Notes · PsychologyUK · A-Levels

Gender

This optional topic examines how psychologists explain the development of gender: the distinction between sex and gender and the idea of androgyny, the biological influence of chromosomes and hormones, and the cognitive, psychodynamic and social-learning explanations of how a gender identity develops, together with atypical gender development. It is one of the three choices in the first option block of Paper 3.

5 sections~16 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 3

T·101010 / 17

Exam profile

AO1 · Describe sex and gender concepts and the biological, cognitive, psychodynamic and social explanations of gender developmentAO2 · Apply the explanations to novel scenarios of gender developmentAO3 · Evaluate the explanations, including biological versus social accounts and issues of bias

Operators:describeexplainapplyevaluatediscuss

basic level

This is a full A-Level (A2) optional topic, not part of AS; on Paper 3 students study one topic from this option block (Relationships, Gender or Cognition and development).

higher level

The full A-Level requires description, application and evaluation of each explanation of gender development and the comparison of biological and social accounts.

Depth

Text

Contents · 5 sections

Gender

Sex, gender, sex-role stereotypes and androgyny#

StandardAQA 7182 3.3.3DfE GCE Psychology - sex and gender

Bem's model of androgyny

Fig. 1Bem crossed masculinity and femininity to yield four types: androgynous (high on both) and undifferentiated (low on both) are the additions.

The topic begins with a crucial distinction. Sex is a person's biological status as male or female, determined by their chromosomes (and the anatomy and hormones that follow from them). Gender is the psychological and cultural characteristics associated with being masculine or feminine - a person's sense of who they are, which is influenced by social norms and expectations. Because sex is biological and gender is (at least partly) social, the two can come apart, which is central to understanding atypical gender development.

Sex-role stereotypes are the shared expectations a society holds about how males and females ought to behave (for example, that men are competitive and women nurturing). These stereotypes are transmitted by family, peers, school and the media, and can become self-fulfilling. Studying them raises the issue of whether such differences are real and biological or socially constructed - a recurring debate in this topic.

Androgyny is the idea that a person can display a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in their personality, rather than being wholly one or the other. Bem argued that androgyny is psychologically healthy, because androgynous people can draw on a wider range of behaviours to suit the situation. She measured it with the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), a questionnaire of 60 traits (20 typically masculine, 20 typically feminine, 20 neutral) that classifies a person as masculine, feminine, androgynous (high on both) or undifferentiated (low on both).

Androgyny and its measurement are evaluated for their strengths and limitations. The BSRI has good face and concurrent validity and produces quantitative scores, and the concept challenges the assumption that mental health requires conforming to one's sex role. However, the inventory reflects the (dated, culturally specific) view of masculinity and femininity of 1970s America, it relies on self-report (open to social desirability), and it treats gender as a fixed trait that can be captured in a single score, which some argue oversimplifies a complex and fluid identity.

Worked example

Classifying a BSRI profile

A respondent scores highly on both the masculine and the feminine items of the BSRI. State their classification and one implication Bem drew.

Read the two scores
High on masculine traits and high on feminine traits places the person in the top-left cell of Bem's model.
Classify
Scoring high on both dimensions means the person is classified as androgynous.
State the implication
Bem argued androgyny is associated with better psychological health, because the person can flexibly draw on both masculine and feminine behaviours as the situation requires.

Result: High on both scales = androgynous, which Bem linked to greater psychological flexibility and well-being.

Typical mistakes

Using 'sex' and 'gender' interchangeably - sex is biological, gender is psychological/social.
Describing androgyny as being 'in between' the sexes - it is being high on both masculine and feminine traits.

Active revision

Explain the difference between sex and gender, and describe how the Bem Sex Role Inventory classifies a person as androgynous.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for psychology (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Psychology 7182 specification (AQA)

The role of chromosomes and hormones and atypical sex chromosome patterns#

AdvancedAQA 7182 3.3.3DfE GCE Psychology - chromosomes and hormones

Atypical sex chromosome patterns

Fig. 2Atypical chromosome patterns act as natural experiments into the biological basis of gender-linked characteristics.

