Gender: Paper 3 Flashcards

Question

What is the importance of chromosomes and genitalia? A01: The Role of Chromosomes and Hormones in Sex and Gender

Answer 1

✩ There is usually a direct link between an individual’s chromosomal sex (XX and XY) and their external genitalia and internal genitalia.

Answer 2

✩ The Y chromosome signals the foetus to develop as a male by producing androgens. ✩ These male hormones trigger the development of the male reproductive organs (testes) and triggers the cascade for the production of testosterone at higher concentrations (10x) compared to females. ✩ Without the presence of androgens, the embryo develops to become a female.

Answer 3

✩ High levels of testosterone have been closely associated with increased levels of aggression - a characteristic typical trait of males. ✩ This has served an evolutionary purpose, in terms of increasing the ability of the male to protect their female, reducing the likelihood that she will be impregnated by a competing male and so increasing the likelihood of the survival of the male’s genes.

Answer 4

✩ Oestrogen is the female sex hormone and triggers the development of female reproductive organs (e.g. fallopian tubes, ovaries and the vagina) as well as triggering the increased irritability and emotion nature of women during menstruation, classified as PMS. ✩ Oxytocin has been described as the ‘love hormone’ because it provokes feelings of intimacy and closeness. ✩ Women have higher levels of oxytocin than men, which may contribute to the stereotype that women are more caring and affectionate than men, as well as the male focus on sex rather than intimacy in relationships.

Answer 5

✩Van Beijsterveldt collected data about childhood gender identity from over 8000 twin pairs (MZ and DZ) ✩This data showed that 70% of the variance in gender identity was due to genetic factors, showing that atypical development can be inherited.

Answer 6

✩The results also show that girls with female co twins had been less likely to develop cross gender behaviour than girls with male co twins. ✩This is opposite to what the SLT expected, showing that atypical gender development is a biological rather than a psychological process.

Answer 7

✩O'Connor et al. (2004) ✩ Double-blind, placebo study, increased testosterone levels in healthy young men —> no significant increase in aggression or sexual behaviour —> does not have the role of aggression and therefore not a role in affecting gender development

Answer 8

✩ Van de poll et al found that injecting female rats with testosterone led to an increase in aggression, also when he castrated male rats it had resulted in temperament changes, where they become calmer and less aggressive. ✩ These results suggest hormonal changes result in changes to sex typed behaviour.

Answer 9

✩ They show a clear cause and effect relationship between gendered behaviour and hormone levels in experiments we can’t conduct in humans.

Answer 10

✩ As studies cannot be performed on humans, generalisation to humans may not be valid. ✩ This is because human experience of gender is influenced by socialisation such as Smith and Lloyd, and these processes are not present in most animals.

Answer 11

✩ An understanding of hormones have helped improve the lives of those with atypical sex chromosome patterns. ✩ For example, Growth hormone injections (which sufferers of Turners syndrome are usually deficient in) that begin in early childhood may increase final adult height for those with Turner's syndrome by a few inches, helping them alleviate their symptoms and fit in with society.

Answer 12

✩ Describing hormones as 'male or female' is overly simplistic. ✩ For example, low levels of sex drive and ability to produce sperm can be treated with oestradiol (a form of oestrogen critical for male sexuality)

Answer 13

✩ Theisen sequenced the genomes of 13 transgender individuals and compared these to 88 controls. ✩ Finding 21 gene variations associated with oestrogen reception in areas of the brain show to become sexually dimorphic before birth, ✩ This basically suggests that sex hormone exposure before birth results in sexually dimorphic brain development contributing to gender dysphoria. ✩ (These genetic variations may be resulting in variations in gender identity, showing the importance of chromosomes and hormones in influencing gendered behaviour).

Answer 14

✩ Van Anders showed testosterone levels significantly increased in women who took part in a task where they wielded power over another person. ✩ The researchers suggest this is evidence for a gender --> testosterone pathway, in which socialisation encourages men to be more competitive, raising testosterone even more. ✩ (Basically, men are raised to be aggressive, as seen in toys they are given, and thus have even more testosterone levels) ✩ This means a reductionist biological approach to explaining masculine behaviour is likely too simplistic, a holistic approach including social factors may be more valid.

