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Summary AQA A2 Psychology Gender Notes
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Notes comprehensively covering the A-Level Psychology topic 'Gender'.
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A2 PsychologyTopic 1-Gender
Sex and Gender
Key Terms:
Sex The biological differences between males and females
including chromosomes, hormones and anatomy.
Gender The psychological and cultural differences between
males and females including attitudes, behaviours and
social roles.
Sex-role stereotype A set of beliefs and preconceived ideas about what is
expected or appropriate for males and females in a
given society.
Key Concepts
Sex:
The terms sex and gender are used interchangeably in everyday life suggesting they are seen as one and the same.
Such as a job application form asking for a ‘sex’ or ‘gender’. In Psychology however, sex and gender are distinct and
separate constructs. Sex refers to a person’s biological status as either male or female. This is determined by
different chromosomes in the first instance, which then influence hormonal differences as well as differences in
anatomy, such as reproductive organs, body shape, hair growth, etc.
Gender:
Gender refers to a person’s psychosocial status as either masculine or feminine. This includes all the attitudes, roles
and behaviours that we associate with ‘being male’ or ‘being female’ and these are heavily influenced by social
norms and cultural expectations. I.e. sex is innate and a result of nature whilst gender is at least partly
environmentally determined and is thus also due to nurture.
It can then be suggested that, if a person’s sex is innate (genetic) it is a biological fact and cannot be changed. Thus,
those who undergo ‘sex-change’ operations do not actually change their sex as this is fixed from birth (hence the
modern term gender reassignment surgery). It may be that gender, however, as a learned concept us more fluid and
open to change. A person may become ‘more masculine’ or ‘more feminine’ depending on the social context they
are in, and the norms and associated with it.
Gender identity disorder:
For most people, their biological sex and gender identity correspond. In other words, the majority of biological males
tend to ‘feel’ masculine and thus identify themselves as such, whilst most biological females would identify
themselves as feminine. Some people, experience gender identity disorder when their biologically prescribed sex
does not reflect the way they feel inside and the gender they identify themselves as being. Such individuals may
choose the have gender reassignment surgery in order to bring their sexual identity in line with their identity.
STUDY for GENDER (IDENTITY DISORDER): Julianne Imperato-McGinely et al. (1974) studied a unique family living in
the Dominican Republic. Four of the children were identified as girls and raised as such until puberty, when they
‘changed’ into males-each of the children's female sex organs closed over and they formed normal-sized male sex
organs. They were affected by a rare genetic disorder meaning their male genitalia were not external at birth but
were concealed inside (they were normal XY males). During prenatal development, a crucial chemical step was
missed, which would normally externalise male genitals. Thus, although their biological sex was male (unknown by
the parents at birth) and so were raised as girls and adopted a female gender identity until the change at puberty.
The dihydrotestosterone that was not present at birth emerged at puberty and the boys’ true biological sex was
revealed. It is interesting because the boys abandoned their female gender identity with very few adjustment
problems-suggesting that gender identity may be more flexible than fixed.
,Sex-role stereotypes:
Sex-role stereotypes are a set of shared expectations that people within a society or culture hold about what is
acceptable or usual behaviour for males and females (e.g. fixing the car vs preparing the children for school). These
expectations are somehow communicated or transmitted throughout society and may be reinforced by parents,
peers, the media as well as other institutions such as schools. Although some same-sex stereotypes may contain a
‘grain of truth’, many do not, and may lead to sexist assumptions being formed, such as the idea that a woman will
not have the capacity to cope with a position of high responsibility in the workplace, as she may become ‘over-
emotional’.
STUDY for SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPES:
Mahura Ingalhalikar et al. (2014) scanned the brains of 949 young men and women in the biggest investigation of its
time to date. Using hi-tech diffusion MRI imaging, they mapped the connections between different parts of the
brain.
The researchers discovered that women’s brains have far better connections between the left and right sides of the
brain, while men’s brains display more intense activity within the brain’s individual parts, especially the cerebellum
which contains motor skills.
The conclusion is that the female brain is hard-wired to cope better with several tasks at once whereas the male
brain prefers to focus on a single complex task.