Biological sex is determined at conception by the sex chromosomes: females typically have two X chromosomes (XX) and males an X and a Y (XY). The Y chromosome carries the SRY gene, which causes the embryo's gonads to develop into testes; without it, ovaries develop. So the chromosomes set in motion the biological development of sex.

Hormones then act on this foundation, before birth and again at puberty. Testosterone (higher in males) drives the development of male genitalia and is linked to some aspects of masculine behaviour; oestrogen (higher in females) controls the menstrual cycle and is linked to some feminine characteristics; and oxytocin, released in large amounts during childbirth and breastfeeding and in both sexes during intimacy, is associated with bonding. The biological view is that these chromosomes and hormones jointly shape both physical sex and aspects of gendered behaviour.

Atypical sex chromosome patterns provide natural experiments into the role of biology. Klinefelter's syndrome affects biological males who have an additional X chromosome (XXY); characteristics can include reduced body hair, some breast development, longer limbs, and often language and social difficulties and reduced interest in sexual activity. Turner's syndrome affects biological females who have only one X chromosome (XO); characteristics can include the absence of a menstrual cycle, a webbed neck, and a particular cognitive profile (often higher verbal but lower spatial and mathematical ability). Comparing people with these conditions to typical individuals helps psychologists explore which characteristics have a chromosomal basis.

This biological approach is evaluated as scientific but incomplete. Its strengths are the objective, well-controlled study of chromosomes and hormones and the useful evidence from atypical patterns. Its weaknesses are that it is reductionist and biologically deterministic (it can overlook the powerful role of social factors and the environment in gender development), that studies of atypical conditions may involve confounds - the social consequences of the condition (such as being treated differently) may cause some behavioural differences rather than the chromosomes themselves - and that focusing on averages can encourage the alpha bias of exaggerating differences between the sexes.

Worked example

Interpreting atypical-syndrome evidence

People with Turner's syndrome (XO) tend to show higher verbal but lower spatial ability. Explain what this might suggest, and one reason for caution.

State the finding
Having a single X chromosome is associated with a particular cognitive profile (stronger verbal, weaker spatial ability).
Draw the tentative inference
This suggests that the sex chromosomes contribute to some cognitive differences linked to gender, supporting a biological influence.
Add a caution
People with Turner's are also often treated as socially immature, so their environment (a confound) - not only the chromosomes - may shape the behaviour, so causation cannot be assumed.

Result: The profile hints at a chromosomal influence on cognition, but social confounds mean the evidence is only suggestive.

Typical mistakes

Confusing Klinefelter's (XXY, male) with Turner's (XO, female).
Treating atypical-syndrome behaviour as purely chromosomal, ignoring the social consequences of the condition as a confound.

Active revision

Explain how studying people with Turner's syndrome could help psychologists investigate the biological basis of gender.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for psychology (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Psychology 7182 specification (AQA)

Cognitive explanations: Kohlberg and gender schema theory#

AdvancedAQA 7182 3.3.3DfE GCE Psychology - cognitive explanations of gender

Kohlberg's stages of gender constancy

Fig. 3Kohlberg's three stages: gender identity (2-3), gender stability (4-5) and gender constancy (6-7).

Cognitive explanations argue that gender development follows the maturation of the child's thinking. Kohlberg's theory of gender constancy proposes three stages that parallel Piaget's account of cognitive development. In the gender identity stage (around age 2-3) the child can label their own and others' sex but does not understand that it is permanent. In the gender stability stage (around 4-5) the child realises that their own gender is fixed over time (a boy will become a man) but is still fooled by changes in appearance in others. In the gender constancy stage (around 6-7) the child understands that gender is permanent across time and situations, regardless of superficial changes such as clothing.

Kohlberg's key claim is that only once a child achieves gender constancy do they actively seek out same-sex role models to imitate - so understanding comes before gendered behaviour. This is supported by evidence that children's understanding of gender does develop through these stages in this order and across cultures, giving the theory good universality. However, it is criticised because children show gender-typed preferences (e.g. for toys) well before achieving constancy, which the theory cannot easily explain, and because the interviews used with young children may underestimate what they actually understand.

