AQA A-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY REVISION NOTES: GENDER

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PSYCHOLOGY AQA A-LEVEL UNIT 3 (7182/3)

THE SYLLABUS

SEX AND GENDER

Sex & Gender and sex-role stereotypes
Androgyny and measuring androgyny including the Bem Sex Role Inventory

THE ROLE OF CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES

Chromosomes and atypical sex chromosome patterns: Klinefelter’s syndrome and Turner’s syndrome
Testosterone, oestrogen and oxytocin in sex and gender
Evaluation of biological explanations

COGNITIVE EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER DEVELOPMENT

Kohlberg’s theory, gender identity, gender stability and gender constancy
Gender schema theory

PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATION OF GENDER DEVELOPMENT

Oedipus complex
Electra complex
Evaluation of psychodynamic explanations
Identification and internalisation

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AS APPLIED TO GENDER DEVELOPMENT

Social-psychological explanations of gender: social learning theory
The influence of culture and media on gender roles

ATYPICAL GENDER DEVELOPMENT

Gender identity disorder
Biological and social explanations for gender identity disorder

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INTRODUCTION

Sex refers to an individual’s biological status as either male or female (or hermaphrodite).

Gender refers to a person’s sense of, and expression of, their maleness or femaleness.

Gender is the most obvious physical (and perhaps psychological) difference between humans and (almost all) animals, and is a fundamental division within nature.

Traditional viewpoints think of males and females as opposites and argue that gender is a natural biological fact. The genders are often stereotyped as:

Males – independent, aggressive, dominant, problem-solvers, providers.
Females – dependent, passive, domestic, nurturing carers, emotional.

Cross-cultural and historical evidence may challenge these assumptions, however, and since the early 20^th C. feminism emerged as a social and political force fighting for equal opportunities and challenging traditional sexism and male dominance.

Although sex is determined soon after conception, genetic and hormonal factors can masculinise females and feminise males, and all societies contain members who feel unhappy with their biological sex or the gender role assigned to them.

Psychological theories of gender tend to revolve around the question of whether gender is a natural, biological fact (Freud: ‘anatomy is destiny’), or whether gender is a socially-constructed category which culture socialises/conditions children into: i.e. boys and girls learn to be boys and girls. This question is of great importance in relation to society’s view of and treatment of men and women: in particular, whether traditional gender roles are natural/normal/desirable.

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SEX & GENDER; SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPES. ANDROGYNY AND MEASURING ANDROGYNY INCLUDING THE BEM SEX ROLE INVENTORY (A-level Psychology notes)

SEX & GENDER

Sex refers to an individual’s biological status as either male or female (or hermaphrodite – possessing both male and female genitals).

Gender refers to a person’s sense of, and expression of, their maleness or femaleness.

Gender dysphoria refers to an individual’s sense of feeling uncomfortable/inappropriate with their sex and the gender others assign to them.

Androgyny/androgynous refers to people who are possessed of equally male and female gender characteristics.

SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPES

This relates to the role (how we behave and think we should behave) we play as a result of the sex we are, and our own and others thoughts about our sex and gender. Different cultures’ social norms about gender often relate to stereotypes about what is appropriate in terms of behaviour. Conforming to stereotypes is often rewarded: i.e. praise for being brave (boy) or pretty (girl), and not conforming to stereotypes is often punished (disapproval, abuse, etc.)

ANDROGYNY AND MEASURING ANDROGYNY INCLUDING THE BEM SEX ROLE INVENTORY

Although we tend to view masculine and feminine as opposites it may be more accurate to view gender on a scale with most people fitting somewhere between the 2 extremes. Androgyny refers to people who are possessed of equally male and female gender traits.

Bem’s Sex Role Inventory is a questionnaire designed to measure how masculine/feminine/androgynous a person is.

Bem asked 50 male and 50 female students to rate 200 traits for how desirable they were for males or females. From this list she selected 20 traits which were regarded as desirable for men (e.g. self-reliance independence, aggressiveness), 20 for women (e.g. warmth, cheerfulness, friendliness), and 20 which were gender-neutral (e.g. honesty).
She then asked over 600 participants to rate each of the 60 items on a scale of 1 (never true of me) to 7 (always true of me). Although many participants’ scores clustered around feminine or masculine, many were fairly androgynous (high scores on both masculine and feminine traits) and some were undifferentiated (low scores on both masculine and feminine traits).