Answer 15

✩ Klinefelter’s Syndrome is characterised by the genotype XXY, and affects those who are biological males

Answer 16

✩ A soft face with no prominent jawline and gynecomastia (development of breasts).

Answer 17

✩ Generally clumsy (perhaps due to their long limbs) and poorer reading skills.

Answer 18

✩ An absence of two copies of the X sex chromosome, resulting in only 45 chromosomes and a genotype of X0.

Answer 19

✩ Lack of menstrual cycle or ovaries (infertile). ✩ Appearance of being ‘young’ and developmentally immature.

Answer 20

✩ Advanced reading skills, but struggle with social communication

Answer 21

✩ Research into people with KS and TS has led to medical interventions. ✩ For example, Growth hormone injections (which sufferers of Turners syndrome are usually deficient in) that begin in early childhood may increase final adult height for those with Turner's syndrome by a few inches, helping them alleviate their symptoms and fit in with society. ✩ Therefore, helping to improve the lives of people with this condition.

Answer 22

✩ It may be that environmental and social influences are more responsible for the behavioural differences seen in these individuals. ✩ For example, the social immaturity associated with Turner's syndrome may arise from the fact that they are treated 'immaturely' by the people around them. ✩ This suggests that it is wrong to assume that observed psychological and behavioural differences are due to nature.

Answer 23

✩ The identification of KS and TS has led to the growth of online support groups for the individuals with the syndromes and their relatives, where they can be well informed about advances in knowledge and treatment and they can communicate with others in the same position

Answer 24

✩ Research into KS and TS lacks population validity, as those who are diagnosed with these syndromes will be those with the severest symptoms and therefore research is based on an unrepresentative sample as it excludes those who have milder symptoms, who are often those with the mosaic form

Answer 25

✩ Research into both syndromes also ignores individual differences in the symptoms and progression of symptoms, meaning that diagnosis and treatment may lack validity, being based on generalised assumptions rather than on an individual basis

Answer 26

✩ There are complicated ethical issues with treatment, such as the extraction and freezing of eggs from pre-pubescent girls so they may have a way to be pregnant later, that need careful consideration.

Answer 27

✩ Quigley et al. (2014) investigated the positive effects of oestrogen replacement therapy in treating TS and found that if treated before puberty, then females with TS would have a greater increase in breast tissue, suggesting early diagnosis and treatment is vital

Answer 28

✩ Atypical sex chromosome patterns lend support to nature in the nature-nurture debate, suggesting behaviour is affected by biological influences. ✩ By comparing people who have these conditions with chromosome-typical individuals and a control group of normal people, it becomes possible to see psychological and behavioural differences between the two groups. ✩ It can be inferred that these differences have a biological basis and are a direct result of abnormal chromosomal structure. ✩ This is helpful to understand gender behaviour more generally, as perhaps chromosome structures impact gendered behaviour.

Answer 29

✩ Child's understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age, developing in stages through processes of: - Maturation (brain development and growing up) - Socialisation (norms and values) - Becoming less egocentric (See things from others perspectives)

Answer 30

✩ Ages 2-3 ✩ Aware of their own gender. ✩ Can identity other genders but not aware of permanence.

Answer 31

✩ Ages 4-5 ✩ Aware of their own gender as fixed over time. ✩ Confused by non-normative appearances/roles in others.

Answer 32

✩ Around age 5-7 ✩ Recognises that everyone's gender is consistent over time despite changes in unusual hair/clothes/context. ✩ Once the consistency stage is reached, children actively look for, then identify with and imitate the same gendered individuals. ✩ This helps children develop an understanding of what is gender appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.

Answer 33

✩ Research support comes from Damon, who told children story about George who liked to play with dolls and were asked to comment on it. 4-year-old children said it was fine for George to play with dolls whereas 6-year-olds said it was wrong for George to play with dolls. This provides support for the gender development theory because at the age of 6 children who are at the gender consistency had formed rigid stereotypes regarding gender-appropriate behaviour.

