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Summary Psychology: Gender Notes
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Psychology Paper 3 notes on Gender including definitions, evaluations and key studies
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Gender:Sex and Gender:
Sex - Biological differences between males and females including hormones, chromosomes and
anatomy
● Determined by nature
● Determined by chromosomes
○ Male = XY
○ Female = XX
● Chromosomes then influence the biology of a person such as anatomy, body shape,
reproductive organs.
Gender - Psychological, social and cultural differences between boys/men and girls/women
including attitudes, behaviours and social roles
● Determined by nurture
● Assigned because it is a social construct
Sex Role Stereotypes - Set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is expected or
appropriate for men and women in a given society or social group
Evaluation:
+ Research Support of Sex Role Stereotypes:
● Seavey et al (1975)
○ Told one in three adult participants that a three month old baby was either a boy,
a girl or did not reveal the gender.
○ They were left to play with the baby in a room containing a ball (stereotypical boy
toy) a doll (stereotypical girl toy) and a plastic ring (non sex stereotypical toy)
○ Both male and female adults gave the baby the doll if they believed it to be
female but gave the non-stereotypical toy if they thought it was a boy
○ When baby’s gender was not known, female adults handled the baby more and
both male and females tried to asses the baby's gender on the basis of perceived
strength
○ Results suggested males and females react to babies differently according to the
gender their believe it to be
● Urberg (1982)
○ Told children aged 3-7 years stories about sex role stereotypes like bravery and
compassion without specifying the gender of the child in the story
○ The children then had to state if the characteristics were typical of a boy or girl
○ There was a tendency for the child to attribute positive characteristics to own
gender and negative characteristics to the opposite gender at age 5
○ This implies that children learn sex role stereotypes at an early age but they
change with age
, + Real world application
● Sood et al (2014) reported only 12% of British primary school teachers and 3% of
nursery teachers are male due to early year teaching being seen as a female profession.
● This illustrates how sex-role stereotypes affect adult career choices
Androgyny and the BSRI
Androgyny - Displaying a balance of masculine and female characteristics in one's personality.
“A perfect merging of the sexes”
Sandra Bem (1974) devised the BSRI (Bem’s Sex Role Inventory)
● Consisted of 60 characteristics (20 masculine, 20 feminine and 20 neutral)
● When using the scale to measure androgyny, participants self reported on a 7 point likert
scale
● When participants are ‘scored’ they are classified on 2 options:
○ Masculine-Feminine and Androgynous-Undifferentiated
○ High masculine and low feminine = Masculine
○ High feminine and low masculine = Feminine
○ High masculine and feminine = androgynous
○ Low feminine and low masculine = undifferentiated
● Bem suggested that people who are androgynous are more psychological healthy/have
greater mental wellbeing/self esteem than those who were strongly masculine, feminine
or indifferent
Evaluation:
● Uses quantitative data to measure androgyny
+ Scores can be analysed with use of stats tests that help to draw conclusions and
recognise patterns
- Does not provide in-depth insight
- Some psychologists have suggested that it is more beneficial to also use a qualitative
approach when using BSRI
● BSRI appears to be valid and reliable
+ Scale was developed using 50 male and female judges and asked to rate 200 items in
terms of how masculine or feminine they appear that made up the 20 traits of each sex
+ Initial test was piloted with over 1000 students with a small portion of the same students
being retested a month later with similar results showing good test-retest reliability.
- BSRI was developed over 40 years ago so may lack temporal validity as gender is now
less of a fixed concept with the pilot only being carried out on students
● BSRI is prone to culture bias with initial sample being from the USA and consisting of
students from a prestigious university
- The sample lacks generalisability
- Imposed Etic of trying to impose Western Culture onto other cultures that may provide
inaccurate results
, Role of chromosomes and hormones:
Chromosomes:
● We all have 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) made up of long strands of DNA found within
the nucleus of cells
● The 23rd pair of chromosomes determine the biological sex of a person
● At 8 weeks of pregnancy, genetically XY males produce androgens which stimulate the
development of male genitalia. In XX females this process does not take place
● It is the Y chromosomes that carries a gene called sex determining region gene (SYR)
which causes the testes to develop due to the production of androgens
● The typical chromosome structure can sometimes differ in individuals during foetal
development which can cause them to end up with XXY or just X that results in atypical
gender development
Hormones - A biochemical substance that circulates in blood but only affect target organs
Testosterone (predominantly male):
Role in sex:
● Controls the development of male sex organs
Role in gender:
● High levels of testosterone is linked with aggression
Oestrogen (predominantly female):
Role in sex:
● Controls the development of female sexual characteristics and regulates menstruation
Role in gender:
● High levels of oestrogen can lead to premenstrual tension (PMT) which can show
behaviorally as heightened emotions and irritability which explains why women are
stereotypically more emotional
Oxytocin (predominantly female):
Role in sex:
● Released in huge amounts after childbirth
● also known as ‘love hormone’ that makes mothers feel love for new baby
● Stimulates lactation making it possible for mothers to breastfeed
● Reduces effect of stress hormone cortisol
Role in gender:
● Responsible for caring/attachment behaviours in females
● Can explain why females are more stereotypically caring towards others
● Can also explain why men less interested in intimacy and closeness in relationships
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