EVALUATION

Bem argued that strongly sex-typed individuals (i.e. those who conformed to traditional gender stereotypes) had poorer psychological health than androgynous individuals. Prakash (10) found a positive correlation between androgyny and psychological health. 100 married females were tested using a masculinity/femininity scale and it was found that women with high masculinity scores had lower depression and higher physical health scores.

Smith (’78) observed mothers with a baby who were presented, in terms of their name and clothing, as either male or female. Mothers tended to select gender-appropriate toys and responded more actively when boys displayed physical play. Fagot (’92) found that parents who displayed the clearest patterns of differential reinforcement have children who are quickest to develop strongly gender stereotyped identities.

These studies confirm the role that parents, peers, etc. can play in gender stereotyping even very young children.

Critics argue that the Bem SRI, developed in the 1970’s is outdated and based around stereotypes from 40+ years ago. In 2001 a sample of 400 students failed to reach agreement on what adjectives were stereotypically masculine or feminine. Thus, the SRI may lack temporal validity (not accurately apply to modern society).

The combined impact of feminism since the early 20^th C. with women’s demands for equality, and some men’s demands to reject rigid stereotypes of how men should act and behave has led to a blurring of traditional gender roles in the modern world not only in education and jobs but in dress, behaviour, ambition and emotional behaviour.

A possible extraneous variable with the SRI relates to the fact that most of the traits on the SRI are positive and desirable. Therefore, respondents scoring highly on masculinity and femininity (i.e. androgynous) could rather simply be people with high self-esteem rather than being androgynous. It could also be argued that people high in self-esteem are more likely to rate themselves higher on traits in general (i.e. ticking box 7 – ‘always true of me’ rather than lower ranking responses). Again, this would confuse the issue of whether someone who scored highly for androgyny was simply someone with high self-esteem.

Given that research has shown that being androgyny is correlated with better psychological health it has been argued that parents should encourage more androgynous traits in children. Over the past 100 years in the West, there certainly has been a trend in parenting not to strongly gender-type children and to allow children and adults more freedom to express their gender as they desire.

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THE ROLE OF CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES (TESTOSTERONE, OESTROGEN AND OXYTOCIN) IN SEX AND GENDER (AQA A-level Psychology notes)

CHROMOSOMES

The sex of a baby is determined at conception when the sperm and ovum (unfertilised egg) form a zygote (fertilised egg).

The sperm and the egg both contribute chromosomes to the zygote.

The 23^rd chromosome contains DNA instructions to determine the zygote’s sex.

The ovum can only supply an X chromosome (female); the sperm can contribute either an X or a Y chromosome (male).

If the sperm contributes a Y chromosome the zygote will be genetically male (XY), if the sperm contributes an X the zygote will be genetically female (XX).

Male and female embryos up to 8 weeks have external genitalia that look the same. At 8 weeks, genetically XY males produce androgens which stimulates the development of male genitalia. In XX females this process does not take place, thus female genitalia develop.

ATYPICAL SEX CHROMOSOME PATTERNS: KLINEFELTER’S SYNDROME AND TURNER’S SYNDROME

Kleinefelter’s Syndrome occurs (approx. 1/1000 males) due an extra X chromosome (e.g. XXY). The infant is born with male genitals. Sufferers are usually taller than average, have poor muscular coordination, and low levels of testosterone may cause infertility and a more feminine look – less facial hair, broader hips, breast tissue.
Turner’s Syndrome occurs (approx. 1/2000 females) due to the 2^nd sex chromosome being partially or completely missing – therefore, the infant is referred to as X0. Sufferers have a vagina and womb but do not menstruate due to undeveloped ovaries, are shorter than average and may present symptoms such as small lower jaw, webbed neck, narrow hips, etc.

HORMONES

Testosterone is a form of androgen.

Testosterone affects brain growth as a foetus, and in childhood and adulthood is associated with stereotypically male behaviours such as aggression. Female human and animal foetuses exposed to high levels of testosterone tend to show more masculine behaviours and interests
Wenger (‘79) castrated mice (which prevented the creation of any more testosterone) which resulted in decreased aggression. However, when these same mice were injected with testosterone, levels of aggression rose to pre-castration levels.
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) is a rare condition where an XY male foetus is insensitive to androgen, thus male genitals do not appear meaning that the newly born infant although genetically male will have female genitals and be labelled as female.

