Gender psychology AQA alevel revision notes PSYA3

What you need to know...

Biological influences on gender

• The role of genes and hormones on gender development
• Evolutionary explanations of gender role
• Biosocial explanations of gender development
• Gender dysphoria

Psychological explanations of gender development

• Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory
• Gender schema theory

The social context of gender roles

• Social influence on gender role
• Cultural influence on gender role

Gender

Sex = biological fact. Gender = sense of who you are.

XX = Male XY (testosterone) = female (oestrogen and progesterone)

AIS= androgen insensitivity syndrome. Insensitivity to testosterone, externally look female but has testes where ovaries should be

CAH = congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Batisa Family

37 children from Dominican Republic inherited recessive gene. They externally had female genitalia, at puberty this healed over and they grew male genitalia from the burst of testosterone. They accepted this change well; this could be due to them being uncomfortable as female or cultural differences.

Evolutionary perspective

Division of labour = man (hunter) woman (domestic goddess) enhance reproductive success.

Mate choice = physically attractive, resources, youth and fertility

ES theory = women better at emphasising, men better at systematising

Evaluation

Speculative theories = evolutionary explanations are speculative, there is no factual basis

Attachment is for survival = division of gender roles appeared as an adaptive response to the challenges our ancestors faced, this is a biological approach.

1.      Division of labour, 2. Mate choice, 3. Cognitive style

Division of labour

Women are often pregnant or nursing and if she was hunting this would put her life in danger and would not have promoted reproductive success. Division of labour enhances reproductive success, the female can also provide additional food if male hunt fails.

+ Kuhn and Stiner = division of labour lead to the survival of homosapien. Homosapiens eat meat and plants. Both male and female skeletons showed signs of injuries occurred while hunting. The lacks of division lead to Netherlanders dying out. A negative of this study is that it is fitting theory to evidence, it is not falsifiable. An alternative explanation to this could be SLT. You learn gender roles through observation though parents and the media for example.  This could be set by your society and your culture.

Mate choice

Behaviours develop to ensure reproductive success. Men look for strong child bearers so they look for fertility, youth, small waist and large hips. Women want to be protected from danger but also seek comfort and food.

+Buss 1989 = they studied sex choices in a large scale study. He used questionnaires and interviews of over 10,000 people in 37 different cultures. Women looked for financial prospects and ambition. Males looked for physical attraction and both sexes looked for intelligence. 

This study was translated when it in different countries and this could be linked to validity. A negative of this study is that it has social desirability bias as people would answer what they thought the interviewer would want to hear. 

An alternative explanation would be that it is reductionist as mate choices are simplified and other factors are important too

.

Cognitive style (es theory and tendbefriend)

This refers to the way that we think. Es theory was developed by baron cohen and he argued women are better at emphasising and men are better at systemising. This could be due to selective pressures as men hunted and they needed to be better at protection strategies and women focused on child rearing. Tend befriend = women may be more focused on interpersonal concerns.

+Baron Cohen = study of autistic people who have struggles with social relationships. They do well at systemising but not emphasising, they have an extreme male brain.

+Taylor 2000 = Supported tendbefreind as women under stress have increased levels of the hormone oxytocin. This reduces anxiety and makes people sociable.

-          Cant generalise Baron Cohen as autistic people aren’t like normal people

+oxytocin is scientific evidence and that shows that it is accurate

Alternative explanation = biological determinism. This suggests that behaviour is set for us by our biology. It ignores of environment and the fact that we have a choice.

Biological approach to gender development including gender dysphoria

This argues that there is an interaction between biological and social influences. Gender is socially constructed and there are also cultural differences.

Biosocial explanations = biosocial theory = Money and E hrhardt

Social role theory = Eagly and Wood

Biosocial theory – Money and Ehrdardt

Biology determines sex and everything else follows on from there. The child can be labelled and sexualised from the moment the mother finds out its sex. This label is vital and the child could also be mislabelled. Different treatments can interact with biological factors such as the child being exposed to prenatal testosterone.

Selective pressure > physical difference > sex role > psychological difference

Sex/ Social role theory = Eagly and Wood

Evolutionary and social = SRT (social role theory)

Evolution > physical > psychological > sex role

Evolutionary theory states that selective pressures have caused physical and psychological differences but this is not the case.

