gender Flashcards

Question

physical characteristics of Klinefelter's synfrome

Answer 1

1. Less body hair than average males 2. Gynaecomastia (increased breast tissue) 3. Poorly functioning testicles (sterility) 4. Weaker muscles 5. Taller height than average males

Answer 2

1. Low libido 2. Below average reading ability and poor language skills 3. Shyness and difficulties with social interaction

Answer 3

1. No menstrual cycle (sterility) 2. Undeveloped breasts 3. Webbed neck, broad chest, narrow hips 4. Shorter height than average females

Answer 4

1. Above average reading abilities 2. Below average mathematics abilities 3. Social immaturity

Answer 5

Herlihy et al - studied** 87 people with Klinefelter's** syndrome and found that those who had been **diagnosed and treated from a very young age had significantt health benefits** compared to those who had been diagnosed in adult hood * important bc **currently as many as 2/3 of people with Klinefelters never recieve a diagnosis** so more accurate diagnosis would mean that more of these people could recieve a diagnosis, leading to more positive outcimes for them

Answer 6

only 1/3 of people with Klinefelters are aware they have the condition. this means that those who are involved in psychological research are those who have been diagnosed. they are likely to be at the more severe end of the scake in terms of symptoms, so many not be representative of most people with the syndrome, limiting the generalisation that can be made

Answer 7

* By comparing people who have these conditions with chromosome-typical people it is **possible to see psychological and behavioural differences between the two groups**. It could then be inferred that these differences have a biological basis and are the result of the abnormal chromosomal structure. * This** suggests that innate influences have a powerful effect on psychology and behaviour**, supporting the nature side of the debate. * However, we** need to be cautious in drawing these conclusions**. Social and environmental differences may also play a role in the differences in behaviour individuals with Klinefelter's and Turner's Syndromes show. * For example, the **social immaturity seen in girls with Turner's Syndrome** could **arise from the fact they are treated 'immaturely' by people around them due to their pre-pubescent appearance**. This could then have an impact on their performance at school (leading to the specific learning and developmental problems associated with the syndrome). Therefore, **we cannot be sure how much of the characteristics are due to nature or nurture.**

Answer 8

* Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory suggests that **children go through a series of stages** in their understanding of gender. These stages are linked to underlying changes in the way that children think. * There is a **biological element** to Kohlberg’s theory: as a child gets older there is** biological maturation of the brain**. (Maturation means natural, biological change over time). As the **brain matures so thinking becomes more sophisticated and children achieve a better understanding of gender**. * There is also a **social element as imitation** of other children is also important in gender development. Children observe the behaviour of those of the same sex and they model it. However they only seek out and model same sex behaviour once they have reached the final stage of gender constancy. The cognitive change comes first and then the change in behaviour. Only when children realise that gender does not change will they act in a sex-typed way.

Answer 9

1. gender identity 2. gender stability 3. gender constancy

Answer 10

The child identifies themself as male or female and can categorise others as male or female. However, the child does not recognise the stability of gender, e.g. that girls grow up to become women, and so a girl might say something like “I’m going to be a daddy when I’m older”.

Answer 11

The child realises that their gender is stable, i.e. that they will remain the same gender for life. However, they may not apply this same stability to others. For example, if a woman does some typically male activity or cuts her hair short, the child may think she is now a man.

Answer 12

The child realises that theirs and other people’s gender is permanent and constant over time and in different situations despite superficial changes. For example, if a woman cuts her hair short, the child understands that she is still a woman.

Answer 13

Slaby and Frey - found that after children reach gender constancy they pay more attention to same-sex role models, which is in line with Kohlberg’s predictions.

Answer 14

**Ruble et al (1981)** studied 2 groups of children of the same age, but one group had reached gender constancy and the other hadn't. * They watched a cartoon. In the middle there was a break in which the children saw an advert. **The advert was for a toy, modelled by either 2 boys or 2 girls. They were later given an opportunity to play with the toy.** * Those children who had reached **gender constancy** would *only play with the toy *if it was** modelled by their own sex. ** * Those who were still in the stage of gender stability would play with the toy regardless of the sex of the model. **This demonstrates that once gender constancy has been reached, children are more rigid in their gender behaviour** and will only copy the behaviour seen as appropriate for their gender.

