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PYB1 & PSYB1

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Definitions

|SEX |The term sex refers to biological status as male or female. It is defined by our |

| |chromosomes, hormones and anatomical differences. |

|GENDER |Is psychosocial and refers to notions about the expected roles, behaviours and attitudes of |

| |males and females within society. |

|ANDROGYNY |The word androgynous refers to people whose personality encompasses both masculine and |

| |feminine characteristics. Sandra Bem (1974) developed theBSRI (Bem Sex Role |

| |Inventory) which measures an individuals androgyny. Bem’s scale found that people with high |

| |androgyny scores are psychologically more healthy than people who show more conventional |

| |male or female traits. However, Whitley (1983) wrote that it is high masculinity which |

| |indicates a healthier well being. Nevertheless, Bem’s scale has good test-retest reliability |

| |producing similar results if used on more than one occasion with the same sample. |

|SEX-ROLE stereotypes |The is a belief about what people think is appropriate and normal for people who classified as |

| |either male or female….Children as young as 3yrs will show such knowledge of these sex-role |

| |stereotypes. (Kuhn et al 1978) Think of examples of children displaying stereotypical |

| |behaviours. Where do they learn these stereotypes? What problems may occur if individuals |

| |don’t fit with our stereotypes? |

|Cultural diversity |Margaret Mead (1935) observed tribal communities in New Guinea… Read the study below and in just 5 sentences max explain the |

| |differences between males and females in New Guinea and males and females here in Western society. |

|Nature |The Nature view would explain gender related behaviour as the result of biology, innately we are programmed how to behave as a result|

| |of genes, hormones and chromosome patterns |

|Nurture |An extreme nurture view would explain gender related behaviour as a result of environment as a result of how people shape our |

| |behaviours including our parents, sub cultures and the media. |

|Nature or Nurture? |In reality most psychologists would take on an interactionist approach, i.e. our gender related behaviour is governed by biological |

| |make-up and innate predisposition can be modified by the environment and experiences. |

AIM Mead (1935) conducted a cross-cultural study of three societies to investigate whether there were differences in gender roles which could suggest that gender was a product of environment rather than biology.

METHOD She visited three tribal communities on the island of New Guinea for a period of six months. The Arapesh lived in the mountain region, the Mundugamor lived by the riverside and the Tchambuli lived on the lakeside. She observed and recorded the behaviour of people within these groups for comparison with traditional western culture.

RESULTS The Arapesh showed personality traits and behaviours similar to those found in western society although they were more interested in the community than perusing individual goals. The Mundugamor were described as fierce and cannibalistic. Both males and females displayed traits which were described as masculine. The Tchambuli had distinctive gender roles, but the reverse of those in the west. Men were more artistic and women held the social and economic power.

CONCLUSION There is no inevitable relationship between biological sex and gender role. Culture is the major socialisation agent, particularly in the early years.

EVALUATION Anthropologists have criticised Mead’s work since her work lacked scientific thoroughness as she was young at the time of research and so had little life experiences which may have clouded her perceptions of what she observed.

The fact that Mead only spent 6 months with these communities is also a problem. Errington and Gewertz (1989) revisited the Tcambuli and re-analysed Mead’s work. They recorded that the women do not dominate the men and nor is the reverse true.

Nevertheless, asides from flaws in methodology, cross cultural research has stimulated the argument towards the nature nurture

when defining gender roles.

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There are three main biological explanations of gender behaviour

1. Chromosomes

2. Hormones

3. Brain structure

1. Chromosome differences

The normal human body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each pair of chromosomes carries genes that control different characteristics. Biological sex is determined by the 23rd pair. So females have the genotype XX and males have the genotype XY.

Both males and females begin as an egg carrying an X chromosome. If the egg is fertilised by a sperm carrying an X chromosome then the embryo will develop as a girl and the two gonads will become ovaries.

At the beginning the embryo will always have male and female interior anatomy but the male elements spontaneously disintegrate while the female ones thicken and grow into a womb. At the same time, the exterior anatomy, which has the same beginnings for both sexes, develop into female genitalia and the result is a girl.

As we shall see, even without ovaries, development follows the female route: the natural route of the human is the female one.

To become male means interfering with that route. If the egg is fertilised by a sperm carrying a Y chromosome then the gonads develop into testes. They pump out the hormone that which actively absorbs the female parts which would have otherwise begun to grow, and then the gonad produces the major male hormone testosterone. This stops the male parts disintegrating; it thickens the spermatic cord, and switches the genitalia away from the female route. The result is male.

Atypical sex-chromosomes

Any combination of sex chromosomes other than XX or XY is seen as atypical. Klinefelter’s and Turner’s syndrome are examples of conditions which result from atypical sex chromosome conditions.

|Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY) |Turner Syndrome (XO) |

|Caused by the presence of an extra X chromosome |Caused by the absence of an X chromosome |

| | |

|Biological male with a physical appearance of |Biological female with the female external |

|male |appearance |

| | |

|Affects between 1 in 500 and 1 in 1000 males |Affects 1 in 2500 |

| | |

|Psychological effects: poor language skills – |Psychological effects; higher than average |

|which affects reading ability, passive |reading ability; lower than average spatial |

|temperament |ability, visual memory and mathematical skills; |

| |difficulty is social adjustment |

|Physical effects: less body hair than normal | |

|male, underdeveloped genitals, long legs in |Physical effects; ovaries fail to develop, short |

|relation to torso, infertile |squat body with webbed neck |

What does studying people with atypical sex chromosome patterns allow us to conclude what about gender?