A01 = evolution may have caused physical differences but the sex role allocated causes physiological differences.

Division of labour = SRT argues that biologically based physical differences, allows them to perform tasks e.g. child bearing. Mens upper body strength is used for hunting. If social roles are similar physiological differences are reduced.

Mate choice = SRT argues that what men and women week in a partner can be related to social roles rather than reproductive traits. Physical differences create social roles. To maximise outcomes wage earner is an added extra.

Hormonal differences = Eagly and Wood have suggested hormonal differences are the outcome of social roles and psychological sex differences, rather than the cause. For example testosterone is not the cause of aggressiveness, it is because men engage in athletic events which create high testosterone levels.

Evaluation of biosocial

Biosocial theory

+ David Reimer biologically a male, raised as a female.

·         Lack of evidence. Money and Ehrdharts theory took a blow from David Reimer study which they hoped would be in their favour.

·         - sample bias. Money and Ehrdharts collected other evidence to support but it all came from study of abnormal individuals e.g. study of genetic females exposed to male hormones such as testosterone in the womb. This evidence is not relevant to normal gender development.

Debates = nature nurture > approach emphasises nurture, the evidence points to nature

Social role theory (alternative to evolutionary approach)

·         Luxen 2007 argues evolutionary theory can explain this. Luxen found sex differences without socialisation. Young children

+monkeys chose sex preferred toys (opposes theory)

-children could be picking toys they recognised e.g. what they have at home > can be socialised from birth so this could support biological predetermination

SRT > Holistic approach – encompassing both biological sex and social theory.

EEA = Evolutionary environment Adaption (how we started off, tribal time period)

Gender dysphoria/ Gender identity disorder

Sex = birth, biological

Gender = 3 years old, culturally derived. Biological approach can give us an indication of how gender dysphoria occurs.

Gender dysphoria = when an individual experiences a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity

Symptoms = feeling uncomfortable with gender assigned at birth. Might feel withdrawn or frustrated. It affects male’s 5:1 females. Another symptom is a lack of interest in gender specific things. The suicide attempted rate is 40%.

Biological explanation = Mismatch between hormones and genetic sex. AIS and CAH result in intersex conditions. External genitalia doesn’t match the genetic sex.

Brain sex theory = BSTC area of brain twice as large in heterosexual males as heterosexual females with twice the amount of neurons. Number of neurons in male to female transsexual is similar to that of females and number of neurons in female to male  transsexual was not found in male rang.

EVALUATION = dessens et al > 250 females with CAH raised as females. No relationship between male hormones and gender dysphoria.

Chung et al = differences in BSTC volume do not develop until adulthood but people report feelings in early childhood.

Psychological explanations

·         Coates et al = case study of a boy with gender dysphoria. Coates argued that this was a defence mechanism to his mother’s depression following an abortion.

·         Stoller = Gender dysphoria is the result of an overly close relationship between mother and son. This leads to child identifying with mother and leads to confused gender identity.

Evaluation of psychological

·         Zuker et al = found a link between males with gender dysphoria and separation anxiety disorder, this can only explain male to female transsexuals.

·         Cole et al = found that the range of psychiatric conditions displayed by those with gender dysphoria was no greater than those in a normal population.

Kohlberg’s cognitive development theory

Stage 1 = gender labelling, stage 2 = gender stability, stage 3 = gender consistency

Jean Piaget = leading expert in developmental psychology. Argued that the way we think changes as we get older, this is because of physical changes in the brain.

Children can’t distinguish between appearance and reality. Kohlberg argued changes in gender thinking came about because of natural changes of a child’s cognitive development.

Gender labelling = age 2-3 they can label themselves and others, this label is based on outward appearance

Gender stability = age 4-6 children recognise gender is constant over time. Boys grow into men and girls grow into women. Their understanding of gender is stable but isn’t constant; they think males can change into females if they do female activities.

Gender constant = Age 6+ the children realise that gender is stable across time and situations. 

Child now fully understands gender so they see gender appropriate behaviour. Up until now it was not relevant as a child they believed that gender may change.

