Definitions
SEX
The term sex refers to biological status as male or female. It is defined by our chromosomes,
hormones and anatomical differences.
GENDER
Is psychosocial and refers to notions about the expected roles, behaviours and attitudes of males
and females within society.
ANDROGYNY
Androgynous refers to people whose personality encompasses both masculine and feminine
characteristics. Sandra Bem (1974) developed the BSRI (Bem Sex Role Inventory) which
measures an individuals androgyny. Bem’s scale found that people with high androgyny scores are
psychologically more healthy than people who show more conventional male or female traits.
However, Whitley (1983) wrote that it is high masculinity which indicates a healthier well being.
Nevertheless, Bem’s scale has good test-retest reliability producing similar results if used on more
than one occasion with the same sample.
SEX-ROLE
stereotypes
The is a belief about what people think is appropriate and normal for people who classified as either
male or female….Children as young as 3yrs will show such knowledge of these sex-role stereotypes.
(Kuhn et al 1978) Think of examples of children displaying stereotypical behaviours. Where do
they learn these stereotypes? What problems may occur if individuals don’t fit with our
stereotypes?
Margaret Mead (1935) observed tribal communities in New Guinea… Read the study below and in
just 5 sentences max explain the differences between males and females in New Guinea and males
and females here in Western society.
Cultural diversity
Nature
The Nature view would explain gender related behaviour as the result of biology, innately we are
programmed how to behave as a result of genes, hormones and chromosome patterns
Nurture
An extreme nurture view would explain gender related behaviour as a result of environment as a
result of how people shape our behaviours including our parents, sub cultures and the media.
Nature or
Nurture?
In reality most psychologists would take on an interactionist approach, i.e. our gender related
behaviour is governed by biological make-up and innate predisposition can be modified by the
environment and experiences.
AIM
Mead (1935) conducted a cross-cultural study of three societies to investigate whether there were differences in
gender roles which could suggest that gender was a product of environment rather than biology.
METHOD
She visited three tribal communities on the island of New Guinea for a period of six months. The Arapesh lived in
the mountain region, the Mundugamor lived by the riverside and the Tchambuli lived on the lakeside. She observed
and recorded the behaviour of people within these groups for comparison with traditional western culture.
RESULTS
The Arapesh showed personality traits and behaviours similar to those found in western society although they were
more interested in the community than perusing individual goals. The Mundugamor were described as fierce and
cannibalistic. Both males and females displayed traits which were described as masculine. The Tchambuli had
distinctive gender roles, but the reverse of those in the west. Men were more artistic and women held the social and
economic power.
CONCLUSION
There is no inevitable relationship between biological sex and gender role. Culture is the major socialisation agent,
particularly in the early years.
EVALUATION
Anthropologists have criticised Mead’s work since her work lacked scientific thoroughness as she was young at the
time of research and so had little life experiences which may have clouded her perceptions of what she observed.
The fact that Mead only spent 6 months with these communities is also a problem. Errington and Gewertz (1989)
revisited the Tcambuli and re-analysed Mead’s work. They recorded that the women do not dominate the men and
nor is the reverse true.
nurture
Nevertheless, asides from flaws in methodology, cross cultural research has stimulated the argument towards the nature
when defining gender roles.
There are three main biological explanations of gender behaviour
Chromosomes
Hormones
Brain structure
1
Chromosome differences
The normal human body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each pair of chromosomes carries genes that control
different characteristics. Biological sex is determined by the 23rd pair. So females have the genotype XX and males
have the genotype XY.
Both males and females begin as an egg carrying an X chromosome. If the egg is fertilised by a sperm carrying an X chromosome then
the embryo will develop as a girl and the two gonads will become ovaries.
At the beginning the embryo will always have male and female interior anatomy but the male elements spontaneously disintegrate while
the female ones thicken and grow into a womb. At the same time, the exterior anatomy, which has the same beginnings for both
sexes, develop into female genitalia and the result is a girl.
As we shall see, even without ovaries, development follows the female route: the natural route of the human is the female one.