Answer 34

✩ Slaby and Frey used interviews to assess the stage of gender development of 23 boys and 32 girls. ✩ Children watched a film with a male and female model performing the same activity (e.g. playing an instrument, drinking juice) on either side of the screen. ✩ Researchers measured how long each child focused on each model and found that children in the gender consistency stage spent longer looking at the same sex mode, especially boys. ✩ This suggests that children do have observable stages to gender development as predicted by Kohlberg and children do look to same sex models for gender self-socialisation.

Answer 35

✩ A cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain. A schema helps and individual to make sense of new information ✩ In terms of gender schemas, they organise and structure information to children such as learning what toys are 'appropriate' for their gender and what clothes each gender such wear, for example.

Answer 36

✩ The schemas are learnt from interactions from other adults as well as TV and videos meaning that these schemas are related to cultural norms

Answer 37

✩ The ingroup is the gender the childbelongs to. ✩ Children tend to have a much better understanding of the schemas that are appropriate to their own gender before developing a deeper understanding of the outgroup, the opposite sex gender. ✩ Children pay more attention to information relevant to their gender identity rather than that of the opposite (outgroup).

Answer 38

✩ Ingroup schemas are reinforced by adult behaviour such as giving gendered toys, praising gendered behaviour and language like, 'boys don't cry.' etc.

Answer 39

✩Smith and Lloyd used 6-month-old babies named and dressed as either boy or girl where the gender of the baby was not always consistent with the biological sex. ✩Mothers were then video recorded whilst playing with a baby for ten mins. ✩Observers found that if the mother thought she was playing with a boy, she verbally encouraged more motor activity and offered 'gender-appropriate' toys (e.g. squeaky hammer for boys). ✩Different treatment is seen in parents when children are born, supporting the existence of ingroup and outgroup schemas (stereotyped behaviour for their gender).

Answer 40

✩ There is evidence supporting the idea that gender schemas may actually change or distort memory. For example, Martin and Halverson found that children are more likely to remember gender-consistent, as opposed to gender-inconsistent, photos that have been displayed to them. It appears schemas may also impact the cognitive processing of gender-relevant information in such young children, as they have been shown the change the main characters in gender-inconsistent photographs to meet their own personal ideas and perceptions of gender constancy. ✩ This provides significant support for the influence of gender schemas on our behaviour.

Answer 41

✩ They assessed the stage of gender development of children aged 3-5. ✩ They then judged the children's preference for sex-typed toys, knowledge of sex typed clothing and preference for novel items that experimenter said was 'for boys' or 'for girls' ✩ They found that the youngest children had strong sex typed preferences and stereotyped knowledge of clothes and toys, before children reached the gender consistency stage. ✩ This suggests gender stereotypes and gendered behaviour form early as predicted by Gender Schema Theory. ✩ While the existence of Kohlberg's stages is supported, it is wrong in suggesting gendered preferences only start after children are in the consistency stage.

Answer 42

✩ Ruble et al had instructed pre-schoolers watched advertisements showing toys represented in a sex specific way and found the children high in gender consistency were more influenced than those with low gender consistency. ✩ This is an important finding as it shows that children do not passively respond to stereotypes shown in the media. Instead, the degree to which they are influenced is determined by their own cognitions.

Answer 43

✩ Moreover, this appears to have high validity because the task had high mundane realism as children are exposed to advertising all the time.

Answer 44

✩ Research uses very young children who are unable to communicate in cognitive research. ✩ This means inferences have to be made on their internal mental processes which is problematic as it could potentially result in researcher bias in the understanding of findings.

Answer 45

✩ Focus on cognition (information processing) is a sensible theoretical approach. ✩ We are aware of our own thoughts on how other people and our behaviour match gender norms, and allows us to see how children develop in their understanding of gender.

Answer 46

✩ Biological theories suggest that gendered behaviour is due to innate process resulting in instinctual behaviour that is not dependent on schemas. ✩ This better fits the observation that the vast majority of world cultures have similar expectations of male (competitive) and females (caring) behaviour. ✩ If schemas were the full explanation we would expect to see greater variability in gendered behaviour.