GST = Gender Schema Theory Martin and Halverson 1981 = start gender age 2-3

Martin and Halverson believed that the key to gender development is getting information about gender, not just through reward and punishment of gender appropriate behaviours. They thought that this happened before gender consistency which is age 2-3 this is different to Kohlberg. Basic gender identification is enough for a child to identify themselves as boy or girl. They learn schemas through interactions with others

Outgroup = groups we don’t identify with e.g. girls don’t identify with boys

Ingroup = the groups which a person does identify with e.g. boys identify with boys

Once a child has identified with a group this leads to them positively evaluating their own group. This leads them to be like their own group as they take the responsibility to investigate ingroup behaviours and avoid outgroup behaviours. They focus on ingroup schemas before gender constancy. Activities of ingroup leads to the expansion of schemas.

Resilience = This explains why children have fixed gender attitudes. Any information not consistent with ingroup schemas is over looked and ignored.

e.g. if a child sees a program with a male nurse they will simply call this man a doctor instead as his is not acting consistently with ingroup schemas. The existing schema is not changed as they have gender resilience.

Alternative explanation = The compromise ( Stangor and Rubble)

·         Gender schema = organisation of information and is linked to memory

·         Gender constancy = theory concerned with motivation when you find out you are a girl, you are motivated to find out behaviour gender appropriate to that role

Tested children ages 4-10 and found:

·         Memory and organisation for gender constant pictures increased with age (GST)

·         Preference for same sex toys increased with gender constancy = GCT

EVALUATION

+ MARTIN AND LITTLE 1990 SUPPORTS GENDER STEREOTYPES WITHOUT CONSTANCY

Children under age of 4 showed no signs of gender stability, let alone signs of consistency. They did display strong gender stereotypes. This shows they have acquired information about gender roles before Kohlberg suggested, in line with GST

-          HOFFMAN 1998 =

Children whos mothers work have less stereotyped views of what men do. This suggests that children are not entirely fixed on gender schemes and can take on gender inconsistent ideas.

+ MARTIN AND HALVERSON SUPPORT RESILLIENCE

They showed children pictures of individuals in cross gender activities eg male nurse. The children all ignored the point, distorted the information or forgot it. This demonstrates the resilience of childrens gender role beliefs. They admit data that is consistent with their schema and disregard data that isn’t.

Social Influences on Gender Role

Bandura = SLT, BoBo doll study, vicarious learning, imitation, same sex models, observation, reinforcement and reward.

Sources of information = parents, friends, media.

Social Cognitive Theory:

o   Indirect reinforcement Children observe the behaviour of others and learn consequences of behaviour (vicarious reinforcement). This information this information is then stored as an expectancy of future outcomes, the learning behaviour is imitation or modelling.

o   Direct reinforcement Through praise or absence of praise. Children observe the behaviour of both male and female role models but they may not imitate everything they learn. This could be explained by direct reinforcement where boys are praised for ‘male behaviour’ and girls for ‘female behaviour’.

o   Direct tuition Children also learn behaviours through direct tuition; explicit direct instructions about appropriate gender behaviour. Children also learn through vicarious reinforcement (indirect) but also through explicit (direct) instructions about appropriate gender behaviour. Direct tuition begins as children acquire linguistic skills

Cross cultural studies of gender

Culture = ideas, rules, customs, morals and behaviours that bind a particular group of people together

Cross cultural studies help us decide if its biology or socialisation which determine gender

Cultural similarities division of labour

·         Munroe and Munroe 1975 = every society has some division of labour and behaviour by gender

·         Girls are socialised more to compliance (nurturing, responsibility, obedience)

·         Boys are socialised to assertiveness (independence, self reliance, achievement)

Cultural differences – magnitude of sex differences:

·         Berry et al 2002 = studied spatial perception in 17 societies. Male superiority was only found in tight knit sedimentary societies, but was absent or reserved in nomadic societies

·         Also found conformity in highest sedimentary societies.

·         Found historical changes = the gender gap is decreasing which supports the role of changing social influences

·         Gender differences are due to the society you live in

Cultural differences UK = men have better spatial awareness this was for hunting and suggests that there is an evolutionary link

Cultural differences Sahara = men and women have the same spatial awareness as they are nomadic = this suggests and social link.

bridging the development gap a2 edexcel geography

Bridging the development gap

Development gap = social and economic disparity between wealthy and poor, can occur globally or locally.