Answer 15

**Munroe et al (1984)** looked at several cultures, including Kenya, Nepal, Samoa, and found the sequence of gender development followed the pattern in Kohlberg's stage theory. This is important because it suggests that the sequence of stages suggested by Kohlberg is universal.

Answer 16

**Bussey and Bandura (1992)** found that children as young as 4 reported 'feeling good' when playing with 'gender-appropriate' toys but 'felt bad' when playing with 'gender-inappropriate' toys.

Answer 17

* One good thing about Kohlberg's theory is that it is comprehensive and incorporates a number of different approaches. It is **essentially a cognitive theory **emphasising the importance of thought processes. * *However*, the theory also incorporates ideas from other approaches. There is a role for **biology as maturation of the brain** underlies the changes in thinking. * Munroe's study shows that the stages apply to many cultures, suggesting a role for biology. * Kohlberg also** allows a role for learning**, although the ability to learn about gender is restricted by the stage of gender development that a child is at. ***Observation and modelling of same sex children occurs once a child has reached the correct stage of cognitive development.* However, Kohlberg can be criticised for *ignoring other important biological and social influences* such as the role of hormones and the importance of reinforcement from parents.

Answer 18

Kohlberg's theory was developed with interviews with children who were in some cases as young as 2-3. It is argued that Kohlberg may not have acknowledged that very young children may lack the vocabulary required to express their understanding, so may have complex idea's about gender but be unable to articulate these.

Answer 19

A schema is a term used by psychologists for a mental structure, or a set of ideas, beliefs and expectations that go together. It is based on the idea that people categorize information in order to make sense of it. One important schema that we have is **our gender schema, which is an organised set of beliefs and expectations related to gender that are learnt through experience**. This guides our understanding of our own gender and gender-appropriate behaviour in general.

Answer 20

* Develop schemas for their own gender. * Understand that they are male or female and will stay that way. * Begin to categorise objects and activities as appropriate to one gender or the other * Develop a sense that their own gender is the ‘in-group’, and identify with that, rejecting ‘out-group’ activities. In group identity boosts children’s self-esteem. * Concentrate on activities they have decided are gender appropriate, and ignore activities they have come to view as suitable for the opposite sex * Pay more attention to information that is consistent with their schemas, and reject or ignore inconsistent information. * As children are more attentive to information relevant to their gender they develop a more detailed gender schema for their own gender. Once they reach the age of about 8 they develop detailed for both genders.

Answer 21

**Martin and Halverson (1983)** found that when children were shown photographs and were then tested a week later they were more *likely to remember those photos that showed gender consistent behaviour rather than gender inconsistent behaviour*. **Children also tended to change the gender of the person carrying out the inconsistent activity**. This demonstrates that gender schemas influence how children process and remember information. **Bradbard (1986)** showed boys and girls of 4-9 years gender neutral toys but told them that they were either a girl's toy or a boy's toy. **They spent more time playing with toys labelled as appropriate for their sex, as gender schema theory would predict**. A week later they could remember if each toy was a girl or a boy toy, suggesting that this was important information for children so that they had processed it and added it to their gender schemas. **Bussey and Bandura (1992)** found boys and girls as young as four explain how they feel better engaging in gender appropriate activities and playing with gender appropriate toys. This matters as it enhances the validity of the theory and suggests that gender schema's may develop earlier than Kohlberg suggested.

Answer 22

Gender schema theory, along with Kohlberg's theory, focus on the child as an individual, seeking information from the environment about what it is to be male or female. While the culture or society provides that information, the theories may be too simplistic in that they ignore the role of social learning and modelling in the child's gender development. Adults and other children, along with the media, contribute to the shaping of both gender behaviour. Furthermore, some would argue that it ignores biological factors and that chromosomes and hormones could explain gender differences in the behaviours of individuals. So gender Is not purely shaped by gender schemas.