To become male means interfering with that route. If the egg is fertilised by a sperm carrying a Y chromosome then the gonads
develop into testes. They pump out the hormone that which actively absorbs the female parts which would have otherwise begun to
grow, and then the gonad produces the major male hormone testosterone. This stops the male parts disintegrating; it thickens the
spermatic cord, and switches the genitalia away from the female route. The result is male.
Atypical sex-chromosomes
Any combination of sex chromosomes other than XX or XY is seen as atypical. Klinefelter’s and Turner’s syndrome are
examples of conditions which result from atypical sex chromosome conditions.
Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY)
Turner Syndrome (XO)
Caused by the presence of an extra Caused by the absence of an X
X chromosome
chromosome
Biological male with a physical
appearance of male
Biological female with the female
external appearance
Affects between 1 in 500 and 1 in
1000 males
Affects 1 in 2500
Psychological effects: poor
language skills – which affects
reading ability, passive
temperament
Physical effects: less body hair
than normal male, underdeveloped
genitals, long legs in relation to
torso, infertile
Psychological effects; higher than
average reading ability; lower than
average spatial ability, visual
memory and mathematical skills;
difficulty is social adjustment
Physical effects; ovaries fail to
develop, short squat body with
webbed neck
What does studying people with atypical sex chromosome patterns allow us to conclude what about gender?
It provides evidence that our biological makeup might be responsible for gender-related behaviour. For example, by
comparing someone with typical chromosomes with someone with atypical chromosomes you can make clear comparisons
what aspects of their behaviour have a genetic cause.
Studies to support the fact that chromosomes do affect an individuals gender related behaviour
Imperato McGinley et al (1974) The Batista family
Imperato-McGinley and her colleagues studied some unusual families including the Batista family from three villages in the
Dominican Republic. Thirty seven children studied by the researchers had inherited a mutant recessive gene from an eighteenth
century ancestor. They were born with apparently female genitals and were brought up as girls even though they all had XY
chromosomes. When they reached puberty, the surge in testosterone levels, led to the production of a male hormone
(dihydrotestosterone) which they had lacked before birth. This hormone led to their rather belated masculinisation and the
sudden development of male genitals. They were born with normal female genitalia and body shape, but when they were
twelve, their vaginas healed over, two testicles descended and they grew full penises. So the little ‘girls’ grew up to be muscular
men. Curiously these people reported no difficulty in adopting the male gender despite being reared as girls. They adapt their
new gender identity well to their new sex, take men’s jobs, marry women and are treated as men by others.
So the role of socialisation in the development of sex roles appeared to be overridden by biological factors and the researchers
concluded that biology was all important. Their ability to adopt a male gender identity and gender role suggests that their
testosterone had pre-programmed masculinity into their brains.
However, one problem with this study was that the genitalia of these ‘female’ children were not entirely normal and others knew
this from communal river bathing. It may be that the rearing of these children was not the same as that of normal females,
especially as villagers would have known of other children with this disorder. It is also possible that the young men had no
difficulty in adjusting to their new gender because they had always been uncomfortable with the female role. Certainly they were
given support by their community to make the transition. This clearly suggests environmental influences on the children’s
gender identity
This study aims to prove how the environment is all that is necessary to determine an individuals gender identity
Money and Erhardt (1972) The David Reimer story
Money and Erhardt proposed the theory of neutrality, stating that children are born gender-neutral and suggested that gender
reassignment will be successful if carried out before the child is three years old. However, one famous study showed this was
not the case. These researchers studied a pair of identical twins with the aim of finding out whether nurture, that is, how a child
was reared, could overcome his genetic inheritance or nature.
The method chosen was the case study. This is a rich and detailed study of one individual, or a small group, such as a family.
Such studies involve observing and interviewing people as well as studying any records there may be about the participant.
Case studies are sometimes carried out because it would be unethical to carry out an experiment to test a particular hypothesis.
It is not unusual for people with rare medical conditions or even those who have been victims of surgical or other accidents to be
studied in this way.
