● Demand characteristics
● Response bias
● Social desirability
, Biological explanations (chromosomes and hormones)
Describe and evaluate biological explanations of gender development (16)
Para 1 → Outline: chromosomes / hormones (AO1)
Chromosomes
● Carry genes containing instructions on physical / behavioural traits
● set of sex chromosomes (out of 23 pairs) determine sex: XX – female / XY – male
Hormones
● Released prenatally to influence brain / sex organ development
● Surge in hormonal activity at puberty = secondary sexual characteristics develop
Para 2 → Strengths: research support (C/H) - David Reimer (AO3)
● David's penis burnt - Money advised he could be raised a girl (intersex)
● Despite this he had a strong male identity and change gender back to male
● Supports role of chromosomes / hormones, nature overriding nurture
● Shows biological gender can't be changed by social intervention
Para 3 → Strengths: T support: Dabbs - prisoners / Van Goozen - trans (AO3)
● Reimer - role of testosterone in gender development
● Inject rates with T = increase aggression (effect of T on gendered behaviour) BUT…
● Dabs - offenders with highest testosterone = committed more violent crimes
● Van Goozen - transgender hormone treatment - (M→F) = decrease in aggression
● Tricker - males given T injection or placebo = no significant difference in aggression
Para 4 → Outline: abnormal sex chromosome pattern (AO1)
● XXY Klinefelter's syndrome men / XO Turner syndrome women
● Impact gender, brain, physical development
● Compare to those with typical sex chromosome patterns
● Inferences made of a biological basis on gender development based on differences
in atypical / typical sex chromosome individuals
● Psychologists establish which behaviour is genetic / determined by chromosomes
● Idea of ‘typical’ vs ‘atypical’ is stereotypical / no use to be labelled
Para 5 → Weakness: causation ≠ correlation in atypical chromosomes (AO3)
● Inferred, differences in atypical chromosome behaviour have a biological basis
● BUT environmental/ social factors may have caused these differences
● ( treated ‘immaturely’ = social immaturity / pre-pubescent appearance )
● Wrong to assume differences are due to nature
Para 6 → Weakness: deterministic / reductionist(AO3)
● Gender is more complex than purely biological factors
● Cognitive - changing thought processes underpin gender development
● Psychodynamic - role of childhood experiences of gender
● Gender least partly socially constructed
● Trans - don’t feel gender consistent with biological gender chromosomes, suggests
not every one’s gender identity is consistent with their biological chromosome
● Changing gender roles across cultures / time suggests gender to some extent
constructed and can’t be viewed in a purely reductionist biological context
Gender
Paper 3 - Section B
,Sex and gender
Discuss sex-role stereotypes (8)
Para 1 → Outline: Sex role stereotypes (AO1)
● SRS - set of ideas about traits that expected for males / for females
● SRS are generally shared by members of a society/culture
● SRS act as a short-cut to appropriate behaviours in a given context
e.g girls behave in ways they understand to be typically female (VV)
● SRS developed through observation, imitation and reinforcement (SLT)
Para 2 → Application (AO2)
● At 7 children are aware of different expectations of M/F
● Pictures of sex-role stereotypical behaviours are consistent with children’s schema
of what it means to be male or female - will be more acceptable
● Children will rate pictures showing sex-stereotypical behaviours higher
Para 3 → Discussion (AO3)
● Support for parental influence - Smith and Lloyd: gender stereotyping by adults
● Norms have shifted towards less stereotypical child-rearing / gender neutrality
● So sex-role stereotypes have less temporal validity
● Negative effects of stereotypes eg academic / career expectations
● Positive effects of stereotypes - act as a cognitive short-cut
,Androgyny
Discuss androgyny and the BSRI (16) / Discuss Bem's research into androgyny (8)
Discuss the strengths and limitations of Bem’s theories and research (16)
Para 1 → Outline: What is androgyny / Who is Bem(AO1)
● Flexible gender role (balance of both masculine / feminine traits)
● Bem challenged traditional ideas - added androgynous to gender identities
● Taking on the gender that feels appropriate to the situation
● Gender role stereotypes: limits opportunities for boys / girls, ignores talent, unfair
● Adaptive compared traditional stereotyped gender identities of ‘boy’ or ‘girl’
Para 2 → Outline: what is the BSRI(AO1)
● Bem designed the BSRI questionnaire to test her ideas
● Systematic attempt to measure androgyny using 60 traits (20 F / 20 M / 20 N)