Answer 23

The theory can be seen as deterministic because having worked out that we are male or female this seems to really limit (control) the way in which we behave and think. In contrast Bem argues that we have the free will to reject our gender schemas and behave in the way that we wish.

Answer 24

Kohlberg suggested that **children’s understanding of gender develops in a series of stages, linked with *biological maturation of the brain* which allows for a more sophisticated understanding of gender**. The first stage is gender identity at 2-3 years old in which a child can identify their own gender, rely heavily on external appearances to identify gender, but cannot yet understand that gender is fixed across time and situation. The second stage is gender stability at ages 4-5, children still rely heavily on external appearance, but now understand their own gender is fixed across time and situation, although cannot apply this logic to others. The final stage is gender constancy at ages 6-7, in this stage children understand that their own and others’ genders are fixed across time and situation. Kohlberg associated this with Piaget’s concept of conservation which also develops around 6-7, allowing children to understand that things can remain the same despite changes in appearance. Kohlberg suggested that once children reach gender constancy, they begin to seek same sex role models to identify and imitate.

Answer 25

One similarity between both Kohlberg and gender schema theory is that both theories argue that children actively and independently work out how to behave in a way that is gender appropriate. For example, gender schema theorists argue that children actively seek and pay attention to gender consistent material such as gender appropriate toys. Similarly, Kohlberg argued that after the gender constancy stage, children begin to seek out same sex role models to identify with and begin to imitate their behaviour.

Answer 26

However, one key difference between gender schema theory and Kohlberg’s theory is that both theories differ in what age children begin seeking gender appropriate material. Kohlberg suggests that children begin to identify and imitate same sex role models when gender constancy is achieved. Whilst, gender schema theory suggests Gender that children acquire gender relevant information before gender constancy (6-7) is achieved and therefore, once they can label themselves as boy/girl (gender identity ages 2-3) they actively sort out information and make sense of the world and this builds their gender schema’s, and that it is these schemas which drive gender role behaviour. ***Note: You could possibly include Bussey and Bandura here to illustrate the difference as it supports gender schema theory but opposes Kohlberg. ***

Answer 27

Furthermore, both explanations are deterministic. This is because within each theory it assumes that once having achieved gender for Kohlberg, or gender identity for gender schema theory, it limits the way in children think and behave. In contrast Bem argues that we have the free will to reject our gender schemas and behave in the way that we wish.

Answer 28

According to Freud gender development occurs during the Phallic Stage (3-6 years), Before this stage Freud described children as bisexual i.e. they are neither masculine nor feminine. During the Phallic Stage girls go through the Electra Complex and boys go through the Oedipus Complex. Boys resolve the Oedipus Complex by identifying with their father and girls resolve the Electra Complex by identifying with their mother. It is through this identification that gender identity occurs.

Answer 29

According to Freud all young boys have incestuous desires towards their mothers. They are jealous of dad as he is seen as a rival for his mother's affections. However, he fears his father who is bigger and more powerful than he is and may castrate him if he discovers his interest in his mother. This leads to castration anxiety. To avoid this the child identifies with his dad and tries to be like him (so that one day he may be able to attract a woman like his mum). This process is called identification with the aggressor.

Answer 30

According to Jung, a girl in the Phallic Stage realises she lacks a penis and experiences penis envy. She blames her mother for castrating her and turns to her father for love and affection, replacing the desire for a penis with the desire for a baby. She sees her mother as a rival for his love and fears the mother will abandon her if she discovers her feelings for the father. To solve this conflict, she represses the love for the father and identifies with the mother, internalising the female gender role.