Oestrogen in females governs the development of secondary sexual characteristics (e.g. breasts) and menstruation from adolescence onwards.

Smith (‘12) investigated the link between oestrogen and maternal behaviour, and found a positive correlation between female oestrogen levels and the number of children women desire, and between oestrogen and how feminine females’ faces were rated.

Oxytocin is produced by the pituitary gland and promotes feelings of bonding, contentedness and calming. It is particularly important in breastfeeding to promote lactation and is released by females at times of stress to reduce the fight-flight response.

Taylor (’00) found that oxytocin reduces the fight-flight response in women so they are less likely to behave aggressively during times of stress (tend and befriend – i.e. caring for infants and forming friendships with other women) whereas in men oxytocin is reduced by testosterone so they are more likely to act aggressively on the face of stress.

EVALUATION - research support

Money (‘72) claimed that biological sex was of little importance in determining gender role – rather gender was learnt and intersex (e.g. AIS) individuals could be raised as either boys or girls.

Money conducted a case study of David Reimer – a boy who, after damage to his penis during circumcision, was given gender reassignment surgery and raised as a girl. Although Money claimed Reimer’s case supported his belief that gender was learnt rather than biologically determined, Colapinto (’00) reported that although David had no knowledge of what had happened to him as a child, he had always felt unhappy as a girl and suffered depression. When his parents told him the truth in his teens he requested gender reassignment surgery. Thus, Reimer’s case supports biological explanations of gender.

Finger length is influenced by exposure to prenatal hormones. Women tend to have a longer index finger than ring finger and vice-versa for men. Rommsayer (‘07) used the Bem sex role inventory to assesses stereotypically male/female character traits and found that men with a more feminine sex role had a more feminine type index-to-ring finger ratio. Thus pre-natal hormone exposure may affect adult personality.

Geschwind (’87) argued that gender differences in testosterone levels affect the developing brain. Male and female brains are different in many ways: females being generally better at social skills and empathy, males being less talkative but better at spacial-navigation skills.

CRITICISMS & COMMENTARY

Despite evidence pointing towards biological factors being the main factor in determining gender, genes and hormones do not produce a simple formula for determining gender. Social, cultural and parental influences during socialisation also have a part to play. For example, congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) occurs when XX females are exposed to unnaturally high levels of testosterone in the womb which results in rudimentary male genitalia at birth. Dessens (’05) study of 250 CAH females who were raised as females found that 95% were content with the female gender assigned to them. This indicates that learning and social influences can possible override hormonal influences.

The study of the influence of genes and hormones in gender development is a classic example of the Nature-Nurture debate. In this case, evidence seems to suggest that gender is primarily determined by biology but can be modified by social-environmental factors: for example, gender is expressed by men and women in different ways in different cultures, and ideas of acceptable behaviours for the genders have changed dramatically in Europe over the past century (feminist and gender equality).

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COGNITIVE EXPLANANTIONS OF GENDER: KOHLBERG'S THEORY: GENDER IDENTITY, GENDER STABILITY AND GENDER CONSISTENCY. GENDER SCHEMA THEORY (A-level Psychology revision notes)

KOHLBERG’S DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

The Cognitive-Developmental Approach emphasises the role of cognitions (how we think) in the process of gender development. As infants grow older physical changes in the brain mean we progress from simple to complex, abstract thought about our gender identity.

Kohlberg proposed that aged 2-6 we pass through 3 stages:

GENDER LABELLING. Aged 2-3 infants label themselves and others as a boy or girl based on outward appearances such as hairstyle or dress. Children will tend to change gender labels as appearances change: i.e. a boy with long hair might be labelled a girl.
GENDER STABILITY. Around 4 years children recognise that gender is stable over time – boys grow into men, etc. but they do not recognise that gender is consistent across situations – believing, for example, that males might change into females if they engage in female activities.
GENDER CONSISTENCY. Around the age of 6 children come to realise that gender is consistent across situations: e.g. that just because a boy may dress or play like a girl they remain a boy. Gender is now a fixed rather than a fluid category in the child’s mind.