It provides evidence that our biological makeup might be responsible for gender-related behaviour. For example, by comparing someone with typical chromosomes with someone with atypical chromosomes you can make clear comparisons what aspects of their behaviour have a genetic cause.

Studies to support the fact that chromosomes do affect an individuals gender related behaviour

Imperato McGinley et al (1974) The Batista family

Imperato-McGinley and her colleagues studied some unusual families including the Batista family from three villages in the Dominican Republic. Thirty seven children studied by the researchers had inherited a mutant recessive gene from an eighteenth century ancestor. They were born with apparently female genitals and were brought up as girls even though they all had XY chromosomes. When they reached puberty, the surge in testosterone levels, led to the production of a male hormone (dihydrotestosterone) which they had lacked before birth. This hormone led to their rather belated masculinisation and the sudden development of male genitals. They were born with normal female genitalia and body shape, but when they were twelve, their vaginas healed over, two testicles descended and they grew full penises. So the little ‘girls’ grew up to be muscular men. Curiously these people reported no difficulty in adopting the male gender despite being reared as girls. They adapt their new gender identity well to their new sex, take men’s jobs, marry women and are treated as men by others.

So the role of socialisation in the development of sex roles appeared to be overridden by biological factors and the researchers concluded that biology was all important. Their ability to adopt a male gender identity and gender role suggests that their testosterone had pre-programmed masculinity into their brains.

However, one problem with this study was that the genitalia of these ‘female’ children were not entirely normal and others knew this from communal river bathing. It may be that the rearing of these children was not the same as that of normal females, especially as villagers would have known of other children with this disorder. It is also possible that the young men had no difficulty in adjusting to their new gender because they had always been uncomfortable with the female role. Certainly they were given support by their community to make the transition. This clearly suggests environmental influences on the children’s gender identity

|This study aims to prove how the environment is all that is necessary to determine an individuals gender identity |

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|Money and Erhardt (1972) The David Reimer story |

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|Money and Erhardt proposed the theory of neutrality, stating that children are born gender-neutral and suggested that gender reassignment will be successful if |

|carried out before the child is three years old. However, one famous study showed this was not the case. These researchers studied a pair of identical twins with |

|the aim of finding out whether nurture, that is, how a child was reared, could overcome his genetic inheritance or nature. |

| |

|The method chosen was the case study. This is a rich and detailed study of one individual, or a small group, such as a family. Such studies involve observing and |

|interviewing people as well as studying any records there may be about the participant. Case studies are sometimes carried out because it would be unethical to |

|carry out an experiment to test a particular hypothesis. It is not unusual for people with rare medical conditions or even those who have been victims of surgical |

|or other accidents to be studied in this way. |

| |

|They studied monozygotic (identical) twins who were both normal boys when they were born. However, at the age of seven months, one was tragically injured during |

|circumcision. This is a common operation to remove the foreskin from the penis and can be done for either religious or medical reasons. The damage was so severe |

|that when the boy was twenty two months of age the parents decided to accept medical advice and to rear him as a girl. The child then underwent castration and |

|plastic surgery so that her genitals resembled those of a girl. The doctors planned to give her female hormones when she reached puberty to help feminise her |

|appearance. |

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|The little girl and her parents visited the clinic annually for support and guidance. The child was observed during these meetings and the mother also provided |

|reports of her progress. The mother encouraged her child to dress in a feminine fashion and tried to treat her as a girl. |

| |

|Initially the results of this gender reassignment seemed promising. Only one year after her operation, the girl twin clearly preferred to wear dresses rather than |

|trousers and was proud of her long hair. By the age of four she was happy to sit to urinate and was cleaner and neater than her brother. At five the child asked |

|for sex typed toys for Christmas such as a doll and a dolls’ house whilst her brother wanted cars and tools. She was encouraged to help her mother with the |

|housework whilst her brother ‘couldn’t care less about it’. The twins had different career ambitions, too. The girl wanted to be a doctor or a teacher whilst the |

|boy wanted to be a fireman or a policeman. |

| |

|At nine years of age she was quieter and more ‘lady like’ than her twin. Her brother was reported to be protective of her, whilst ‘she’ was said to be a ‘fussy |

|little mother’ to him. However, the girl also showed ‘tomboyish’ behaviour in that she had lots of physical energy and was apt to want to dominate other children. |

| |

|On the basis of this and other cases Money and Ehrhardt came to the conclusion that during the first three to four years of life gender reassignment can be easily |

|carried out. This evidence supported the idea that gender role is learned. However, the castration and treatment with female hormones would also have helped her to|

|adopt her new gender. |

Sadly after Money and Erhardt had completed their study, the child was followed up by another researcher who proved that biology has the greatest influence on gender.