Answer 47

✩ Alexander and Hines showed that male vervet monkeys were more likely to play with masculine toys such as cars and females with feminine toys such as dolls without prior experience. ✩ This shows that preference for gendered objects may be instinctual and have an evolutionary basis.

Answer 48

✩ It suggests gendered behaviour develops due to unconscious thought processes ✩ An individual's sexuality develops during the five psychosexual stages, gender development occurs when they resolve the 3rd phallic stage from around 3-5 years old.

Answer 49

✩ The Oedipus Complex suggests that boys suffer from castration anxiety and so fear their father, but at the same time despise their father for standing in the way of the boy realising their sexual desires felt towards the mother. ✩ To resolve the conflicting desire between love for mother and fear of castration, the boys begin to give up with love for his mother and begins to identify with father. ✩ Through this identification with the father that the boy internalises his father's gender identity and adopts a masculine identity like his father.

Answer 50

✩ Although females do not experience castration anxiety, they suffer from penis envy instead. ✩ This is where girls in the phallic stage despise their mother for not providing them with a penis (cutting of their penis at the same time as their mother had hers) and also for standing in the way of the child realising sexual desires towards their father. ✩ The conflict is resolved by giving up love and desire to have a baby with her father and identifies with mother. ✩ Therefore, in the same way as the Oedipus Complex, it is through this identification with the mother that the girl internalises her mother's gender identity and adopts a feminine identity like her mother.

Answer 51

✩ Freud reported on a case study of a 5y old boy with a phobia of horses and a range of dreams. ✩ Using letters from Han's father, Freud theorised that the boy's fear of horses biting him was actually a fear of his father in relation to castration anxiety while his dreams of sitting on a crumpled giraffe with a larger giraffe called out was an expression of Han's desire for his mother. ✩ This was used by Freud to support his psychodynamic theory of gender.

Answer 52

✩ Stevenson and Black conducted a meta-analysis of 67 studies on father absent families. ✩ Finding boys over 6 years old without father figures actually showed slightly stereotypically masculine behaviours than boys with fathers.

Answer 53

✩ Green found that when compared to boys raised in heterosexual households, there was no significant difference in the gender development of boys raised in lesbian households.

Answer 54

✩ The range of evidence for boys not needing a father figure contradicts Freud's theory that the presence of a male 'father figure' is needed for typical gender identity, undermining his theory of gender.

Answer 55

✩ Freud's theory has been used to stigmatise same gender and single parent families by questioning the ability of families without male father figures in raising children. ✩ These findings show the criticism of these families to be incorrect and highlight the issue of social sensitivity in psychological research.

Answer 56

✩ Martin and Little found children as young as three displayed strong sex-typed behaviours such as favouring gendered toys. ✩ This suggests that gendered behaviour can begin with only a limited understanding of gender and before the identification aspect of the phallic stage as predicted by Freud.

Answer 57

✩ The Oedipus complex is described as Freud as an unconscious process, that means there is no way to directly test or measure the Oedipus complex. ✩ These ideas are thus untestable in experiments and cannot be falsified. ✩ This means the psychodynamic theory is unscientific in it's explanation of gender.

Answer 58

✩ Case studies are often thought to be open to bias and subjectivity, reducing its validity. ✩ Little Han's parents were according to Freud 'among my closest adherents' and aware of Freud's theory.

Answer 59

✩ Psychodynamic theories may now lock temporal validity. ✩ Family structures in the early 20th century were usually nuclear families (normal heterosexual family) ✩ However there is a now much wider variety of family structures than in Freud's time.

Answer 60

✩ Some people who have small children may think there is face validity to Freud's ideas. ✩ It matches with the anecdotal experience of the pattern of early attachment in many families. ✩ For example,' mummy's boy' and 'daddy's girl' which then the child grows out of as they age.

Answer 61

✩ Horney has criticised the Electra Complex as suffering from androcentrism and gender bias, because it has assumed that girls have an innate predisposition to ‘aspire’ towards men, due to their penises, rather than conversely. ✩ For example, the same logic can be used to suggest that men are envious of the unique female ability to have children! ✩ Therefore, this may be considered a social construct based on his beliefs in the Victorian society rather than a scientifically proven maturational stage of gender development, which all children experience i.e. is not universal. (basically, only sees development in terms of men rather than women, why can't men have the desire for babies too?)