Gender schema theory (Martin and Halverson) was proposed to address this weakness by arguing that gendered behaviour begins earlier, as soon as the child has a basic gender identity (around age 2-3), not only after constancy. A gender schema is an organised cluster of ideas about what is appropriate for each gender, built up from experience. Once children have identified their own gender, they actively seek information to build these schemas, and the schemas then guide their attention, behaviour and memory.

The theory makes clear predictions about attention and memory: children pay more attention to, and remember better, information consistent with their gender schema, and tend to ignore or misremember schema-inconsistent information (a child may 'remember' a picture of a male nurse as a male doctor). Children also show in-group and out-group schemas, paying more attention to and evaluating more positively the behaviours associated with their own gender. Gender schema theory is evaluated as well supported by evidence that young children hold rigid gender schemas and distort inconsistent information, and it usefully explains the early onset and persistence of gender stereotypes, though it may underplay social and biological influences that also shape gender.

Gender schema theory

Fig. 4Once a child has a gender identity, gender schemas guide attention and memory towards schema-consistent information.

Worked example

Explaining a memory distortion

Shown a picture of a female mechanic, a young child later recalls the mechanic as a man. Explain this using gender schema theory.

Identify the schema conflict
'Mechanic' is stereotypically part of the male gender schema, so a female mechanic is schema-inconsistent for the child.
Apply the theory
Gender schema theory predicts children attend to and remember schema-consistent information and distort or ignore inconsistent information.
Explain the error
The child's schema reshapes the memory to fit expectations, so they 'remember' a male mechanic - demonstrating how schemas actively bias memory.

Result: The child distorts the schema-inconsistent memory to fit the male 'mechanic' schema, as gender schema theory predicts.

Typical mistakes

Confusing gender stability (own gender fixed over time) with gender constancy (gender fixed across situations).
Saying gender schema theory requires constancy - it argues gendered behaviour begins with basic gender identity.

Active revision

A five-year-old boy insists that a man wearing a dress must have become a girl. Identify the stage of gender development and justify your answer.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for psychology (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Psychology 7182 specification (AQA)

The psychodynamic explanation of gender development#

AdvancedAQA 7182 3.3.3DfE GCE Psychology - psychodynamic explanation of gender

The Oedipus complex and gender identification

Fig. 5For boys, castration anxiety is resolved by identifying with the father and internalising his gender role.

Freud's psychodynamic explanation locates gender development in the phallic stage of psychosexual development, around ages 3-6, when the child's attention centres on the genitals. At this stage the child experiences an unconscious conflict about their opposite-sex parent, which is resolved by identifying with the same-sex parent - and it is through this identification that the child takes on their gender role.

For boys the conflict is the Oedipus complex: the boy develops unconscious sexual desires for his mother and sees his father as a rival, which produces castration anxiety (a fear that the father will castrate him). To resolve this anxiety the boy gives up his desire for his mother and identifies with his father, internalising the father's gender role and moral values (forming the superego). For girls Freud proposed the Electra complex: the girl experiences penis envy, desires her father and blames her mother for her lack of a penis, and eventually identifies with her mother, though Freud regarded the resolution as weaker and less complete.

Identification and internalisation are the key mechanisms: the child identifies with the same-sex parent (takes them as a model) and internalises their attitudes and behaviours, so acquiring gender-appropriate behaviour and a conscience in one process. Freud used the case study of 'Little Hans', a boy with a phobia of horses that Freud interpreted as displaced castration anxiety, as evidence for the theory.

The psychodynamic explanation is heavily criticised. It is praised for drawing attention to early childhood and the influence of the same-sex parent, but it is criticised for being based on unfalsifiable concepts (unconscious desires that cannot be tested), for the alpha bias and androcentrism of the account (penis envy in particular is seen as a male-centred and socially unacceptable idea), for resting on a single, subjectively interpreted case study (Little Hans), and for the prediction - not well supported by evidence - that boys raised without a father should fail to develop a male gender identity. Most psychologists now regard it as of historical rather than scientific value.

Worked example

Evaluating the falsifiability of the theory

Construct one AO3 point about why the psychodynamic explanation of gender is criticised on scientific grounds.