Diamond (1982)

Diamond found that at the age of thirteen the girl was ‘beset with problems’ (Berk 1989). She found it hard to make friends in adolescence and was unhappy. Although she had been treated with oestrogen (a female hormone) she still looked rather masculine. She ‘seemed ambivalent about her gender status’, that is, not sure whether she was male or female (Berk 1989). She believed that boys had a better life than girls and she wanted to be a car mechanic. Diamond concluded from this follow up study that people’s biology largely determines their gender.

The Money case raises ethical issues. The parents believed they were doing what was right for the child and were acting on expert advice. The boy ultimately felt he had been mistreated and that his results had been misrepresented to fit with the researchers beliefs.

PAST PAPER QUESTIONS

Identify one atypical sex chromosome pattern and outline how it might affect an individual.

(3 marks)

Name one sex hormone and give an example of how this hormone might affect a person’s behaviour.

(2 marks)

Victoria is five years old and she is different from other girls of her age. She is smaller in height and has a webbed neck. At school, her teachers have commented that she has good verbal skills but her mathematical skills are poor. Medical tests have revealed that Victoria has a sex chromosome pattern XO.

Name the atypical sex chromosome syndrome described above.

(1 mark)

Identify how Victoria’s sex chromosome pattern differs from that of most girls.

(1 mark)

Explain how studying people like Victoria can contribute to our understanding of gender.

(2 marks)

Give the typical sex chromosome pattern for the following:

a male

a female

(2 marks)

2. Hormonal differences

Hormones are chemical substances secreted by glands in the body. Men and women have the same sex hormones, just in different amounts. Male hormones are collectively known as androgens and the most well known of these is testosterone. While male and female hormones have obvious physical effects, psychologists are interested in the effects of sex hormones on behaviour. Different levels of aggression have been found in males and females. As a consequence much research has focused on the role of testosterone on behaviour.

Testosterone is a predominantly male hormone that affects development and behaviour both before and after birth. In the 5th month of foetal development, the male gonads secrete testosterone causing the male foetus to develop external sex organs.

The psychological effects can also be seen in a condition known as CAH (Berenbaum and Hines, 1992). This is where you would explain this case…

Laboratory studies of animals have showed that testosterone does lead to increased aggression (Silber and Wagner 2004):

• Male rats show more aggression than female rats

• Castrated males show reduced aggression

• Male-male aggression begins at puberty when male hormones are secreted

• Aggression increases with injections of testosterone, since Von de Poll et al found that injecting female rats with testosterone led to increased aggression.

Studies with men taking bodybuilding androgenic steroids show that they have higher than normal levels of aggression on questionnaire scores. However, it is impossible to determine cause and effect in such studies. For example some of the participants worked in occupations including security staff and bouncers which may be viewed as aggressive in nature. Perhaps their work was the cause of the aggression not the steroids.

Research with prison populations has also been used to determine a link between testosterone and offending, which is presumably aggression.

Dabbs et al (1995) wanted to find out if there was an association between prisoners’ behaviour, the types of crimes they had committed and their testosterone levels. They measured the testosterone levels of 692 male offenders in prison by testing saliva samples. They looked at the prisoners’ records and coded the prisoners according to the type of crime they committed and the extent to which they had complied with prison rules.

They found that men with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to have carried out violent and sexual offences than men with lower testosterone levels. The latter were more likely to have committed drug offences and burglary. Prisoners who had higher testosterone levels were also more likely to have broken prison rules. It was concluded that testosterone causes heightened arousal and aggressive behaviour. This could explain why men are more likely to be aggressive than women, as they have higher testosterone levels.

They concluded that testosterone may be linked with aggression.

The problem with the studies so far is that they are based on naturally occurring phenomena which means it is difficult to establish a cause and effect i.e. we do not know if testosterone alone is the only factor that causes aggression….there could be other confounding factors that we cannot control for. To discover more valid results we must complete an actual experiment.

Therefore Tricker et al (1996) conducted a study to eliminate confounding variables. In a double blind study 43 males aged between 19 and 40 years received either 600mg of testosterone or a placebo. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was receiving the drug or the placebo. The study lasted for 10 weeks and participants were tested before, during and after treatment using two anger questionnaires which investigated their aggressive behaviour. The results showed that there were no significant differences found between the experimental and the control group on any of the measures over the 10 weeks. In other words high levels of testosterone have no effect on aggressive behaviour or attitudes of the males.

General evaluations of testosterone research….

• Increased levels of T may be a consequence of aggressive behaviour rather than the cause.

• It might not be appropriate to generalise from animal research findings to human behaviour.

• Explaining aggression purely in terms of chemical activity is perhaps an oversimplification.

• Environmental factors like family background also influence how people respond to frustrating situations. Most males manage to control their behaviour and behave in socially acceptable and non-violent ways.

• The effect of T may be indirect: males with high testosterone might have more muscular bodies, which might lead others to treat them as if they are aggressive. Perhaps it is the way other people response to them that leads them to be aggressive – the self fulfilling prophecy.