Food security = the extent to which a country can feed its own population or can afford purchase food on global markets when shortfalls occur.

Civil unrest = the disruption of typical social order e.g. strike, protest, violent or unviolent.

+around 2008 there was a 15 year period of economic growth and low inflation

+costs of imported manufactured goods was low and there was cheap labour in places like china

+food and wine prices had also fallen due to food surpluses

+low global interest rates made house prices cheap

-          Food prices rose sharply worldwide after 2006

-          Poor harvests after extreme weather = low grain stock

-          Growth of bio fuels reduced amount of land under food cultivation

-          Rising demand in rice supporting countries e.g. India, China

-          Rising incomes and food consumption reduced amount for exports

-          Rising demand for cattle feed e.g. Saudi Arabia largest barley imports

-          Hoarding of food by traders experiencing price increases

Rising oil prices also affects the increasing prices of distributing and growing food

FAO = UN organised Food and Agricultural Organisation

Development = means change and implies that it is for the better could be economic and improves the standard of living

Food crisis illustrates the development gap between rich and poor countries worldwide. Poorer countries have poorer food security caused by higher import costs. Many governments of rice producing countries banned the export of rice in order to guarantee supplies for their own people. 

Case study: The Philippines

2007 rice prices increased, as well as global increases. 2008 government used troops to deliver subsidised rice to poorer districts. Following protests rice hoarders were imprisoned if guilty. Until 1990s the Philippines was self-sufficient in terms of rice production. By 2008 it was the world’s biggest importer in 20 years the country lost its best farmland to urban developments. Examples of cash crops include coffee, chocolate, chilli and tea.

Factors making it worse =

Urban Sprawl (extension of cities into rural landscapes) + Climate change (result in flooding or desertification)

Since 1980 people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 40% to 20% but poverty is still bad due to population growth.

2.8 billion People live on $2 per day = moderate poverty

1.1 billion People live on $1.25 per day = extreme poverty

GDP = Gross domestic product. GNI = Gross National Income USA GNI double other countries

NNI = Net national income GDP and GNI don’t take income distribution into account. GDP and GNI show the local value of money.

PPP = Purchasing Power Parity (112 rupees may be £1.50)

Economic development relates to incomes, businesses, technology and enterprise. Whereas human development refers to quality of life, education and cultural values. Economic development could act as an indicator of a country’s economy and demonstrate their levels of employment.

Human development can be measured by assessing quality of life, birth and death rate and access to services. This is harder to measure as it is not in as many statistics like economic development is.

HDI = human development index. This uses 3 indicators: life expectancy, GDP and education, these are averaged out for each country.

PQLI = physical quality of life index

TAI = technical achievement index

GDRI = Gender related development index

MDG = Millennium development goals – they were developed in 2000 to measure income and quality of life. There are 8 goals and 21 targets to be met by 2015. E.g. goals halve proportion of people suffering from hunger, achieve universal primary education, and reduce under 5 death rate by two thirds.

North south divide can also be seen in supercar sales

Brant line = developed north and poor south with the exception of Australia. It was developed in 1981 (it is now outdated and over simplified)

Asian Tigers = BRIC countries

Mydal Model of core and periphery – demonstrates sub Saharan Africa and shows more detail than brant line.

Volvo cars = 40% owned by Chinese (they wanted to move money into Europe to avoid a collapse)

Example: Fair trade trying to get rid of the development gap by paying farmers good prices

Key players = World Bank, IMFG, NGOS, TNCs, and Governments

Poverty = lack of opportunity which is most acute in rural places  

India’s caste system

This is a system of social stratification, which historically separates communities by birth and family. It is a social and religious class system found mostly among Hindus and Muslims. It is thought to be traditional Hindu way of life, yet many people argue that British colonialism may have affected it. India’s constitution makes caste discrimination illegal. Untouchability was also made illegal in 1950. Inter-caste marriages are now more common.