Answer 62

✩ Social learning theory regards gender identity and role as a set of behaviours that are learnt from the environment. ✩ The main way that gender behaviours are learned is through the process of observational learning. ✩ Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways, some of which relate to gender. ✩ These individuals that are observed are called role models and can provide examples of masculine and feminine behaviour to observe and imitate.

Answer 63

✩ They pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their behaviour. ✩ At a later time, they may imitate (i.e. copy) the behaviour they have observed. They may do this regardless of whether the behaviour is 'gender appropriate' or not but there are a number of processes that make it more likely that a child will reproduce the behaviour that its society deems appropriate for its sex.

Answer 64

✩ First, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as similar to itself. ✩ Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behaviour modelled by people the same sex as it is.

Answer 65

✩ Second, the people around the child will respond to the behaviour it imitates with either reinforcement or punishment. ✩ It is likely that the child will be reinforced for acting in gender appropriate ways and punished or ignored for gender inappropriate behaviour.

Answer 66

✩ Vicarious reinforcement ---> Children see others praised for sex-appropriate behaviour (vicarious reinforcement) or rewarded directly. ✩ Differential reinforcement ---> is when children are praised for different behaviours. For example, boys are often praised for being competitive while girls are more likely to be praised for quiet play with dolls.

Answer 67

✩Smith and Lloyd used 6-month-old babies named and dressed as either boy or girl where the gender of the baby was not always consistent with the biological sex. ✩Mothers were then video recorded whilst playing with a baby for ten mins. ✩Observers found that if the mother thought she was playing with a boy, she verbally encouraged more motor activity and offered 'gender-appropriate' toys (e.g. squeaky hammer for boys) and similar findings vice versa when they were thought to be playing with a girl offering 'feminine toys' like dolls. ✩ This suggests adults use differential treatment based on their stereotypes of appropriate gendered behaviour from infancy,

Answer 68

✩ Williams (1986) carried out a natural experiment in an isolated community called Notel where TV was about to be introduced for the first time. ✩ He found that, in the two years following the introduction of TV, the children of Notel became much more stereotyped in the gender attitudes. ✩ Children were re-assessed 2 years after the introduction of TV into Notel and it was found that behaviours/attitudes had become significantly more sex-typed. ✩ This implies that the media and media stereotypes can have a profound effect on how children think about their own and others' gender

Answer 69

✩This has had positive real-life applications led to pressure being put upon programme makers to try to present males and females in non-gender-typed ways to encourage women to pursue, for example, careers typically defined as male: e.g. an engineer, helping to eliminate traditional media portrayals of gender roles.

Answer 70

✩ Doesn’t explain why children choose gender inappropriate models if they are punished for it. ✩ For example, although it is looked down in society, some people choose to become transsexual. ✩ Therefore, it does not provide an adequate explanation for differences in gender development.

Answer 71

✩ In comparison, psychodynamic approach would be in agreement with social learning theory in terms of same sex parents influencing the child's gender development. ✩ However, the psychodynamic approach would also accuse social learning theory of focusing too much on meditational processes and of ignoring the importance of the unconscious since it deals only with conscious levels of information processing.

Answer 72

✩ Research support showing children copy same-sex models and therefore learn gender-appropriate behaviour from observations. ✩ Perry found that when children were shown a video of a boy and girl picking up different fruits, later when children were given a choice of fruit and picked same fruit as same-sex model. ✩ This is a strength because children have enough similarity to adults in the way they learn to make this research credible.

Answer 73

✩ A comparison with the biological approach to explaining gender differences, specifically the role of atypical sex chromosome patterns and hormones such as androgens which biologically predetermine gendered behaviours suggests that SLT may suffer from an over-reliance on social influences on gender development.