Female Hormones

Oestrogen is a female hormone, responsible for the development of female sexual characteristics and menstruation. In addition to physical changes which occur in the body due to oestrogen, some psychological and behavioural effects have been reported. In some women it causes pre menstrual syndrome PMS (sometimes known as premenstrual tension or PMT). This can sometimes lead to feelings of emotionality, irritability and even aggression. It has also been suggested that it could be responsible for momentary lapses of self control or attention leading to antisocial behaviours such as committing criminal acts. Even though it is debatable whether crime can result from PMS this has successfully been accepted as a mitigating factor in the defence of women tried for shop lifting and even murder (Easteal, 1991).

However, Golombok & Fivush (1994) summarise the results of the investigations into the effects of oestrogen and psychiatric symptoms in the pre menstrual period and during the menopause. They conclude that there is no consistent evidence that changes in oestrogen levels are responsible for the depression, anxiety or irritability that women report. They suggest that where these symptoms are carefully measured, for example using daily records, they are found to be less evident than when reported individually.

Evaluations

• Some evidence supports the view that biological differences between males and females affect behaviour however the evidence is usually inconsistent so not significant enough to make firm conclusions

• In other words, even if biology has a role, it is always important to consider environmental factors.

3. Differences in brain structures

Differences in the organisation of male and female brains result from the effect of testosterone before birth. There are two hemispheres in the brain which are linked by the corpus callosum. The left side of the brain is specialised for language and the right side of the brain for spatial skills. Males tend to use each side of their brain separately whilst some research suggests that females may have a denser corpus callosum and tend use both hemispheres simultaneously.

According to Mc Glone (1980) the right hemisphere is generally more dominant in men and the left in women. However much research is still required in the field of sex differences and cognitive ability in relation to the corpus callosum before any direct conclusions can be made.

In conclusion

Biological psychologists believe sex differences are innate (inborn) and that we are biologically ‘programmed’ to act in certain ways or to have sex-typed abilities which then leads to the male and female gender roles. For example, Eysenck points out that the greater strength and speed of males is biologically determined (caused) and is seen in their ‘instrumental behaviour’ such as fighting and hunting. Similarly, females give birth to and breast feed their infants and so it is important that they are caring which would explain why biological factors may also underpin female ‘expressive behaviour’ (Eysenck 1996).

(Some differences between males and females occur very early in life before learning has had time to take place. You should list some examples here….

(Many sex differences are remarkably consistent from one culture to another. As people from very different cultures have their biology in common it may be that chromosomes and hormones are responsible for these cross cultural similarities.

(Behaviours such as aggression differ not only in men and women but also in the male and female members of other species. This also suggests that biological features which we share with other animals may be involved.

(Biological explanations of gender are reductionist. This means that they try to explain complex behaviours in terms of a single cause when it is likely that a number of factors are involved. ‘Nature’ or biological explanations of gender ignore social and cultural factors, in other words, the role of nurture.

(The genetic differences between males and females are not huge. It is only one pair of chromosomes which differs, after all, and the Y chromosome, unique to males, actually contains the least genetic material.

(Even if hormones do influence behaviour, this doesn’t mean that such behaviour is inevitable. People can make choices about how they will behave.

Other studies to support biological explanations of gender

Case 4:

Adrenogenital syndrome (AGS): Money and Ehrhardt 1972

This is where a female with the normal genotype XX has been exposed to excessive levels of androgens (male hormones) during the critical period of prenatal sexual differentiation. Therefore, the internal reproductive structures are unaffected, but the external structures resembled those of a male infant. For example, an enlarged clitoris appears as a penis.

This happened because either some of the mothers of these babies had been given a hormone to stop them from having a miscarriage or some baby girls had a genetic disorder which prevented their adrenal system from functioning normally.

Many people with AGS are declared boys and raised as boys. Since their hormonal surge continues, their voice deepens and face and body hair sprout at puberty. These people with AGS grow up as normal men; they feel male and pursue women romantically. They can have intercourse as men and become good husbands and fathers (by adoption or artificial insemination).

Money and Ehrhardt studied girls with AGS who were raised initially as boys as soon as the mistake was found, their genitals were surgically corrected and they were reassigned and raised as girls. They found that although these children were treated as girls by their parents, they were tomboyish in that they preferred to play with boys and fight. They disliked the activities traditionally seen as feminine.

Nevertheless Money and Erhardt concluded that androgens (male hormone) have an important role in determining sex typed behaviour.

Case 5

Mr Blackwell: Hermaphrodite (Goldwyn, 1979)

Goldwyn cites the case of Mr Blackwell, only the 303rd true hermaphrodite in all of medical history (where person’s cells are both female XX and male XY). He’s described as a handsome and rather shy 18 yr old boy. Although he had a small vaginal opening as well as a penis, he was taken to be a boy and brought up as such. But when he was 14yrs he developed breasts and was sent to hospital to discover why this had happened. It was found that he had an active ovary on one side of his body and an active testicle on the other.

Gross (1987) suggested that in fact he could well be said to have a ‘female brain’ for his hormone system was enough to take him through the whole female cycle and ovulate every month. Nevertheless, he expressed his wish to remain male and so his female parts were removed.

His upbringing as a male seems to have been a major influence on gender development. This case then underlines the strength of nurture, since his upbringing as a boy influenced his gender identity as a male, OVERIDDING his female bio chemistry. Also the surgeon who had carried out the operation on Mr Blackwell, and on 25 other similar cases – all these people had no doubt about their gender, which was always in line to how they were raised – male or female.

