Gender Flashcards

Question

Psychodynamic Theory and Gender

Answer 1

Freudian theories use the concepts of internalisation and identification (from SLT) Internalisation - Accepting others’ beliefs because they resonate with yours Identification - Complying to gain access to a group, then accepting it over time These two processes can be used to explain things like in-group/out-group preferences in GST, rejection of gender-inappropriate behaviour in Kohlberg’s theory, and the persistence of sex-role stereotypes.

Answer 2

The ID aims for pleasure/satisfaction regardless of others’ interests The Superego aims for morality/acceptance regardless of its own interests The Ego looks to keep these in check Defense mechanisms are used to prevent either becoming pathological

Answer 3

Boy becomes aware of sexuality and desires mother’s full attention - sees father as a threat/competition Boy wishes father was dead; fears his revenge if he finds out - this is castration anxiety. The boy represses the anxiety. Father’s behaviours are imitated to impress the mother, leading to identification with male gender behaviours. Conflict is resolved when the boy no longer feels competition against the father. Superego develops

Answer 4

Proposed by Jung (1913) to address the criticisms that Freud’s theories were gender biased (beta bias). Freud then added the following, which he called the “feminine oedipus attitude”. This implied that girls are failed/lesser boys, and ignored any differences other than how they compensate for this: Girls are initially attracted to their mother but are confused when they discover she has no penis. Girl resents mother (penis envy), assuming she doesn’t have one because the mother felt inadequate and castrated her. Girl begins to feel sexual attraction to the father instead. Girl fails to identify with father as she observes gender differences. Penis envy is replaced by the desire for a baby, and she then identifies with the mother’s role.

Answer 5

For gender, Bandura (1991) combined vicarious reinforcement and observation to create an overall term; indirect reinforcement Parent models, media/culture/peer reinforcement Bandura (1991) said identification was important here

Answer 6

Observation Identification Modelling Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 7

Bandura’s new Social Cognitive Model still had behaviourist aspects He said that whatever we expected, the future of behaviours depended on physical consequences - direct positive and negative reinforcement, or punishment.

Answer 8

Cognitive processes like rehearsal allow children to learn through direct tuition Eg. through TV programmes, parental instructions, etc. When children have internalised behaviours (formed in-group identities/achieved gender stability), they also start to self-direct Cognitive processes allow them to feel good or bad when they reflect on their own actions - producing their own reinforcement/punishment He called this reciprocal determinism This means behaviour is determined by a feedback loop Behaviour - Reflection - Consequence - Adjustment - Behaviour - etc.

Answer 9

Most cultures hold different views and have different expectations of men and women Women are often seen to be more conformist and less independent than men Research shows this is false; the largest factors in conformity were activity level and physical environment, according to a large meta-analysis (Berry et al., 2002) Women are also usually less socially powerful/well-paid, but this is decreasing in the UK (Alleye, 2011)

Answer 10

Arapesh male & female both Gentle, cooperative, kind Mundugumor male & female both Aggressive, machiavellian, narcissistic Tchambuli men: Emotionally fragile, sensitive, anxious female: Assertive, hostile, domineering

Answer 11

Media: Methods of transmitting or storing knowledge (eg., book, TV, adverts, video) Bandura & Bussey (1999) conducted content analysis of a large range of film and print media to investigate gender roles Codes for men: confident, independent, assertive, interesting, complex, strong Codes for women: dependent, anxious/hysterical, unambitious, emotional, two-dimensional

Answer 12

On TV, most women are physically flawless and emotionally passive; while men are clumsy but more accomplished (Conley et al., 2011) A famous longitudinal study showed how powerful embedded media stereotypes are on children’s beliefs. Kids aged 6-12 watching >25 hours/week expressed significantly more stereotypes than those watching <10 hours/week (McGhee et al., 1980)

Answer 13

All media help reinforce gender stereotypes through vicarious reinforcement Women are seen to succeed when they’re feminine Men are seen to succeed when they’re masculine Sex-relevant characteristics are usually exaggerated in protagonists and under-represented in antagonists. This affects self-efficacy

Answer 14

Pingree (1978) was the first to suggest using media to change people’s perceptions of gender Men and women should be deliberately cast in unusual, non-stereotypical roles His study compared children watching stereotypical or counter-stereotypical adverts There was a significant difference between the two groups in their answers on a questionnaire about gender-appropriate behaviours This started a large gender-equality movement in media (ecological validity)

Answer 15

Chronic distress due to perception of sex & gender mismatch. This excludes intersex conditions, which are biologically verifiable. This condition has recently been the subject of considerable social pressure Gender Identity Disorder (GID) first appears in DSM-III (1980) Culture bias is identified - Eg. Samoan culture has three genders (extra feminine male category) and none are at increased risk of any psychological disorder Social construction of gender in Western countries changes over time The DSM-V (2013) replaces GID with the term Gender Dysphoria (spectrum)

Answer 16

A possible transgender gene has been identified Hare et al. (2009) studied 112 M -> F transexuals’ DNA Androgen receptor gene was significantly longer in transexuals This difference reduces the ability of testosterone to cause changes in development The brain of the transexuals may be much less masculine than average, if the threshold level for masculine development is never reached

Answer 17

There are many sex and gender differences in brain structure and functioning It’s possible that transexuals’ brains do not match their genetic sex The BSTc (bed nucleus of stria terminalis) is twice the size in straight men than women It integrates information from across the limbic system The information is used to monitor stress-readiness levels (allostatic valence) BSTc size correlates with preferred sex, not biological sex M -> F transexuals’ BSTc is similar a size to the female average (Zhou et al., 1995) F -> M transexuals’ BSTc is usually within the typical male range (Kruijver et al., 2000)

Answer 18

There are very few stable behavioural differences between men and women Brains are not 100% masculine or 100% feminine Male brains are larger than female brains Females have a proportionally thicker cortex and more grey matter/less white matter when compared with men Men have larger ventricles (glymphatic structures)

Answer 19

Typical female neurons have more dendritic spines than male neurons (important for firing/processing speed/plasticity) After 15 mins of stress, researchers found a reversal in this pattern in the rat hippocampus Therefore, physical structure of brain cells can’t determine sex - you need to know whether there was high or low stress. This is an interactionist/diathesis-stress/nature and nurture issue.

Answer 20

Ramachandran & McGeoch (2007) suggest sex organs have specific brain locations that are hard-wired If this wiring is disrupted or develops in an atypical way (eg. because of low fetal testosterone activity), genitals can be represented in the opposite way to the person’s sex This can lead to experiencing a phantom penis - a symptom claimed by ⅔ of F -> M transexuals This includes phantom erections, and leads to loss of feeling in female genitals

Answer 21

DDT is an insecticide banned in UK and USA from 1972, but still used in developing countries (India produces/uses the most currently) DDT causes sodium channels to open, resulting in nerve spasms and death in insects It’s not deadly to most animals, but it does contain oestrogen that can reach the bloodstream in exposed humans Boys born to DDT-exposed mothers showed feminine characteristics, indicating they’d had an increased exposure to oestrogen in the womb (Vreugdenhil et al., 2002).

Answer 22

Mother-Son relationships (Stoller, 1975) Boys that developed dysphoria had very close and enmeshed relationships with their mothers Boundaries were very blurred These boys may have over-identified with their mother Identification with the wrong model may lead to confused identity Father-Daughter relationships (Zucker, 2004) Dysphoric girls were usually rejected by their fathers as young children This results in over-identification with the father Increased imitation of male behaviours leads to confused identity

Gender Flashcards

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