Produced scores on masculinity-femininity / androgynous-undifferentiated
● 34% of male p’s / 27% of female’s p’s were androgynous
● Found to be more adaptable to situations and a greater sense of well-being
Para 3 → Strengths: androgyny / psychological health (Prakash) (AO3)
● Prakash tested 100 married F in India on masculinity / femininity
● Measured a range of outcomes: physical health, depression, anxiety, stress
● Females high in masculinity had lower depression scores etc. (VV)
● Supports androgyny has a psycho-protective effect - those with masculinity +
femininity were better off in terms of health (Bem's prediction)
Para 4 → Strengths: BSRi is reliable - test retest high correlation (AO3)
● Over a 4 week period correlations ranging from 0.76-0.94
● Short BSRI (30 items) also had a good correlation with the original version
● Improvements made - less socially desirable traits removed eg. gullible / childlike
● Demonstrates the BSRI is effective / reliable in assessing levels of androgyny, M+F
Para 5 → Weakness: invalid - lacks internal and external validity (AO3)
● Scoring high on androgyny can also correlate with high self esteem
● Liberman & Gaa - those more androgynous simply had higher overall scores
● Results may be to do with the system of testing (not testing what it said)
● Temporal validity, BSRI was created in 1970s - adjectives no longer in the same way
● Hoffman & Borders state most terms were no longer viewed as M+F (TV)
Para 6 → Weakness: over simplistic / reductionist / deterministic (AO3)
● Golombok & Fivush - gender identity is a more global concept than BSRI suggests
● Broader issues (interests / perception of abilities) should be considered to fully
understand gender identity
● Suggests BSRI doesn’t provide an accurate depiction of androgyny levels (validity?)
Para 7 → Weakness: issues with the questionnaire (AO3)
● Demand characteristics
● Response bias
● Social desirability
, Biological explanations (chromosomes and hormones)
Describe and evaluate biological explanations of gender development (16)
Para 1 → Outline: chromosomes / hormones (AO1)
Chromosomes
● Carry genes containing instructions on physical / behavioural traits
● set of sex chromosomes (out of 23 pairs) determine sex: XX – female / XY – male
Hormones
● Released prenatally to influence brain / sex organ development
● Surge in hormonal activity at puberty = secondary sexual characteristics develop
Para 2 → Strengths: research support (C/H) - David Reimer (AO3)
● David's penis burnt - Money advised he could be raised a girl (intersex)
● Despite this he had a strong male identity and change gender back to male
● Supports role of chromosomes / hormones, nature overriding nurture
● Shows biological gender can't be changed by social intervention
Para 3 → Strengths: T support: Dabbs - prisoners / Van Goozen - trans (AO3)
● Reimer - role of testosterone in gender development
● Inject rates with T = increase aggression (effect of T on gendered behaviour) BUT…
● Dabs - offenders with highest testosterone = committed more violent crimes
● Van Goozen - transgender hormone treatment - (M→F) = decrease in aggression
● Tricker - males given T injection or placebo = no significant difference in aggression
Para 4 → Outline: abnormal sex chromosome pattern (AO1)
● XXY Klinefelter's syndrome men / XO Turner syndrome women
● Impact gender, brain, physical development
● Compare to those with typical sex chromosome patterns
● Inferences made of a biological basis on gender development based on differences
in atypical / typical sex chromosome individuals
● Psychologists establish which behaviour is genetic / determined by chromosomes
● Idea of ‘typical’ vs ‘atypical’ is stereotypical / no use to be labelled
Para 5 → Weakness: causation ≠ correlation in atypical chromosomes (AO3)
● Inferred, differences in atypical chromosome behaviour have a biological basis
● BUT environmental/ social factors may have caused these differences
● ( treated ‘immaturely’ = social immaturity / pre-pubescent appearance )
● Wrong to assume differences are due to nature
Para 6 → Weakness: deterministic / reductionist(AO3)
● Gender is more complex than purely biological factors
● Cognitive - changing thought processes underpin gender development
● Psychodynamic - role of childhood experiences of gender
● Gender least partly socially constructed
● Trans - don’t feel gender consistent with biological gender chromosomes, suggests
not every one’s gender identity is consistent with their biological chromosome
● Changing gender roles across cultures / time suggests gender to some extent
constructed and can’t be viewed in a purely reductionist biological context