Kohlberg’s theory drew on Piaget’s concept of ‘conservation’ – the ability that develops around the age of 6 to understand that despite superficial appearances the basic properties of an object stay the same. Children who can’t conserve may belief that superficial changes to appearance means that the essence of something has changed: e.g. a man who puts on a woman’s wig becomes a woman. Once the ability to conserve develops children realise that despite changes in appearance gender is consistent.

EVALUATION

RESEARCH SUPPORT

Kohlberg’s theory predicts that as infants grow older they are increasingly accurate in correctly labelling gender. Thompson (’75) found that whereas 76% of 2 year olds could accurately identify their sex, 90% of 3 year olds could.
Slaby (’75) asked young children questions such as: ‘were you a girl or a boy when you were a baby?’ and ‘when you grow up will you be a mummy or a daddy?’ As predicted by Kohlberg, infants only started to give correct answers once they had recognised that gender was stable over time: e.g. stage 2 – gender stability.

CRITICISMS

Bem (’89) showed young children a photo of an infant naked, and dressed in same sex clothing then opposite sex clothing, and asked them to identify what gender the infant was. 40% of 3-5 year olds identified gender correctly – i.e. they could conserve gender at a far younger age than Kohlberg predicted, and of the 60% who failed to answer the questions correctly, 77% simply failed because they did not know what opposite sex genitalia looked like. Bem argued that when infants are asked questions about gender when models are presented with contradictory or conflicting cues – e.g. a boy dressed as a girl, they are likely to make a decision based on which cue is most obvious and relevant to labelling gender – in our society, cues to do with clothing, hair style or play activities.
Slaby (’75) found that boys exhibit gender consistency before girls, possibly because whereas it is relatively easy to get girls to take on masculine activities boys may resist engaging in female activities. Thus boys develop a firm sense of gender identity quicker by defining them self as male but also as ‘not female’.

GENDER SCHEMA THEORY (GST)

Like Kohlberg’s theory, Gender Schema Theory (GST) focuses on the role of the child’s thinking (cognitions) in their acquisition of information about their gender and gender identity.

Martin’s (’81) GST has 2 marked differences from Kohlberg’s theory.

It argues that the process of acquiring gender relevant information happens before gender consistency/constancy is achieved (aged 6). Martin argues that the basic gender identity acquired at the gender labelling stage (aged 2) is sufficient for an infant to take an interest in and begin identifying with their gender.
Martin emphasises the role of how infants’ schemas affect their gender identity and behaviour.

SCHEMAS

A schema is a mental map of understanding or set of ideas about the world. Gender schemas play an important role in organising and structuring the infant’s thoughts about information such as what behaviours or emotional responses are appropriate for males/females.

INGROUP & OUTGROUP SCHEMAS

GST argues that children gain their gender identity between the ages of 2 and 3 when they work out that they are a boy or a girl. At this stage, their gender schema is extremely simple, consisting of two groups – boys and girls. Their own group is viewed as the ‘in group’ and the opposite sex is viewed as the ‘out group’.

Once a child identifies with their gender they think of others of that gender as an in-group, and those who are ‘different’ (i.e. don’t share their gender) as an out-group. Out-groups will be negatively evaluated (judged). This identification leads infants to imitate in-group behaviours and avoid out-group behaviours. Infants will actively seek out information about what their in-group does: i.e. try to acquire schemas of understanding relating to gender-appropriate behaviour, such as it is wrong for boys to cry.

EVALUATION

RESEARCH EVIDENCE

Martin (’90) found that children under the age of 4 display strong stereotypes about what boys and girls were permitted to do. This supports GST and contradicts Kohlberg’s claim that this doesn’t happen until gender consistency occurs about aged 6.
Martin (’83) found that when children were asked to recall pictures of people, they remembered more of those showing gender-consistent behaviour (e.g. boys as fire fighters) than gender non-consistent behaviour (e.g. female doctors). Thus, as predicted by GST, gender schemas affect memory recall.
Bradbard (’86) found that when 4-9 year olds were told that certain gender neutral items (such as burglar alarms or pizza cutters) were either male or female, boys took a greater interest in and were able to remember more details about gender-specific items and vice-versa. This supports how gender schema influence memory and organisation of information.

GENERAL COMMENTARY

GST helps explain why children may hold sexist ideas about gender regardless of social influences such as parents or schools trying to combat these attitudes. Children actively seek to learn gender-appropriate schemas and ignore information which is presented to combat these stereotypes. This suggests that there may be alternative, more successful ways to reduce gender stereotyping in children.