It therefore seems that biology alone can not determine gender development.

EXAM QUESTION

Discuss biological explanations of gender development. Refer to at least one study in your answer.

(10 marks)

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Discussion points

• Who do boys regard as role models?

• Who do girls regard as role models?

• What would you buy for a newborn baby and would its gender influence your choice?

• Do you think mothers and fathers differ in how concerned they are about sex appropriate behaviour?

• How might parents encourage sex appropriate behaviours?

• What have your parents said to you when they thought your behaviour was not sex appropriate?

• Do you think other children encourage sex typed behaviours?

The social learning theory assumes that a person’s behaviour is a product of environmental influences, i.e. parents, peers and media. Whether the behaviour is acquired depends on reinforcement and rewards This is especially the case for gender acquisition.

The following key concepts are used by social learning theorists to explain the acquisition of gender related behaviour:

• Imitation

• Reinforcement

• Identification

• Modelling

Imitation

This is copying behaviour and is the fastest type of learning in humans and animals. Behaviour may be imitated as it is seen as rewarding but if this does not continue (rewards) imitation will cease.

Bandura (1965)

Bandura (1965) conducted a study to explore the effect that consequences of actions had on learning (through imitation). Using the experimental method, he arranged boys and girls (three to six years old) to witness a short television programme where an adult behaved aggressively towards a toy called a Bobo doll. There were three films, each with a different outcome. In Condition A the children saw an adult enter the room and reward the adults behaviour with a positive comment. In Condition B, an adult made a negative comment and in Condition C no comment was made.

After watching the film, each group of children went into a room where there was the same doll. The children’s behaviour towards the doll was observed. Results show, that whilst the children were exposed to the same amount of behaviour, boys sowed the highest levels of imitation. The girls showed the least imitation and were particularly influenced by the negative comments. In conclusion, children learn by observation and imitation, but the learning is also mediated by other factors as well.

Modelling

Means for example to imitate the behaviour of a person who has acted as a model. Whether an individual will model someone's behaviour depends on a number of factors, i.e. status, relevance, attractiveness etc In young children, same sex gender may be a role for them

Whiting and Edwards 1988

Whiting is an anthropologist. She found that ‘we are the company we keep’, in that in the eleven different cultures that she looked at there were consistent patterns in the socialisation of boys and girls. Boys tended to spend their time with other males, whilst girls spent more time with women and became involved with child care. This meant, of course, that boys and girls had more contact with same sex models than with opposite sex models. This would facilitate observational learning of appropriate sex roles in all of these cultures and so supports the theory.

Reinforcement:

The strengthening of behaviour due to its particular response. For example, positive reinforcement – a child will be more likely to repeat a behaviour if it is rewarded.

Langlois and Downs 1980.

Judith Langlois and Chris Downs aimed to find out whether fathers and mothers are more or less likely to treat sons and daughters differently. They wanted to test the theory that fathers are more involved in teaching sex typed behaviour than mothers. They carried out a controlled observational study in their laboratory. They decided to see how parents would react when children played with ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’ sex typed toys. They invited pre school children to come to their lab, some with their mothers and some with their fathers.

Each child was asked to participate in two brief play session. In one session the children were asked to play with a very masculine toy in the way that boys would do. In the other they were given a very feminine toy to play with and were asked to play with it as a girl would normally do. Once the child was playing with the toy the parent was allowed to enter the play room. The researchers recorded both the play behaviour and the parents reactions to it when they came in.

The results were as predicted. There was a marked difference in the responses of fathers and mothers. In that:

• Mothers behaviour was warm, expressive and nurturing to both sons and daughters whatever toy was being played with

• Father’s behaviour varied sharply in the two sessions. When their children were playing with the ‘right’ sort of toys, fathers rewarded their children by smiling and praising the child, talking pleasantly to them and even joining in.

• However, when their children played with opposite sex toys the fathers were quite punitive. They took toys away, frowned disgustedly, said ‘no’, shook their heads and made negative comments.

• This difference between the mothers and fathers was most marked when fathers played with their sons.

On the basis of their results, Langlois and Downs came to the conclusion that fathers may well have a special role in training their children, especially their sons, in sex typed behaviour.

Identification:

Identification is the process whereby a child sees him or herself as somehow similar to a specific person who is seen as possessing attractive qualities, or qualities that are seen as rewarding. The child experiences a form of attachment to this person and aspires to be like them. Unlike imitation, identification implies that some form of relationship between the imitator and the imitated.

Evaluations

■ Studies lack ecological validity

■ Studies may suffer from demand characteristics

■ Small sample sizes make it difficult to generalise

(please note – you must relate these to the studies and explain in full)

■ Schaffer (1996) expands on the fact that even those children who have been treated in a unisex way by their families still develop specific gender roles (males and females) – therefore maybe _________ is involved instead?

■ SLT implies that children are relatively passive in that they have to be ‘taught how to behave’.

■ However, studies show how children actively contribute to the development of their sex roles – i.e. gender schema theory in cognitive psychology shows how they actively search their environment for what is masculine and feminine and then copy….

■ Observation by itself can’t account for every aspect of gender role acquisition.