Answer 31

The **end result of the Oedipus and Electra** Complexes is that children identify with the same sex parent: they look up to them and want to be like them. This **leads to internalisation where the child adopts the attitudes and behaviour of the same sex parent **and they become part of who the child is. ***Gender identity happens suddenly, all in one go, at the end of the phallic stage.*** This process of identification and internalisation is stronger in males as they are motivated by a fear of castration rather than abandonment

Answer 32

Theo ***Sandfort*** (2010) compared data from **63 children where both parents were lesbians** and **68 children from 'traditional families**. Children raised by lesbian parents felt less pressure to conform to gender stereotypes and were less likely to assume their own gender was superior, but **there were no differences in terms of psychosocial adjustment or gender identity**. This contradicts Freud's theory as it suggests that fathers are not necessary for healthy gender identity development.

Answer 33

many of his ideas cant be directly tested as they are unconscious. mkaes the theory pseudoscientific and unable to be falseified

Answer 34

Social learning theory regards gender identity and role as a set of behaviours that are learned from the environment (nurture). According to the theory the main way that gender behaviours are learned is **through the process of observation and imitation. ** Children are likely to **imitate the gender behaviour of those models who they identify with**. This may be within the child’s immediate environment such as parents, teachers, siblings or may be present in the media such as celebrities. Importantly in regards to gender development, **children are more likely to identify with models of the same sex. ** The people around the child will respond to the behaviour of the child (direct reinforcement). A child is **more likely to imitate a behaviour that has been reinforced and children are more likely to be praised for gender appropriate behaviours**. Both boys and girls may be encouraged to behave in different ways for example through being provided different toys and clothes or being encouraged to act in different ways, such as encouraging boys to engage in rough and tumble play. **The way in which boys and girls are encouraged to show distinct gender-appropriate behaviour is known as differential reinforcement**. Children can also **learn via vicarious (indirect) reinforcement. Children may observe their role models such as parents/peers being reinforced for gender-appropriate and thus be more likely to imitate those behaviours**. E.g., a young girl may see her mother receive a compliment when she wears make-up and this may encourage the girl to replicate this behaviour when she is able. They may also see their role models punished for gender-inappropriate behaviour and thus be less likely to imitate (vicarious punishment). E.g., if a boy sees a friend being teased for playing with dolls, he will be less likely to copy the behaviour.

Answer 35

**Fagot et al** (1992) **compared 27 egalitarian families (where mother and father share parenting equally) with 42 traditional families **(where child rearing was carried out by the mother while the father was at work). When the children were four they were given a range of gender-labelling tasks. **Children in traditional families showed more gender role stereotyping at age four than those in the egalitarian families.** This ***supports the view that parents are important role models in gender development as the children were imitating the gender roles they observed in their own families.*** Differential reinforcement also seemed influential. Fagot found that parents who showed differential reinforcement had children who were quick to develop strong gender preferences. The idea that fathers are more likely to sex type their children was not supported by Fagot. While fathers were found to qive more negative comments to boys engaging in female typical play, mothers were also influential in policing cross sex play.

Answer 36

There exists less of a clear-cut distinction between what people regard as stereotypically masculine and feminine in society now compared to the past. A strength of social learning theory is that it **can explain how behaviour can change over time or from culture to culture. , shift in social expectations** and cultural norms means that new forms of gender behaviour are learnt and reinforced. It can be argued that there have been** no corresponding changes in individual's basic biology during this time period, so the changes in gender norms and roles must be due to changes in society**, giving the theory greater explanatory power.

Answer 37

Freud, in agreement with SLT, would accept that same-sex parents have a key influence in a child's gender development. However, the psychodynamic approach would suggest that identification with the same sex parent and internalisation of the gender role is an unconscious process. On the other hand, SLT suggests it involves conscious mediational processes.

Answer 38

The ST **places little emphasis on the influence of genes and chromosomes and only considers the role of the environment**. However,* David Reimer's* case demonstrated that it was not possible to override chromosomal influence and the masculinising effects of fetal testosterone. He was never comfortable as a girl despite being reinforced for feminine behaviour. Furthermore, there is also the issue that **some aspects of gender role behaviour appear to be universal to all cultures. For example, men are consistently found to be more aggressive than women**, regardless of culture. These universal features suggest that some aspects of gender role may be the result of innate, genetic influences that social learning theory does not take account of. Perhaps a biosocial approach is more appropriate - innate biological differences are reinforced through social interaction and cultural expectations.