However, a study by Hoffman (98) found that children whose mothers work (i.e. display non-gender stereotyped behaviour) tend to hold less stereotyped views of the genders. This indicates the role that upbringing and the behaviour of the parents can have in influencing children’s concepts of gender and gender-appropriate behaviour.

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PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATION OF GENDER DEVELOPMENT. FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY, OEDIPUS COMPLEX; ELECTRA COMPLEX; IDENTIFICATION AND INTERNALISATION (AQA A-level Psychology revision notes)

After passing through the oral and anal psychosexual stages of development (see Psychodynamic Approach), Freud argued that males and females experience a different complex (or crisis) during the phallic stage aged around 5. If the child successfully resolves this crisis they acquire the gender behaviour typical of their sex.

OEDIPUS COMPLEX

Boys wish to be the sole object of their mother’s attention and experience immature sexual desire for her.

They view their father as a rival for their mother’s attention/affection but also fear the father and feel guilty about their desires to get rid of him. The fear of the father is experienced as a fear of castration. This fear is repressed in to the Unconscious.

To resolve this crisis, boys repress their desires for their mother and enter a period of sexual latency (lack of sexual interest) which lasts until puberty where they find a substitute mother in the form of an opposite sex partner. The also identify with (identification) and internalise (internalisation) their father’s gender role and adopt stereotypically masculine behaviours.

ELECTRA COMPLEX

Girls are initially attracted to their mothers in the same way as boys. Awareness of the lack of a penis leads to the girl believing she has been castrated and experiencing penis envy.

The girl’s immature sexual desires then focus on the father.

To resolve this crisis, the girl converts her desire for a penis into a desire for a baby. The girl then identifies with (identification) the mother and internalises (internalisation) stereotypical feminine behaviours.

Girls repress their desires for their father and enter a period of sexual latency which lasts until puberty where they find a substitute father in the form of an opposite sex partner.

EVALUATION

CRITICISMS

Freud’s highly controversial case study of Little Hans (05) formed the basis for his belief in the Oedipus Complex. The 5-year-old Hans was phobic of horses which Freud argued was a repressed and displaced fear of his father. Freud also claimed he expressed sexual desire towards his mother, wished his father dead, and feared castration.
This case study is highly criticisable for generalising from a sample of 1 boy, and that Freud may have interpreted Han’s behaviour to provide proof for the Oedipus Complex.
Case studies such as Levine (21) who claimed that of 32 manic-depressives, 22 were suffering from unresolved Oedipal or Electra crises, have problems with researcher bias and subjectivity.
Feminists argue that Freud’s view is inherently sexist (e.g. penis envy) and views females as less moral than men (because they did not suffer a much fear of the father at a young age). Post-Freudians usually argue that penis envy is symbolic: i.e. women are envious of men’s’ power and status in society.
These theories imply that children raised in single-parent households would fail to acquire gender identity in the normal way: e.g. boys would identify with their mother as she is only role model available and tend to become homosexuals. Patterson (04) found that the gender identity of girls raised by lesbian mothers was very similar to those raised by heterosexual parents.
Freud’s theory implies that women are less moral than men because only boys experience the fear of punishment by the father during the Oedipus Complex. This fear shows itself in later life as conformity and obedience to moral rules – the man fears punishment from society for breaking its rules in the same way that the boy feared punishment from his father. Again, feminists have criticised Freud for sexism and gender bias.

IDENTIFICATION & INTERNALISATION

Identification is the original form of emotional attachment. When a baby is born he is not capable of making a distinction between himself and his parents. During the process of identification children unconsciously adopt the characteristics of their parents and begin to associate themselves with and copy the behaviour of their parents. This imitation and taking on of the parents’ characteristics is referred to as internalisation (i.e. the behaviours, attitudes, emotions, etc. of the parent become part of their infant’s psychology).

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SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AS APPLIED TO GENDER DEVELOPMENT. THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA & CULTURE ON GENDER ROLES (How to revise for A-level Psychology)

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AS APPLIED TO GENDER DEVELOPMENT

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) emphasises the role of observation, imitation and reinforcement in how children acquire their gender role. Parents, peers and media figures act as gender-appropriate models whom children base their behaviours on and who contribute to children’s cognitions about gender identity....

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