Kuhn et al (1978) showed 2-3-year-old children male and female paper dolls and then made statements such as ‘I
like to play with dolls.’ The children were asked to say which of the dolls matched the statement. They found that
most of the 2 year olds had similar ideas about the two sexes. Both boys and girls like to play with dolls, to help
mother, to cook dinner, to clean house, talk a lot, never hit and say ‘I need some help’. Both girls and boys thought
that boys like to play with cars, to help father, to build things and say ‘I can hit you’. Each sex saw its own gender
having positive qualities. Each sex also had some negative perceptions about the opposite sex too. Girls saw other
girls as looking nice, giving kisses and never fighting. Boys saw other boys as working hard. Girls however saw boys as
being mean and weak, boys described girls as being slow and crying. It is clear that some of these ideas match the
stereotypes.
Sood et all (2014) reported that only 12% of British primary school teachers and 3% of nursery teachers are male,
due to early years teaching as being seen as a female profession, their nurturing ability and the unsustainability of
males thanks to their perception as intimidating and threatening. The findings illustrate how sex-role stereotypes
affect adult career choices.
Evaluation:
Can nature truly be overruled by nurture? The fact that sex-role stereotypes can be substantially
different across cultures suggests that the characteristics associated with sex-roles are
culturally transmitted (Media?), which implies that environmental learning experiences are
stronger than biological factors in determining sex-role stereotypes.
Education for negative sex-role stereotyping? If sex-role stereotypes are mainly learned through
environmental experience, it implies that negative sex-role stereotyping could be addressed
by providing learning experiences for children that reinforce the idea of positive sex-roles
being equally applicable to males and females.
Exaggeration of stereotyping causing reinforcement of stereotypes One difficulty in addressing negative
sex-role stereotyping, such as females being inferior due to their lack of strength and
emotional nature, is that examples if stereotypes tend to be over-emphasised as ‘typical
behaviour’, for instance girls crying, while similar behaviour in males is under-stressed as non-
typical. Such ‘typical’' differences are then perceived as ‘natural’ differences thus reinforcing
the stereotype, making it harder to break down.
Globalisation and the effect of media in influencing sex-role stereotypes The media are subjected to
criticism of their stereotypical presentation of sex roles and so their portrayals have become
, less stereotyped. The way in which the sexes are represented in children’s books has changed
enormously since the 1960’s, when females were under-represented and were often shown in
passive and needy roles.
Androgyny and the BSRI
Key Terms:
Androgyny Displaying a balance of masculine and feminine
characteristics in one’s personality.
Bem Sex Role Inventory The first systematic attempt to measure androgyny
using a rating scale of 60 traits (20 masculine, 20
feminine and 20 neutral) to produce scores across two
dimensions:
masculinity-femininity
androgynous-undifferentiated.
Defining androgyny:
While in real life, androgyny refers to being unidentifiable, in Psychology, it is used to define a personality type in a
person characterised by a balance or a mixture. This refers to a mixture of masculine and feminine personality
characteristics or traits, attitudes and behaviours. This could include a man, or woman, who is aggressive and
competitive at work but is a caring and sensitive parent. Sandra Bem developed a method for measuring androgyny
and suggested that high androgyny is associated with psychological well-being. Individuals who are-psychologically
at least-both masculine and feminine in roughly equal measure, are better equipped to adapt to a range of situations
and contexts that other non-androgynous people would find difficult. As suggested, it is important to recognise that
both males and females can be androgynous. However, it is worth noting that an over-representation of opposite-
sex characteristics does not qualify as androgyny-a female who is very masculine or a male who is very feminine,
would not exhibit the necessary balance of male and female traits.
Measuring androgyny: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI):
Bem’s 1974 scale presents 20 characteristics that would be commonly identified as ‘masculine’ (such as competitive
and aggressive), and 20 that would be typically judged as ‘feminine’ (including tender and gentle). A further 20
‘neutral’ traits are also included in the scale.
Respondents are required to rate themselves on a seven-point rating scale for each item (where 1 is ‘never true of
me’ and 7 is ‘always true of me’. Scores are then classified on the basis of two dimensions-masculinity-femininity and
androgynous-undifferentiated-as follows:
Score Classification
High masculine, low feminine Masculine
High feminine, low masculine Feminine
High masculine, high feminine Androgynous
Low feminine, low masculine Undifferentiated
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