Answer 39

Culture refers to the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society

Answer 40

Studying cultural influences on gender roles allows psychologists to assess the extent to which gender is biological (nature) or a social construct (nurture). * * If a particular **gender role behaviour** appears to be c**onsistent across different cultures we might conclude this represents an innate biological** difference between males and females. * * If however, different cultural influences result in **differences in gender roles between cultures** this would infer gender to be **socially constructed**, as suggested by social learning theory.

Answer 41

**Each culture provides role models that children can observe and imitate**. Whether or not children imitate the behaviour will be based on rewards and punishments they expect to receive and see others receiving (vicarious reinforcement). Culture provides information about gender appropriate and gender inappropriate behaviour. There will be representations of gender in society as well as in books and films etc. **Children pay attention to these models and retain their behaviour.** They **observe and identify with these role models and will imitate depending on the rewards and punishments they expect from parents and society in general**. So, gender roles are shaped by cultural rather than biological factors

Answer 42

**Buss** (1989) found **consistent patterns in mate preference**s in **37** countries across all continents. In all culture women sought men who could offer wealth and resources, whilst men looked for youth and physical attractiveness in a potential partner. **Williams and Best** (1990) found that there was universal agreement across cultures about** which characteristics were masculine and feminine **with men being perceived as dominant and independent and women caring and sociable.

Answer 43

The research by **Mead (1935) has been criticised for observer bias** and for **making sweeping generalisations** based on a relatively short period of study. Furthermore, **Freeman** (1983) **conducted a follow up study and argued she had been misled by some of her participants and that her preconceptions about what she would find had influenced her recording of events**. He said she did not give enough emphasis to the influence of biology, did not spend enough time with the people and was not familiar enough with the language, although his account has also been challenged. The research by **Williams and Best** (1980) has also been criticised because the **questionnaire featured no 'neutral' option when rating the masculinity of femininity of each adjective**. Such a forced choice could have caused exaggeration of the differences between males and females.

Answer 44

Conducting cross-cultural research is prone to the problem of an imposed etic. This is because the research may be typically undertaken by Western researchers which means there is **a danger that the researchers and their theories and methods impose their own cultural interests and understanding on the people they are studying**. This can result in flawed conclusions being drawn, questioning the validity of the results obtained

Answer 45

Although cross-cultural research can provide insight into the different cultural practices (nurture) that may influence gender role behaviour, **the research cannot solve the nature-nurture debate.** This is because in reality it is practically and theoretically impossible to separate the two influences. It could be argued that it **may be better understood from an interactionist point of view**, for example that some elements are biologically constructed, but also modified by social influences. **This could explain the basic cross-cultural similarities in gender roles and stereotypes, but also explain cross-cultural differences**, especially in the types of activities to which gender roles are applied.

Answer 46

Media forms such as television, magazines, social media and music have also been **argued to influence the acquisition, shaping and maintenance of gender roles**. The media may provide role models with whom children may identify and wish to imitate. **Children will pay attention to models on TV and retain the information. ** According to social learning theory children are likely to select role models of the same sex and who engage in gender-appropriate behaviour (as this is more likely to be reinforced).

Answer 47

Furnham and Farragher (2000) conducted an analysis of ***TV adverts*** and found that **men were more likely to be shown in autonomous roles within professional contexts** whereas **women were often seen occupying familial roles within domestic settings.** This suggests that the media may play a role in reinforcing widespread social stereotypes concerning male and female behaviour.

Answer 48

Bee (2000) found that books including picture books and early reading books are stereotyped and that boys' TV adverts are likely to be fast and loud compared with those for girls which are slower, gentler and quieter. This suggests that media gender-role portrayals and influences differ for boys and girls from an early age.