■ After all both girls and boys have contact with more female that male models in their early years, but boys still learn how to behave like boys (Turner 1995).

■ Media has significant effect on children's concept of gender

■ Leary et al (1982) found that children who frequently watched TV were more likely to hold gender stereotypes, and to conform to culturally appropriate gender roles.

• SLT doesn’t explain how children raised in the same environment still behave differently – for example identical twins are treated even more similarly than normal siblings yet still may behave more feminine or masculine than each other.

■ The SLT ignores biological factors – for e.g. no amount of environmental influences could make little David Reimer feel like a girl. He was definitely pre-programmed biologically to be male.

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■ Cognitive - refers to the study of all mental processes such as…..

■ Developmental – refers to how these processes develop over our lifespan with experience and age

■ Cognitive theorists focus on the mental world of the child that enables the child to learn the appropriate sex roles

According to cognitive psychologists, a child’s understanding of their gender becomes more sophisticated with age. Kohlberg based his ideas that children’s understanding of gender grows in stages as he based his work on that of Piaget and his developmental ideas.

Kohlberg stated that children go through three stages as they develop gender identity.

Stage 1: Gender labelling

This occurs around two years of age. Children learn to use sex linked labels, during this stage such as ‘boy, lady, man and girl. They then apply these labels both to themselves and others. Although they can use the labels correctly, they don’t realise that gender (usually!) stays the same through time and does not vary with changes in appearance. They will happily accept that the gender of a doll has changed, for example, because its clothes and hairstyle have been changed (Marcus and Overton 1978). They seem to take no notice of genital differences when choosing gender labels.

Stage 2: Gender Stability

According to Kohlberg between the ages of three and a half and our and a half years, children realise that people stay the same gender throughout life, that is that gender is stable through time. But, curiously, they still seem to think that changing clothes, hairstyles and activities can lead to our changing our gender as well!

Stage 3: Gender Constancy

At around the age of four and a half and seven children come to realise that they will remain the same gender throughout their lives and that they will not change this by altering their appearance or participating in cross sex activities. They understand that this is true of other people, too, because gender is constant, it does not change in the way that other characteristics such as hair colour, height and age do. (Those of you who go on to study child cognitive development will find that seven year olds also demonstrate other types of conservation, which is the ability to see that some things stay the same even when their appearance changes).

Let’s assess the research evidence for this theory.

Slaby and Frey 1975

These researchers asked young children a number of questions to assess the understanding of children who could label genders, such as, of girls

• ‘when you grow up could you ever be a daddy?’

• ‘could you be a boy if you wanted to?’

• ‘if this girl (experimenter shows picture of a girl)cuts her hair short like this (transforms picture) is it a boy or a girl?’

• ‘if you played (opposite sex typed game) would you be a boy or a girl?’

They found that little boys of two or three often thought they could become girls, or Mummies, perhaps by changing their clothes or hairstyle or playing with dolls. And girls also thought they could change their gender.

However, a problem with this study may be that the children were unable to understand what the researcher was asking of them, rather than being unaware that gender is stable and constant.

When children are asked ‘direct questions about themselves’ that they can understand even three year olds seem to have gender stability (Turner 1995)

Damon 1977 wanted to see whether children’s understanding of gender changed between the ages of four to nine years. He told children a story about a boy called George who liked to play with dolls. He then asked children about whether people should interfere when children want to play with ‘inappropriate’ toys and whether it was alright for George to play with dolls.

The results were that four year olds thought it was alright for George to play with dolls, six year olds thought it was wrong and shouldn’t be allowed. Nine years olds thought it was unusual for George to want to play with dolls but that he should be allowed. Damon concluded that children’s understanding of gender does change with age and reflects their cognitive development.

• Kohlberg’s three stages in gender understanding have been found to apply to children in a wide variety of cultures (Munroe et al, 1984).

• According to Kohlberg, it is only when a child reaches the stage of gender constancy that they properly identify with their own sex and start to actively process gender-related information. However a more recent cognitive developmental theory of gender, gender schema theory proposes that children identify with their own sex and actively try to construct and understanding of what it is to be male and female, much earlier in life than Kohlberg suggested.

• The theory has been criticised for being too descriptive, i.e. we know children go through a set of stages, but we don’t know why some children are more masculine or feminine than others. For example, some girls might adopt a very traditional female role whilst others are more androgynous.

The Gender schema theory

A schema is a mental framework for representing information about oneself, other people, and other social events…People construct schemas to help them organise their current knowledge and to help future understanding…

Schemas are based on collections of information based on past experiences and memories….they continually become more complex as we grow and learn…

A common schema we have that is associated with other events includes - sitting an exam:

• Arrive at venue (which you would have checked earlier) with necessary equipment

• Be presented with paper

• Fill in various details on cover sheet

• Start exam turn page – look for recognizable questions – jot down any important words you need for recall and then arrange each question with a time limit…

|Schema of getting up |Schema of a Univ student |Schema of a night out |

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A gender schema is an organised unit of knowledge about the characteristics and behaviours associated with a specific gender. According to the gender schema theory (Martin and Halverson, 1981) as soon as children can label their own sex, at around two years, they actively search their environment for information to increase their understanding of maleness or femaleness.

