Psychology B3 - social approach to explaining gender

Question 1

peer influences on gender: gender identity in childhood — gender segregation

Answer 1

-age of three years most children can state whether they are a boy or a girl (identification may not be binary)
-gender segregation also begins at this age, so by the time children reach primary school they spend very little time with other-gender peers (Egan and Perry 2001).
-same-gender peers contribute to gender identity by acting as models for gender-typical behaviour

Question 2

peer influences on gender: gender identity in childhood — NSI and ISI

Answer 2

-Peers NSI, in the sense that they provide norms of gender-typical behaviour
-can also be understood as informational social influence (ISI) - peers are sources of information about gender-related behaviours
-peers are also a source of sanctions for gender-atypical behaviour

Question 3

peer influences on gender: gender identity in adolescence

Answer 3

-important part of gender identity in adolescence = gender typicality, the extent to which a person feels they are like other members of their gender category
-individual reflects on their personal qualities and makes a judgement about how closely they fit a gender category
-judge their typicality, the adolescent compares themselves with their peers (‘1 am like my friends X and Y, but not like Z, so I am not a typical boy’)
- by doing this some adolescents become increasingly aware they are transgender, in that their expressed gender does not match their assigned (birth) sex

Question 4

conformity on gender roles: felt pressure for gender conformity

Answer 4

-adolescent feels social pressure to conform to the norms associated with a gender role
-example, how a woman or man is meant’ to behave, an example of NSI
-pressure comes mainly from parents, teachers and peers, including pressure not to behave in gender-atypical ways
-i.e. for boys not to be feminine and for girls not to be masculine

Question 5

conformity to gender roles: gender non-conformity

Answer 5

-felt pressure is a major cause of stress for adolescents who do not conform to gender-role norms
-is because they are trying to cope with a role that many still feel is socially unacceptable
-negative outcomes for non-conforming adolescents include teasing, bullying, and rejection by peers (Jewell and Brown 2014)
-stress associated with a non-conforming identity (not necessarily the identity itself) may explain the incidence of gender dysphoria and accompanying psychological ill-health (Nagoshi et al. 2014)

Question 6

influence on culture on gender: culture and third genders

Answer 6

-cultures differ in the extent to which gender is considered binary
-several cultures use the term ‘third gender’ for people who do not fit the strict classification of woman or man
-example, some five million people in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh live as transgender, hijras in India they are now recognised as having legal identities in Indian passports
-fa’afafine of Samoa are biological males who adopt the traditional gender role of women
-they’re known for their hard work in a domestic context and dedication to the family
-although fa’afafine may have sexual relations with non-fa’afafine men, they are not considered gay’ as no such label exists in Samoa

Question 7

evaluation: research support (+)

Answer 7

-evidence supporting the social approach to gender
-Hofstede (2001), women in industrialised cultures have increasingly active roles in the workplace and away from the domestic environment
-led to a breakdown of traditional stereotypes in industrialised societies, so that the status of women and expectations of their gender role have changed
-in traditional societies women still occupy the role of house-maker as a result of social, cultural and religious pressures
-suggests that gender roles are strongly influenced by cultural context

Question 8

evaluation: gender non-conformity (-)

Answer 8

-social approach doesn’t explain gender non-conformity very well
-most people, in most cultures, spend their lives with people who conform to gender norms and roles
-social influences such as NSI tend towards gender conformity
-if influences are powerful, it is hard to explain how some individuals become non-conforming
-a cognitive element is required, and social influences depend on how we perceive them or think about them
-suggests that other approaches may be better explanations of the nature of gender

Question 9

evaluation: peer influences are weak (-)

Answer 9

-some social influences on gender are not very strong
-example, peer influence may affect gender-related attitudes and beliefs but not actual gender identity
-Kornienko et al. (2016) found that adolescent peers significantly influenced felt pressure for gender conformity, as expected
-the researchers were surprised to find that peers were not a significant influence on gender typicality
-concluded that some aspects of gender are influenced by peers but others are not
-the social approach does not explain all aspects of gender, such as peer influence