Answer 49

**1970s** a unique experiment was conducted in a town in British Colombia (Canada) that was a**bout to receive a TV signal for the first time.** Nicknamed 'Notel' by Tannis Williams and her team of researchers (1986), the town offered a rare opportunity to examine the effect of new media on the townsfolk. The researchers carried out** extensive surveys around the town to assess the behaviour and attitudes of the population prior to the introduction of television.** They also collected similar data from two other neighbouring towns, **Unitel**' (that had access to one TV channel) and **Multitel**' (that had access to several). After a two-year period, all three towns were surveyed again. Williams et al. noted how gender-stereotypical attitudes among the children of the three towns changed over two years. At the beginning of the study, **children in Notel and Unitel displayed fewer gender-typed views and less evidence of gender stereotypical behaviour than their Multitel counterparts. At the end of the study, evidence of stereotypes on both of these measures had increased for the children of Notel.**

Answer 50

Most research has focused on how the media had reinforced gender stereotypes. However, in **recent years there have been many examples of counter-stereotypes in the media** (e.g. in the Disney film Brave) to try to challenge traditional notions of masculinity and femininity. **Pingree (1978) **found that when children when were **shown TV adverts featuring women in non-stereotypical roles, gender stereotyping was reduced**. However, it was also found that** pre-adolescent boys' stereotype became stronger following exposure to non-traditional models.**

Answer 51

It is generally concluded that the media has considerable influence on the formation and maintenance of children's gender role stereotypes. However, it is difficult to establish cause and effect within these studies. It can be **questioned whether the media is the cause of such social norms by depicting men and women in particular way, or whether the *media reflects the current norms*.** Furthermore, studies into the effect of media do not include control groups as the vast majority of children are exposed to some form of media, whereas such groups for comparison would make the direction easier to establish.

Answer 52

Gender dysphoria is when an individual may feel a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. Some individuals will identify themselves as transgender and may opt for gender reassignment surgery.

Answer 53

1. A marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and primary and/or secondary sex characteristics (or in young adolescents, the anticipated secondary sex characteristics) 2. A strong desire to be rid of one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics because of a marked incongruence with one’s experienced/expressed gender (or in young adolescents, a desire to prevent the development of the anticipated secondary sex characteristics) **3. A strong desire for the primary and/or secondary sex characteristics of the other gender** **4. A strong desire to be of the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s designated gender)** **5. A strong desire to be treated as the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s designated gender)** 6. A strong conviction that one has the typical feelings and reactions of the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s designated gender)

Answer 54

Brain sex theory suggests that GD is caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a person’s biological sex. Particular attention has been paid to those areas of the brain that are dimorphic (take different form in males and females).

Answer 55

**Ning Zhou et al **(1995) studied the bed nucleus of the stria terminals (***BSTc***) which is a region of the brain assumed to be fully developed at around age 5 and around 40% larger in males.** In post-mortem studies of 6 male-to-female transgender individuals the BSTc was found to be a similar size to that of a typical female brain. ** This was also confirmed in a follow-up study by **Krujiver et al** (2000) who studied the **same brain region but focused on number of neurons**. The study found that 6 transgender individuals showed a sex-reverse identity pattern with an average BSTc neuron in the female range.

Answer 56

Evidence suggests that GD may have a genetic basis. Heylens et al., (2012) compared **23 MZ twins** with **21 DZ twins** where* one* of each twin pair was diagnosed with GD. They found **39% of the MZ twins were concordant whereas it was 0 for the DZ twin.**

Answer 57

It is claimed that the** BTSc is fully formed at around age 5** so any hormone treatment that an individual may undergo should not have bearing on the BTSc. However, **Hulshoff Pol et al**., (2005) found that** transgender hormone therapy did affect the size of the BTSc and therefore the differences in the BTSc found among individuals may be the result of hormone therapy rather than the cause of GD**, emphasising difficulty in *establishing cause and effect.*

Answer 58

Biological explanations can be criticised for being **reductionist** due to the tendency to reduce complex conditions and behaviours to simpler genetic, neuroanatomical or hormonal level. This ignores the role of other contributory factors at a 'higher' psychological or social level. For example, **learning theorists argues that individuals may have been reinforced by encouraging or complimenting cross-gender behaviour**, or observing it among other individuals. It could be argued an interactionist approach is more appropriate in the case of GD, a complex condition which is unlikely to be explained by a single influence.