Gender schemas are used to decide how to behave as a girl or a boy. A gender schema contains various components of information associated with a specific sex: behaviour roles, occupations, hobbies and personality characteristics. Once we have identified a person as male or female, our gender schema is triggered for the relevant sex.

|Think of the gender schema you had when you were younger – what did you want to be when you grew up – why? |

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To start with a child will identify activities and toys that are appropriate for his or her sex. The child then focuses on finding out more about behaviours and activities seen as appropriate for their sex and largely ignores behaviours and activities that are not usually associated with their own sex.

Any information that conflicts with the child’s gender schema is disregarded forgotten or misremembered. According to Martin and Halverson gender schemas are built up gradually in three stages as the child experiences the social world:

Stage 1 Child learns what things are associated with each sex (i.e. girls play with dolls).

Stage 2 Child begins to make links between different components of the schema, so that knowing what someone likes to play with will allow the child to predict other things about them. For example, someone who plays with dolls is likely to wear dresses and have long hair. In stage 2 a child can only make these links for their own sex.

Stage 3 Child can now use linked components for both sexes.

In support of gender schema theory, there is evidence to show that young children seem to have a better understanding of the activities typically associated with their own sex than those typically associated with the opposite sex.

|Boston and Levy (1991) |

|Aim: They wanted to see whether knowledge about stereotypically male and female activities differed between boys and girls. |

|Method: Boys and girls between the ages of three and six years were asked to put sequences of four pictures in the correct order. Each set of four pictures |

|described an activity, i.e. cooking the dinner (typically female) and building a birdhouse (typically male). |

|Results: Both boys and girls were found to be able to put the picture sequences in the correct order more accurately for their own gender activity than for |

|the opposite sex activity. The effect was particularly noticeable for boys. |

|Conclusion: Since the task required detailed knowledge of an activity, boys and girls must have more knowledge of own gender activities than of opposite |

|gender activities. The findings were consistent with the gender schema theory. |

Research has also shown that children reject information that is inconsistent with their gender schema and misremember information that is inconsistent with what they already know about gender.

Martin and Halverson (1983)

The researchers wanted to investigate whether gender is actually influenced by schemas that children have

already constructed for typical gender consistent behaviours. Children aged five and six were shown pictures of

children carrying out activities which were either gender consistent (boys playing with trucks) or gender

inconsistent (girls sawing wood). They were asked to recall the pictures a week later. During recall, participants

tended to change the sex of the children in gender inconsistent pictures. Memory is distorted to fit in with

existing gender schemas.

Evaluation of the cognitive developmental approach

• Cognitive developmental theory does not explain why males have a more fixed understanding of their gender than females. Many studies show that boys show more extreme gender stereotyped behaviour and a greater resistance to opposite sex activities. Instead SLT would explain this better through reinforcement etc.

• Cognitive developmental theory states that gender understanding begins around two years old. However even before they can correctly label their on sex children will choose same sex playmates, as if they are already unconsciously aware of the difference.

• Cognitive developmental theory focuses on the development within the individual as if the child is passively absorbing the relevant information. It takes no account of the role of social interaction in developing understanding. However taken together with SLT it can provide a comprehensive account of gender development.

• Gender schema theory explains why children are more likely to model behaviour that is seen to be appropriate for their gender than automatically copy a same sex model. Summarising the approach, Durkin (1995) states that it is ‘currently the most influential approach to understanding gender’.

[pic]

Freud uses his psychoanalytic theory in an attempt to explain gender development.

Freud believed that a child’s gender was closely related to both the relationship between the child and parent and also the resolution of the phallic stage – i.e. identification with the same sex parent.

HOW?

Freud’s theory is related to how a child develops their sexuality within the first 5 years of life. During this period the child will pass through three out of five of the psychosexual stages of development: oral, anal and phallic i.e. biological aspects of the child.

Freud believed for the first 3 years of life a child was bisexual. This is because a child’s sexuality is both masculine and feminine. The child does not show a strong sense of any particular gender as yet.

During the phallic stage however (3-5 years) is where gender division occurs. This is the result of a process known in males as the Oedipus Complex, and in females, The Electra Complex. (Freud, 1933) Freud’s theory is based on the unconscious processes at work.

The Oedipus complex is where sexual energy is directed onto the male phallus and a boy’s affections for his mother becomes intensely sexual. He desires his mother for himself and wishes his father dead. However the boy then recognises his father as a powerful rival and begins to fear he might castrate him if he discovered the boy’s feelings. This fear of punishment is known as castration anxiety. According to Freud people use defence mechanisms to help them deal with any type of anxiety. So boys resolve the Oedipus Complex by using a defence mechanism called identification with the aggressor, the ‘aggressor’ being their fathers. They come to identify themselves with their fathers in that they try to act as much like them as possible and adopt their attitudes. The resolution of the Oedipus complex thus leads to boys acquiring the traditional masculine role.

The Electra Complex is where a girl becomes aware of the male phallus, which is seen as a symbol of power. She realises that she does not have one and concludes that she has already been castrated. Not only is she castrated and powerless, but so is her mother. Girls then suffer from penis envy and blame their mothers for their ‘loss’. The girl wants what males have, but because this is unrealistic she will substitute this wish for a penis with the wish for a baby. This causes her to turn to her father as a love object in the hope that he will provide her with a baby. Freud was not very clear about how the resolution of the Electra complex would lead girls to identify with their mothers and adopt the traditional female role.

