Psychology Revision – Gender
Sex and Gender STR – IRL application
→ Encourages parents to raise their kids away from
→ Sex is the biological status of either having male or stereotypes
female chromosomes → British couple raised their son in a gender-neutral
→ Gender is the psychological and cultural differences manner – many protests occurred about ethics, and
between males and females many believed that this is abuse
→ shows strong sex-role stereotypes
Sex-role stereotypes
→ preconceived ideas about what is expected of males
and females in a society
→ Research support from Seavey et al – 3-month-old
baby dressed in yellow suit then told 1/3 of ppts that the
baby is male and vice versa – ppts left with baby with a
ball, a doll and a plastic ring.
Findings:
- if baby was known as female = then ppts used
the doll
- if baby was known as male = then a plastic ring
was chosen
- if baby gender was unknown = ppts randomly
chose a gender based on physical traits
Androgyny STR – Positive correlation between androgyny and
→ Displaying a balance of masculine and feminine mental health
characteristic in one’s personality → Prakash et al – tested femininity/ masculinity in
→ measured using the Bem Sex Role Inventory BSRI married females in India and found that females who
→ rating scale were masculine had lower depression scores
→ shows androgyny is advantageous and leads to
BSRI adaptability
→ 100 American ppts were asked what personality traits
were desirable for men and women STR – High test-retest reliability
→ made a list of 20 feminine and 20 masculine and 20 → A follow up study for BSRI used some same ppts that
neutral items took the questionnaire initially – ppts took BSRI again
→ person must rate themselves on a Likert scale and after 4 weeks and scored similar scores
were given a score of either masculinity, feminine or → correlation between scores was 0.90 so high internal
androgenous validity
→ those who were androgenous were more adaptable
and had better wellbeing. LIM – BSRI lacks temporal validity
→ Personality traits picked to represent each category
were selected in the 1970s which is outdated now due to
social norms changing
→ Hoffman and Borders – asked undergraduates to rate
the items on the BSRI to check if they are still valid – only
two terms were still the same the rest outdated
LIM – Issues with questionnaires
→ subjective
→ Acquiescence bias – only selecting extreme values
→ Demand charachteristics
, Biological influences on Gender
Role of chromosomes in gender STR – Research support
→ Chromosomes carry all genetic data with the last pair → David Reimer
determining sex – Y chromosome has SRY gene that CA – Imperato-McGinley et al found that 4 children in a
makes baby develop as a male Dominican family were born with XY chromosome but
had female genitalia until puberty when they started
Role of hormones in gender growing penises – these kids had no problem
→ Hormones are chemical messengers that regulate transitioning from female to male – shows social factors
activity of organs played part and overrode chromosome effect
→ Testosterone affects the development of male sex
organs and secondary sexual charachteristics STR – Support for effect of hormone
→ Oestrogen affects development of female sex organs → Quadagno et al – female monkeys exposed to
and secondary sexual characteristics testosterone prenatally and later engaged in rougher and
→Oxytocin promotes feelings of bonding in men and tumble play
women and triggers lactation CA – generalization issues
Case study – David Reimer LIM – Overemphasis on nature
→ Born as a male twin who had to be circumcised → If gender identity is purely biological then there would
however for David that went wrong and his penis was be more differences between males and females
burned off – was therefore raised as a girl. → Maccoby and Jacob found more differences of
→ Visited the researcher frequently who reported behaviour withing the same sex rather than between the
successful assignment of gender in David however that sexes
was false, and he felt always uncomfortable with being a → Biological explanation doesn’t explain all behaviour
girl – re transitioned to male – shows environmental
factors don’t play part
Atypical sex chromosome pattern STR – Contribution to nature-nurture debate
→ By comparing people who have these conditions with
Klinefelter’s syndrome normal chromosomes allows to see different behaviours
→ occurs in males due to XXY configuration these chromosomes cause – proof that behaviours are
→ leads to: caused due to chromosome because without it there is
- Reduced body hair lack of that behaviour
- Breast development CA – no cause and effect – behaviour may be due to
- Less muscular coordination environmental factors rather than biological
- Taller → immaturity in females may be due to them being
- Infertile treated immaturely due to their appearance
- Poor language and reading skills
- Poor memory and problem solving STR – Practical Application
- Shy → continued research into atypical chromosomes can
lead to earlier diagnoses of the syndromes therefore
Turner’s syndrome improving lives
→ occurs in females with XO configuration → Herlihy et al – those who had Klinefelter’s syndrome
→ leads to: identified earlier on had significant benefits to those who
- Shorter didn’t
- Lack of periods
- Underdeveloped ovaries LIM – Hard to generalise
- No development of breasts → Drawing conclusions from unusual and
- Webbed neck unrepresentative sample of people – due to physical
- High reading ability appearance these people are treated differently which is
- Poor spatial skills an environmental factor.