Reasons for gender inequality in developing countries:

·         Gender bias laws, no equal pay, women can’t vote

·         Gender bias religious values e.g. Hindu caste system puts women at an disadvantage

·         Traditional values in society e.g. women stay at home for children and men work

·         No modern technology may shut them off from third world countries

·         Not a good level of primary and secondary education – not learnt about feminism – poor literacy – cannot get good job – limited opportunities

·         No democratic Government – unfair politics

·         Early marriages – lots of children

·         Poor health care – death at childbirth – poor sanitation – disease e.g. malaria, cholera

·         People may not be well travelled – understand western societies way of life e.g. equal rights

Who contributes to global development?

·         United nations – promote free trade, provide investment

·         EU – promotes economic co-operation, raise standards of business practice

·         Ngo e.g. Oxfam, water aid, unicef – bottom up approach, non-bias assessment

·         World trade organisation

·         TNCs e.g. nike, unilever, nestle – have large employed workforce

·         Trading blocs

·         Superpowers e.g. USA – regulate the economy, influence politics, provide infrastructure.

( RANKED INTO HOW EFFECTIVE I THINK THEY ARE HDI BEING TOP)	Advantages	Disadvantages
1.       HDI (human development index)	Encounters economic growth, quality of life, education and health care. This shows how governments invest, but not how much money they have.	Doesn’t take issues of water and sanitation into account. Doesn’t factor in gender equality.  It is only an average so it does not show the different areas
2.       GDP ( gross domestic product)	It shows values of goods and services over a year, this is averaged per person. You can see how much is produced in dollars.	This does not show what per capita income is actually worth in terms of spending power. Does not take living costs in different places into account.
3.       PPP ( purchasing power parity)	This shows what per capita income will purchase with the cost of living taken into account.	This value is purely economic Exchange rates can change. This is too narrow of a measure, it does not take all economic activity into consideration.
4.       GNI (gross national income)	Shows total economic activity, this includes overseas as well.	This is better than GDP as it encounters income from over sea such as shares and earnings. It is not always measured in per capita which is bad. There are no social factors considered.
5.       BRANT LINE 1981	Shows clear north south divide Good visual representation Easy to interpret Good for people south of line to understanding	Australia is an exception to the line. It does not take the BRIC countries into consideration. It is outdated 1981 and it is too simplistic.

case study: amazon peruvian rainforest

The World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund)

The World Bank

The World Bank is working towards a world free of poverty. The World Bank has set two main goals to be achieved by 2030:

·End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day to no more than 3%.

·Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country.

The World Bank provide low interest loans and grants to developing countries. These can often be used to fund healthcare, education, sanitation and important infrastructure. They aim to promote the use of natural resources, having as little impact on the environment as possible. Their 2014 annual report focuses on two of the World Bank Groups institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

This screenshot from the 2014 annual report shows that their main commitments are in Brazil and India. The IBRD and IDA have the most operations in Africa. The Middle East and North Africa have as little as 5 IBRD operations.

 

This screenshot from the 2014 report shows the World Bank in relation to the millennium development goals. This graph shows that extreme poverty has decreased from 1990-2015 target. Access to safe drinking water has gone from 24 in 1990 to 62 as a 2015 target.

Main indicators The World Bank use to measure development:

·         Agricultural and rural development

·         Aid effectiveness

·         Climate change

·         Economy and growth

·         Education

·         Environment

·         Debt

·         Gender

·         Infrastructure

·         Technology and Urban development

 

IMF – International Monetary Fund

·         The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction.

·         The IMF has 188 member countries. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations but has its own charter, governing structure, and finances. Its members are represented through a quota system broadly based on their relative size in the global economy. 

·         Through its economic surveillance, the IMF keeps track of the economic health of its member countries, alerting them to risks on the horizon and providing policy advice. It also lends to countries in difficulty, and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. This work is backed by IMF research and statistics.

The IMF provides loans to countries that have trouble meeting their international payments and cannot otherwise find sufficient financing on affordable terms. This financial assistance is designed to help countries restore macroeconomic stability by rebuilding their international reserves, stabilizing their currencies, and paying for imports—all necessary conditions for launching growth. The IMF also provides concessional loans to low-income countries to help them develop their economies and reduce poverty.