Answer 74

✩ Therefore, it is now accepted that most researchers take a biosocial approach where they suggested innate biological differences can either be emphasised or even gender overridden through the mechanisms of SLT and (vicarious or differential) reinforcement. ✩ This means that SLT and the biological approach are at polar ends of the nature versus nurture debate, and that an interactionist ‘middle-ground’ would be a more accepted and accurate explanation of gender development.

Answer 75

✩ The social learning approach is unable to explain why children reared in one-parent or homosexual families do not have difficulties with the development of gender identity. ✩ There is no evidence that the absence of a powerful same-sex model, or non-stereotypical models for male or female behaviour, affects a child's gender identity.

Answer 76

✩ According to the social learning theory, the media provide role models with whom children may identify and want to imitate. ✩ Children are likely to select role-models who are the same sex as them and engage in gender-appropriate behaviour. ✩ Gender normative roles are displayed as attractive and rewarding in the media making identification more likely.

Answer 77

✩ The media does more than confirm gender-typical behaviour, it may also give information to males and females in terms of the likely success, or otherwise, of adopting these behaviours.

Answer 78

✩ Seeing other people perform gender-appropriate behaviours in the media increases the child's belief that they are capable of carrying out such behaviours in the future (this is self-efficacy)

Answer 79

✩ Mead's anthropological research described three tribal societies, Mundugumor with both males and females displaying high aggressive 'masculine' behaviours, Arapesh with both sexes showing high levels of 'feminine' caring behaviours, and the Tchambuli with females expected to be more dominant and males more emotional and passive. (You only need to remember one tribe) ✩ The evidence of large variations in male and female normative gender roles in New Guinea islanders suggest cultural forces have a strong influence on the expression of gendered behaviour and this is learnt via socialisation and social learning processes.

Answer 80

✩ Mead’s research may have suffered from observer bias and investigator effects because Mead had already developed hypotheses and so may have been more inclined to detail the behaviours which matched this hypothesis, as opposed to providing a true representation of the observed behaviours. ✩ Therefore, this reduces the validity of the conclusions that Mead drew about cultural differences in gender roles.

Answer 81

✩ Such cross-cultural research may also be guilty of imposed etic. ✩ This is when researchers study behaviour from outside a specific group and generalise this as being universal, imposing their own understanding upon the people they are studying. While cultural differences in gender roles exist within one culture, this does not necessarily mean that the same differences will occur in other cultures, or that there will be any differences at all. ✩ Therefore, conclusions from cross-cultural research may not be valid.

Answer 82

✩ It is apparent that research does not resolve the nature-nurture debate. ✩ While cross-cultural research can show what is biological and what is due to the impact of cultural practices on gender-role behaviours, it is impossible, however, to separate the two as at birth humans already start learning already from society - so it's hard to see where nature (biology) stops, and nurture (social influences) begins.

Answer 83

✩ Furnham et al investigated the use of sex-role stereotypes in advertising and found that men tended to be used in power positions, showing autonomy and professionalism, and women in familial roles within domestic settings. ✩ The voiceovers tended to be male suggesting that males are deemed to speak with more authority. This suggests that the media may play a role in reinforcing widespread social stereotypes concerning male and female behaviour.

Answer 84

✩ Psychological research has been influential on policy makers. The European parliament issued a resolution on gender stereotyping in the media. ✩ Recognising that advertising's purpose was to influence, and gender stereotypes reinforced narrow normative gender roles and life choices. ✩ The resolution requested member countries reduce stereotypical portrayals of males and females on TV/

Answer 85

✩ Eisend reviewed 64 studies, again finding stronger gender stereotyping in ads, but that this has reduced over time. ✩ Also data analysis showed that the reduction in gender stereotyping was the result of changes in wider society. This suggests that advertising 'mirrors' society and that it does not mould society via SLT.

Answer 86

✩ Not all media is used to reinforce traditional gender stereotypes e.g. ‘Brave’ (the movie) portrays a female character as relatively masculine, and so challenges the initial gender stereotype.

Answer 87

✩ However, Pingree (1978) demonstrated that female infants are more appreciative and accepting of media which presents other females in non-traditional roles, whilst male infants are more ‘set in their ways’, suggesting that there are significant gender differences in their perception of their own and the opposite gender’s traditional stereotype and role.

