This document covers every possible essay that may come up for Gender (AQA A-Level Psychology). They are simplified and easy to learn yet still have lots of detail to ensure you achieve the highest grade possible. There are abbreviations throughout that you should understand as a psychology student...
Para 1 → Outline: Sex role stereotypes (AO1)
● SRS - set of ideas about traits that expected for males / for females
● SRS are generally shared by members of a society/culture
● SRS act as a short-cut to appropriate behaviours in a given context
e.g girls behave in ways they understand to be typically female (VV)
● SRS developed through observation, imitation and reinforcement (SLT)
Para 2 → Application (AO2)
● At 7 children are aware of different expectations of M/F
● Pictures of sex-role stereotypical behaviours are consistent with children’s schema
of what it means to be male or female - will be more acceptable
● Children will rate pictures showing sex-stereotypical behaviours higher
Para 3 → Discussion (AO3)
● Support for parental influence - Smith and Lloyd: gender stereotyping by adults
● Norms have shifted towards less stereotypical child-rearing / gender neutrality
● So sex-role stereotypes have less temporal validity
● Negative effects of stereotypes eg academic / career expectations
● Positive effects of stereotypes - act as a cognitive short-cut
,Androgyny
Discuss androgyny and the BSRI (16) / Discuss Bem's research into androgyny (8)
Discuss the strengths and limitations of Bem’s theories and research (16)
Para 1 → Outline: What is androgyny / Who is Bem(AO1)
● Flexible gender role (balance of both masculine / feminine traits)
● Bem challenged traditional ideas - added androgynous to gender identities
● Taking on the gender that feels appropriate to the situation
● Gender role stereotypes: limits opportunities for boys / girls, ignores talent, unfair
● Adaptive compared traditional stereotyped gender identities of ‘boy’ or ‘girl’
Para 2 → Outline: what is the BSRI(AO1)
● Bem designed the BSRI questionnaire to test her ideas
● Systematic attempt to measure androgyny using 60 traits (20 F / 20 M / 20 N)
Produced scores on masculinity-femininity / androgynous-undifferentiated
● 34% of male p’s / 27% of female’s p’s were androgynous
● Found to be more adaptable to situations and a greater sense of well-being
Para 3 → Strengths: androgyny / psychological health (Prakash) (AO3)
● Prakash tested 100 married F in India on masculinity / femininity
● Measured a range of outcomes: physical health, depression, anxiety, stress
● Females high in masculinity had lower depression scores etc. (VV)
● Supports androgyny has a psycho-protective effect - those with masculinity +
femininity were better off in terms of health (Bem's prediction)
Para 4 → Strengths: BSRi is reliable - test retest high correlation (AO3)
● Over a 4 week period correlations ranging from 0.76-0.94
● Short BSRI (30 items) also had a good correlation with the original version
● Improvements made - less socially desirable traits removed eg. gullible / childlike
● Demonstrates the BSRI is effective / reliable in assessing levels of androgyny, M+F
Para 5 → Weakness: invalid - lacks internal and external validity (AO3)
● Scoring high on androgyny can also correlate with high self esteem
● Liberman & Gaa - those more androgynous simply had higher overall scores
● Results may be to do with the system of testing (not testing what it said)
● Temporal validity, BSRI was created in 1970s - adjectives no longer in the same way
● Hoffman & Borders state most terms were no longer viewed as M+F (TV)
Para 6 → Weakness: over simplistic / reductionist / deterministic (AO3)
● Golombok & Fivush - gender identity is a more global concept than BSRI suggests
● Broader issues (interests / perception of abilities) should be considered to fully
understand gender identity
● Suggests BSRI doesn’t provide an accurate depiction of androgyny levels (validity?)
Para 7 → Weakness: issues with the questionnaire (AO3)
● Demand characteristics
● Response bias
● Social desirability
, Biological explanations (chromosomes and hormones)
Describe and evaluate biological explanations of gender development (16)
Para 1 → Outline: chromosomes / hormones (AO1)
Chromosomes
● Carry genes containing instructions on physical / behavioural traits
● set of sex chromosomes (out of 23 pairs) determine sex: XX – female / XY – male
Hormones
● Released prenatally to influence brain / sex organ development
● Surge in hormonal activity at puberty = secondary sexual characteristics develop
Para 2 → Strengths: research support (C/H) - David Reimer (AO3)
● David's penis burnt - Money advised he could be raised a girl (intersex)
● Despite this he had a strong male identity and change gender back to male
● Supports role of chromosomes / hormones, nature overriding nurture
● Shows biological gender can't be changed by social intervention
Para 3 → Strengths: T support: Dabbs - prisoners / Van Goozen - trans (AO3)
● Reimer - role of testosterone in gender development
● Inject rates with T = increase aggression (effect of T on gendered behaviour) BUT…
● Dabs - offenders with highest testosterone = committed more violent crimes
● Van Goozen - transgender hormone treatment - (M→F) = decrease in aggression
● Tricker - males given T injection or placebo = no significant difference in aggression
Para 4 → Outline: abnormal sex chromosome pattern (AO1)
● XXY Klinefelter's syndrome men / XO Turner syndrome women
● Impact gender, brain, physical development
● Compare to those with typical sex chromosome patterns
● Inferences made of a biological basis on gender development based on differences
in atypical / typical sex chromosome individuals
● Psychologists establish which behaviour is genetic / determined by chromosomes
● Idea of ‘typical’ vs ‘atypical’ is stereotypical / no use to be labelled
Para 5 → Weakness: causation ≠ correlation in atypical chromosomes (AO3)
● Inferred, differences in atypical chromosome behaviour have a biological basis
● BUT environmental/ social factors may have caused these differences
● ( treated ‘immaturely’ = social immaturity / pre-pubescent appearance )
● Wrong to assume differences are due to nature
Para 6 → Weakness: deterministic / reductionist(AO3)
● Gender is more complex than purely biological factors
● Cognitive - changing thought processes underpin gender development
● Psychodynamic - role of childhood experiences of gender
● Gender least partly socially constructed
● Trans - don’t feel gender consistent with biological gender chromosomes, suggests
not every one’s gender identity is consistent with their biological chromosome
● Changing gender roles across cultures / time suggests gender to some extent
constructed and can’t be viewed in a purely reductionist biological context
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