- Socially immature
LIM – typical vs atypical
Sex and Gender STR – IRL application
→ Encourages parents to raise their kids away from
→ Sex is the biological status of either having male or stereotypes
female chromosomes → British couple raised their son in a gender-neutral
→ Gender is the psychological and cultural differences manner – many protests occurred about ethics, and
between males and females many believed that this is abuse
→ shows strong sex-role stereotypes
Sex-role stereotypes
→ preconceived ideas about what is expected of males
and females in a society
→ Research support from Seavey et al – 3-month-old
baby dressed in yellow suit then told 1/3 of ppts that the
baby is male and vice versa – ppts left with baby with a
ball, a doll and a plastic ring.
Findings:
- if baby was known as female = then ppts used
the doll
- if baby was known as male = then a plastic ring
was chosen
- if baby gender was unknown = ppts randomly
chose a gender based on physical traits
Androgyny STR – Positive correlation between androgyny and
→ Displaying a balance of masculine and feminine mental health
characteristic in one’s personality → Prakash et al – tested femininity/ masculinity in
→ measured using the Bem Sex Role Inventory BSRI married females in India and found that females who
→ rating scale were masculine had lower depression scores
→ shows androgyny is advantageous and leads to
BSRI adaptability
→ 100 American ppts were asked what personality traits
were desirable for men and women STR – High test-retest reliability
→ made a list of 20 feminine and 20 masculine and 20 → A follow up study for BSRI used some same ppts that
neutral items took the questionnaire initially – ppts took BSRI again
→ person must rate themselves on a Likert scale and after 4 weeks and scored similar scores
were given a score of either masculinity, feminine or → correlation between scores was 0.90 so high internal
androgenous validity
→ those who were androgenous were more adaptable
and had better wellbeing. LIM – BSRI lacks temporal validity
→ Personality traits picked to represent each category
were selected in the 1970s which is outdated now due to
social norms changing
→ Hoffman and Borders – asked undergraduates to rate
the items on the BSRI to check if they are still valid – only
two terms were still the same the rest outdated
LIM – Issues with questionnaires
→ subjective
→ Acquiescence bias – only selecting extreme values
→ Demand charachteristics
, Biological influences on Gender
Role of chromosomes in gender STR – Research support
→ Chromosomes carry all genetic data with the last pair → David Reimer
determining sex – Y chromosome has SRY gene that CA – Imperato-McGinley et al found that 4 children in a
makes baby develop as a male Dominican family were born with XY chromosome but
had female genitalia until puberty when they started
Role of hormones in gender growing penises – these kids had no problem
→ Hormones are chemical messengers that regulate transitioning from female to male – shows social factors
activity of organs played part and overrode chromosome effect
→ Testosterone affects the development of male sex
organs and secondary sexual charachteristics STR – Support for effect of hormone
→ Oestrogen affects development of female sex organs → Quadagno et al – female monkeys exposed to
and secondary sexual characteristics testosterone prenatally and later engaged in rougher and
→Oxytocin promotes feelings of bonding in men and tumble play
women and triggers lactation CA – generalization issues
Case study – David Reimer LIM – Overemphasis on nature
→ Born as a male twin who had to be circumcised → If gender identity is purely biological then there would
however for David that went wrong and his penis was be more differences between males and females
burned off – was therefore raised as a girl. → Maccoby and Jacob found more differences of
→ Visited the researcher frequently who reported behaviour withing the same sex rather than between the
successful assignment of gender in David however that sexes
was false, and he felt always uncomfortable with being a → Biological explanation doesn’t explain all behaviour
girl – re transitioned to male – shows environmental
factors don’t play part
Atypical sex chromosome pattern STR – Contribution to nature-nurture debate
→ By comparing people who have these conditions with
Klinefelter’s syndrome normal chromosomes allows to see different behaviours
→ occurs in males due to XXY configuration these chromosomes cause – proof that behaviours are
→ leads to: caused due to chromosome because without it there is
- Reduced body hair lack of that behaviour
- Breast development CA – no cause and effect – behaviour may be due to
- Less muscular coordination environmental factors rather than biological
- Taller → immaturity in females may be due to them being
- Infertile treated immaturely due to their appearance
- Poor language and reading skills
- Poor memory and problem solving STR – Practical Application
- Shy → continued research into atypical chromosomes can
lead to earlier diagnoses of the syndromes therefore
Turner’s syndrome improving lives
→ occurs in females with XO configuration → Herlihy et al – those who had Klinefelter’s syndrome
→ leads to: identified earlier on had significant benefits to those who
- Shorter didn’t
- Lack of periods
- Underdeveloped ovaries LIM – Hard to generalise
- No development of breasts → Drawing conclusions from unusual and
- Webbed neck unrepresentative sample of people – due to physical
- High reading ability appearance these people are treated differently which is
- Poor spatial skills an environmental factor.
- Socially immature
LIM – typical vs atypical