One suggestion is that the girl fears the loss of her mothers love. To keep the mother ‘alive’ inside her, she identifies with her mother and internalises her and becomes the ‘good’ child which her mother would want from her.

How does this relate to gender identity then?

In order for children in the phallic stage to resolve their complexes Freud believed that they would need to identify with the same sex parent. They would then need to grow up with a warm and caring mother and a strong and authoritative father.

Freud argued that having powerful mothers and weak fathers would threaten children’s development of gender roles. He even went on to argue that the absence of a strong male role model could result in a boy becoming homosexual in his gender identity.

Q. Briefly describe Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex.

(3 marks) [AO1 = 3, AO2 = 0]

Q. Briefly describe Freud’s explanation of the Electra complex.

(3 marks) [3 marks: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 0]

Q Make up your own 3 mark question…

Other psychodynamic theories

Various neo-Freudians have reinterpreted theories about Freud’s theory of gender development:

Karen Horney [1933/1967] argues that girls do not suffer from penis envy, in other words they are not envious of the penis itself but of a males position in society. The penis is desired because it is a symbol of male dominance and females desire the power and control that a male possesses.

Erickson [1968/1974] questions Freud’s assumptions that males are superior to females. Instead he argues woman do not suffer from penis envy but instead are comfortable with their bodies. He suggests males suffer from womb envy desiring the ability to create which would explain why men are constantly making things or getting involved in active pursuits whereas women are content to be inner directed and focus on relationships.

Nancy Chodorow (1978) believes that the early mother-child relationship forms the basis of gender identity. Because mothers are female she identifies more strongly with her daughter than her son. She sees her and her daughter as similar whereas the son is different. This leads a mother to behave towards her daughter in ways that encourage closeness and support. She treats her son with individuality which leads them to separate more. Female identification continues as the daughter grows older encouraging mutually caring relationships whilst the boys distance their identity further from the mother and so rejecting all things that are feminine.

There are also many reasons for doubting Freud’s theory of gender identity development:

• The Oedipus and Electra complexes are quite controversial with many people finding the notion of childhood sexual feelings quite hard to accept.

• The theory would suggest that gender identity occurs around 3-5yrs of age, however, most evidence suggests that children have some evidence of gender identity long before three years and children do not appear to acquire gender identity in one full swoop but rather it is seen as a gradual process.

• There is little or no empirical evidence to support the phallic stage. It is based on his own self analysis and it cannot be seen to prove unconscious processes.

• Freud himself recognised that his account of gender development in girls was not entirely satisfactory, so other theorists within psychodynamic psychology have given more explanatory accounts which challenge the theory’s credibility.

• Children who grow up in ‘atypical families’ (single parent, gay parents etc) does not necessarily affect a child’s gender identity. Instead the child may actually have a more secure attachment. (Golombok et al, 1997)

• Golombok and Fivush [1994] point out that there is little evidence to support Chodorow’s theory of a difference in the bonds between mother and daughter and mother and son. However there is plenty of evidence to suggest that females are more relationship orientated whilst males are more autonomous which is just what Chodorow’s theory would predict.

Studies to support

Malinowski 1927

Malinowski was an anthropologist who studied people living in the Trobriand Islands. In this culture children were disciplined by their mothers’ brothers and not by their fathers. So the figures of authority, the uncles, were not in a sexual relationship with the boys’ mothers. The Trobriand Islanders could not have experienced the Oedipus complex but they still acquired gender roles. This study also casts doubt on Freud’s claim that the psychosexual stages were universal.

Hetherington 1966 and 1972

Hetherington looked at whether children whose fathers were absent. He found that if boys’ fathers left the family before they were four years old, they were less masculine than other boys, being

• More dependent on their peers

• Less assertive

• Less involved in sport.

After the age of four the absence of the father did not have this effect.

Hetherington found that girls with absent fathers didn’t seem to be affected until adolescence when they had problems in interacting with men and adjusting to the female role.

This study supports the idea that the first two or three years of life are crucial in the development of gender roles and that fathers are important in this.

Golombok et al (1983)

Golombok wanted to see if children reared in unconventional families would have difficulties acquiring a gender role as Freud’s theory would predict. They compared thirty five children reared by twenty seven lesbian couples with thirty eight brought up by heterosexual single mums. The children and their mothers were interviewed and both teachers and mothers completed questionnaires. They found that the two groups did not differ in their

• Gender identity

• Sex role behaviour or

• Sexual orientation.

There was some evidence that the group that were brought up by lone mothers had more psychiatric problems than those with lesbian mothers.

This suggests that Freud was mistaken.

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Perry and Bussey (1979)

Perry and Bussey (1979) investigated children’s preferences for the imitation of same sex models. Children saw four male and four female models choosing between two items, for example, a banana and an apple. All the female models chose one item and all the males chose the other. After observing the adults choices, the children were asked which of the two items they liked best. Children clearly preferred the item that had been chosen by all the adults of their own sex. Children then will copy the behaviour of their own sex.

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