Answer 88

✩ Gender dysphoria occurs when an individual believes that their biological sex is not in accordance with their gender, and so they choose to identify with the opposite gender. The distress and anxiety that comes from this means that GID is considered a psychological disorder.

Answer 89

✩ This disorder may have a genetic basis. Researchers put forth the brain sex theory looking at differences between male and female brains suggested that a potential cause for GID lies in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which is significantly larger in males than in females. ✩ If this dimorphic feature was to occur in females, then this may potentially cause the individual to favour identifying as a male, as opposed to a female and vice versa. Therefore, transsexuals' brains may not match their genetically assigned sex

Answer 90

✩ Social learning theorists argue that gender dysphoria is learned vicariously through the observation of non gender conforming role models such as celebrities, as well as a lack of stereotypically male role models.

Answer 91

✩ Twin studies are a useful way to determine the extent to which a condition is caused by genetic factors. ✩ If gender dysphoria is more common among both identical twins (who share 100% of their genes) than both non-identical twins (who only share 50% of their genes), this would suggest genetics play a role.

Answer 92

✩ Drummond assessed 25 girls as having gender dysphoria from age 3-12. ✩ When followed up only 12% had gender dysphoria from age 15-36. ✩ This suggests that gender identity in children is not innate and fixed as would be suggested by biological arguments, but gender identity formation can be influenced by social psychological factors experienced in childhood such as social learning factors.

Answer 93

✩Van Beijsterveldt collected data about childhood gender identity from over 8000 twin pairs (MZ and DZ) ✩This data showed that 70% of the variance in gender identity was due to genetic factors, showing that atypical development can be inherited.

Answer 94

✩ The results also showed that girls with female co-twins were more likely to show cross gender behaviour than girls with male co-twins, counter to what would be expected by SLT, further suggesting that atypical behaviour is biological not a psychological process.

Answer 95

✩ Although twin studies support a role for genetics in explaining gender dysphoria, the fact that concordance rates among identical twins are much less than 100% suggests that other factors (e.g. social explanations) play a role too.

Answer 96

✩ Also, due to the fact that GID occurs so rarely, sample sizes in twin studies tend to be extremely small, limiting the extent to which effective generalisations can be made as findings could be less likely to be valid.

Answer 97

✩ Theisen sequenced the genomes of 13 transgender individuals and compared these to 88 controls. ✩ Finding 21 gene variations associated with oestrogen reception in areas of the brain show to become sexually dimorphic before birth, ✩ This basically suggests that sex hormone exposure before birth results in sexually dimorphic brain development contributing to gender dysphoria. ✩ (These genetic variations may be resulting in variations in gender identity, showing the importance of chromosomes and hormones in influencing gendered behaviour).

Answer 98

✩ Transgender people often face many social difficulties (e.g. prejudice and bullying) and if social explanations of gender dysphoria are correct this should discourage cross-gender behaviour. ✩ However, the fact that many transgender people insist on living as their preferred gender despite these negative consequences suggests there is a deeper, biological, reason for gender dysphoria.

Answer 99

✩ Reducing gender dysphoria to biology could be overly reductive and may ignore the importance of other factors such as cognitions and social explanations. ✩ Perhaps taking an interactionist approach may be more accurate. ✩ For example, gender identity could be a multifactorial process, with biologically factors create a pre-disposition towards a typical gender development such as through the brain-sex theory (having different sizes of bed nucleus in the stria terminals) that is expressed in later experiences adulthood such as through social learning processes.

Answer 100

✩ Research into atypical gender development can have potential negative social consequences. ✩ This is a limitation because research which lacks validity may result in inaccurate data and misconceptions/assumptions about transsexuals. ✩ For example, GD's original classification as GID is a damaging label, calls those with the condition 'disordered' and doesn't focus on discomfort felt by transgender individuals.

Answer 101

✩ However, this is not necessarily a weakness because research allows progress to be made. Now we classify it as gender dysphoria and identification of a biological cause of gender dysphoria may help people be more accepting of transgender people's needs as they see it's not their fault/can't blame them

Gender: Paper 3 Flashcards

(131 cards)