Point
A limitation of Freud's explanation is that it rests on unfalsifiable concepts.
Evidence
The Oedipus complex, castration anxiety and penis envy are unconscious processes that cannot be directly observed or measured, and the main evidence is a single, subjectively interpreted case study (Little Hans).
Explain
Because the claims cannot in principle be tested or disproved, the theory fails Popper's criterion of falsifiability, so it lacks scientific credibility however influential it has been.

Result: A developed AO3 point: the theory is unfalsifiable and poorly evidenced, undermining its scientific status.

Typical mistakes

Confusing the Oedipus (boys) and Electra (girls) complexes.
Presenting the theory as well supported - it rests on unfalsifiable concepts and a single interpreted case study.

Active revision

Outline how, according to Freud, a boy comes to adopt a male gender role, and give one criticism of the explanation.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for psychology (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Psychology 7182 specification (AQA)

Social learning, culture and media, and atypical gender development#

StandardAQA 7182 3.3.3DfE GCE Psychology - social influences and atypical gender development

Social learning theory applied to gender argues that gendered behaviour is learned from the social environment through the same mechanisms as any other behaviour. Children are directly reinforced for gender-appropriate behaviour (differential reinforcement - a boy praised for being tough), and they learn indirectly by observing and imitating same-sex models and by vicarious reinforcement (seeing others rewarded or punished for gendered behaviour). Identification with same-sex models and the mediational processes (attention, retention, reproduction, motivation) apply as in the general theory.

Culture and media are powerful sources of this learning. Cross-cultural research shows both consistencies (which support a biological component) and differences in gender roles (which support social learning), such as Mead's studies of societies with contrasting gender norms. The media provide role models and reinforce sex-role stereotypes: rigid portrayals of men and women act as models to imitate, and the media can also strengthen self-efficacy (the belief that one can perform a gender-appropriate behaviour). The relative influence of culture and media supports the nurture side of the debate.

Atypical gender development is examined through gender dysphoria - the condition in which a person experiences a mismatch between their biological sex and the gender they feel themselves to be, causing significant distress. It is important to distinguish gender dysphoria (about gender identity) from anything to do with sexual orientation, and to treat it sensitively as a recognised condition rather than a disorder of the person's character.

Both biological and social explanations of gender dysphoria are considered. Biological explanations include a possible genetic component (some evidence of a higher concordance in identical twins) and brain-sex theory (the suggestion that certain brain structures may be more typical of the experienced gender than the biological sex, e.g. findings about the BSTc region). Social and psychological explanations include psychoanalytic accounts and social-constructionist views that gender identity is shaped by social factors. The explanations are evaluated for mixed and correlational evidence, small samples, and the social sensitivity of the research, which means conclusions must be drawn and communicated with particular care.

Worked example

Applying social learning to gender

A girl is praised for playing quietly with dolls and sees female characters on television rewarded for being caring. Explain her developing gender role using social learning theory.

Direct reinforcement
Being praised for a stereotypically feminine activity is differential reinforcement that strengthens the behaviour.
Vicarious reinforcement and modelling
Seeing female television characters rewarded for caring behaviour provides same-sex models and vicarious reinforcement, making imitation more likely.
Mediational processes
She attends to and retains the modelled behaviour, is able to reproduce it, and is motivated by the expected reinforcement, so she adopts the gendered behaviour.

Result: Direct and vicarious reinforcement of gendered models, processed through the mediational processes, shape her gender role.

Typical mistakes

Confusing gender dysphoria (gender identity) with sexual orientation.
Treating cross-cultural consistency as pure evidence for social learning - consistency actually supports a biological component.

Active revision

Explain how social learning theory and the media might together account for the persistence of sex-role stereotypes.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for psychology (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Psychology 7182 specification (AQA)

References & sources

Sources

Department for Education

GCE AS and A level subject content for psychology

AQA

AQA A-level Psychology 7182 specification

Gender

5 sections~16 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 3

Gender

Key points

Classifying a BSRI profile

Key points

Interpreting atypical-syndrome evidence

Key points

Explaining a memory distortion

Key points

Evaluating the falsifiability of the theory

Key points

Applying social learning to gender

Sources

Gender

Key points

Classifying a BSRI profile

Key points

Interpreting atypical-syndrome evidence

Key points

Explaining a memory distortion

Key points

Evaluating the falsifiability of the theory

Key points

Applying social learning to gender

Sources