Answer 59

Many twin studies in this area do not have very high concordance rates for MZ twins e.g. 39% in the Helens study. Concordance rates are **not 100% for MZ twins emphasising the environment must also play a role** MZ twins are likely to have even more similar environments which could account for higher concordance GD is a rare disorder and the sample sizes of twin studies where an individual has GD tend to be extremely small, limiting the generalisability of the findings

Answer 60

There is evidence to suggest that gender dysphoria is a medical condition caused by biological factors. This would suggest that this disorder is determined from birth. Some people would arque that this means that** the sooner people with GD are able to transition to their preferred gender identity the better**. This then raises socially sensitive issues about **how to deal with very young children who are displaying symptoms of GD**.

Answer 61

Psychoanalytic approaches founded on Freudian concepts state that gender dysphoria could arise from difficulties with establishing gender identity and incomplete resolution of Oedipus and Electra conflict. **Ovesey and Person (1973)** emphasise social relationships within the family as the cause of gender dysphoria. They suggest that **GD in biological males is caused by a boy experiencing extreme separation anxiety before gender identity has been established**. The boy fantasises about a *symbiotic fusion (becoming one entity) with his mother to relieve the separation anxiety. * This causes the boy to identify strongly with his mother rather than his father as would normally be the case during the resolution of the Oedipus complex. Therefore, instead of developing a male gender identity, the boy develops a female gender identity, resulting in GD.

Answer 62

**Stoller (1973)** found that in interviews, **males with GD displayed overly close relationships with their mother**, suggesting stronger female identification and confused gender identity in the long term

Answer 63

Ovesey and Person's explanation does not provide an adequate account of GD in females as the** theory only applies to male transgender individuals.** **Rekers (1986) **suggests that gender** disturbance in boys is more likely to be associated with absence of the father** than the fear of separation from the mother. These issues suggest that psychoanalytic theory doesn't provide a comprehensive account of gender dysphoria.

Answer 64

Additionally, there is difficulty in testing psychoanalytic explanations due to the difficulties in the testability of the concepts e.g. There is no way of demonstrating the existence of the unconscious mind and thus the theory is unfalsifiable. Therefore, there is no way of verifying if repressed fantasies centred on the mother trigger gender dysphoria.

Answer 65

The social construction theory argues that **gender identity doesn’t reflect underlying biological differences** between people and that the concept of ***gender is ‘invented’*** or constructed by society. Society sees gender as binary (either male or female) and for individuals with GD, **the gender ‘confusion’ arises because society forces them to ‘pick a side’ and act accordingly**. Therefore, GD shouldn’t be seen as a pathological condition but ***a social phenomenon arising from people being required to choose one of two particular paths.***

Answer 66

Some cultures officially recognise more than two genders, for example i**n Samoa, Fa’afafine is a third recognised gender, distinct from male and female**. Fa’fafine have their own gender roles in Samoan society, different to traditional male and female roles. This shows that the **traditional binary classifications of male and female are culturally determined**. Furthermore, the fact that increasing numbers of people now describe themselves as non-binary suggests that cultural understanding is now only beginning to ‘catch up’ with the lived experience of many people.

Answer 67

Research has found that the **BSTc of transgender individuals is more similar to that of their preferred gender than the gender they were assigned at birth**. This suggests that there may be a ***biological*** basis to GD rather than it being socially constructed. Furthermore, **Liben and Bigler (2002) proposed a cognitive explanation for GD.** They suggested the dual pathway theory whereby one pathway is **gender development being affected by gender schema. The second pathway is gender development being affected by the child's own activities and interests**. If this second pathway is dominant, this may cause the schema to be affected. This would lead to androgyny in most cases but could lead to GD in a minority of children. So, social explanations of GD mav be incomplete and there are obviously multiple factors involved.

gender Flashcards

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