Psychology 2 - Sex & Gender Flashcards
(32 cards)
What would happen if boys were given girl toys and vice versa?
Boys treat the girl toys like boy toys and vice versa
What is the difference between gender and sex?
Gender (psychological) can be identified by attitudes and behaviour and decides if a person is masculine or feminine
Sex (biological) can be identified by hormones and chromosomes and decides if some is male and female
What are the chromosomes and hormones for males and females?
Female chromosome is XX and hormone is oestrogen
Male chromosome is XY and hormone is testosterone
What is the psychodynamic approach?
The theory that tells us that our behaviour is a reaction from our subconcious forces and emotions
What is the phallic stage?
Freud’s third stage of psychosexual development, in which gender development takes place
What happens in the phallic stage?
The child of 3 - 5 unconciously desires the opposite sex parent and is jealous of the same sex parent
In order to deal with these feelings, the child begins to behave like the same sex parent
This occurs differently in boys and girls
What is identification?
When a child adopts the attitudes and behaviours of the same sex parent
Describe the Oedipus complex
A boy is unconciously attracted to his mother and is jealous of his father and wants to take his place
He fears that the father will discover his feelings and will castrate him
In order to deal with this fear, he gives up his feelings for his mother and identifies with his father to resolve the Oedipus complex
Describe the Electra complex
A girl is unconciously attracted to her father and jealous of her mother but she doesn’t want to lose her mother’s love but she isn’t as fearful as the boy because she believes she has already been castrated
To resolve this, she identifies with her mother
What is the psychodynamic theory of gender development?
Freud’s theory of what happens in the phallic stage
Give a study into the psychodynamic theory of gender development
Freud (1909)
To investigate Little Hans’s phobia
At the age of 4, Hans developed a fear of horses. He was frightened that a horse might bite him or fall down. He was particularly afraid of large white horses with black around the mouth. Freud analysed this information
Freud claimed that Hans was experiencing the Oedipus complex. He unconciously desired his mother and saw his father as a rival and feared castration. He displaced the fear of his father onto horses. The white horse with the black around the mouth represented his father who had a dark beard. His fear of being bitten represented his fear of castration and his fear of horses falling down was his unconcious desire to see his father dead
This supports Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex
Evaluate the psychodynamic gender development study
There is no evidence to prove Freud’s claims because he talks about unconcious feelings which can’t measured or noticed
He only analysed one person so the results can’t be generalised
What is gender disturbance?
Not developing the gender identity usually associated with one’s sex
Give a study into gender disturbance
Rekers and Moray (1990)
To see if there is a relationship between gender disturbance and family background
Researchers rated 46 boys with gender disturbance for gender behaviour and identity. Their family background was also investigated
Of the group, 75% of the most severely gender-disturbed boys had neither their biological father nor a father substitute living with them
Boys who don’t have a father figure present during their childhood are more likely to develop a problem with their gender identity
Evaluate the gender disturbance study
Only 46 boys were rated so the results can’t be generalised
The study definitely shows that gender disturbance dramatically increases when there is no stable father figure
What is the social learning theory of gender development?
The theory that tells us that gender is learnt from watching and copying the behaviour of others
What is modelling?
When a role model provides an example for the child
What is imitation?
Copying the behaviour of a role model
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Learning from a model being rewarded or punished
Give a study on imitation
Perry and Bussey (1979)
To show that children imitate behaviour carried out by same-sex role models
Children were shown films of role models carrying out activities that were unfamiliar to the children. In one condition, all of the male role models played with one activity while all the female role models played with the other activity. In the second condition, some of the male role models and some of the female role models played with one activity while the other male and female role models played with the other activity
In the first condition, the children played with the activity that the role models of their sex played with. In the second condition, there was no difference in what the boys and girls chose
When children are in an unfamiliar situation they will observe the behaviour of the same-sex role models. This gives them information about whether the activity is appropriate for their sex. If it is, the child will imitate that behaviour
Evaluate the imitation study
The study shows definite evidence of children imitating role models of their own sex
Lacks ecological validity because it takes place in an experimental setting
Give a study on media and social learning
Williams (1986)
To investigate the effects of television on the gender development of children
Williams studied the effects of television on children living in Canada. At the beginning of the study, one of the towns was being provided with television for the first time while the other towns already had television. He measured the attitudes of children living in these towns at the beginning of the study and 2 years later
The children who now had television were more sex stereotyped in their attitudes and behaviour than they had been 2 years previously
Gender is learnt by imitating attitudes and behaviour seen on television
Evaluate the media social learning study
It doesn’t explain why children brought up in one-parent families have no problem developing their gender
This theory is well supported by other cases and studies
What is gender stereotyping?
Believing that all males are similar and all females are similar