They studied monozygotic (identical) twins who were both normal boys when they were born. However, at the age of seven
months, one was tragically injured during circumcision. This is a common operation to remove the foreskin from the penis and
can be done for either religious or medical reasons. The damage was so severe that when the boy was twenty two months of
age the parents decided to accept medical advice and to rear him as a girl. The child then underwent castration and plastic
surgery so that her genitals resembled those of a girl. The doctors planned to give her female hormones when she reached
puberty to help feminise her appearance.
The little girl and her parents visited the clinic annually for support and guidance. The child was observed during these meetings
and the mother also provided reports of her progress. The mother encouraged her child to dress in a feminine fashion and tried
to treat her as a girl.
Initially the results of this gender reassignment seemed promising. Only one year after her operation, the girl twin clearly
preferred to wear dresses rather than trousers and was proud of her long hair. By the age of four she was happy to sit to urinate
and was cleaner and neater than her brother. At five the child asked for sex typed toys for Christmas such as a doll and a dolls’
house whilst her brother wanted cars and tools. She was encouraged to help her mother with the housework whilst her brother
‘couldn’t care less about it’. The twins had different career ambitions, too. The girl wanted to be a doctor or a teacher whilst the
boy wanted to be a fireman or a policeman.
At nine years of age she was quieter and more ‘lady like’ than her twin. Her brother was reported to be protective of her, whilst
‘she’ was said to be a ‘fussy little mother’ to him. However, the girl also showed ‘tomboyish’ behaviour in that she had lots of
physical energy and was apt to want to dominate other children.
On the basis of this and other cases Money and Ehrhardt came to the conclusion that during the first three to four years of life
gender reassignment can be easily carried out. This evidence supported the idea that gender role is learned. However, the
castration and treatment with female hormones would also have helped her to adopt her new gender.
Sadly after Money and Erhardt had completed their study, the child was followed up by another researcher who proved that
biology has the greatest influence on gender.
Diamond (1982)
Diamond found that at the age of thirteen the girl was ‘beset with problems’ (Berk 1989). She found it hard to make friends in
adolescence and was unhappy. Although she had been treated with oestrogen (a female hormone) she still looked rather
masculine. She ‘seemed ambivalent about her gender status’, that is, not sure whether she was male or female (Berk 1989).
She believed that boys had a better life than girls and she wanted to be a car mechanic. Diamond concluded from this follow up
study that people’s biology largely determines their gender.
The Money case raises ethical issues. The parents believed they were doing what was right for the child and were acting on
expert advice. The boy ultimately felt he had been mistreated and that his results had been misrepresented to fit with the
researchers beliefs.
PAST PAPER QUESTIONS
Identify one atypical sex chromosome pattern and outline how it might affect an individual.
Name one sex hormone and give an example of how this hormone might affect a person’s behaviour.
(3 marks)
(2 marks)
Victoria is five years old and she is different from other girls of her age. She is smaller in height and has a webbed
neck. At school, her teachers have commented that she has good verbal skills but her mathematical skills are poor.
Medical tests have revealed that Victoria has a sex chromosome pattern XO.
Name the atypical sex chromosome syndrome described above.
(1 mark)
Identify how Victoria’s sex chromosome pattern differs from that of most girls.
(1 mark)
Explain how studying people like Victoria can contribute to our understanding of gender.
(2 marks)
Give the typical sex chromosome pattern for the following:
a male
a female
(2 marks)
2
Hormonal differences
Hormones are chemical substances secreted by glands in the body. Men and women have the same sex hormones, just in
different amounts. Male hormones are collectively known as androgens and the most well known of these is testosterone.
While male and female hormones have obvious physical effects, psychologists are interested in the effects of sex
hormones on behaviour. Different levels of aggression have been found in males and females. As a consequence much
research has focused on the role of testosterone on behaviour.
Testosterone is a predominantly male hormone that affects development and behaviour both before and after birth. In
the 5th month of foetal development, the male gonads secrete testosterone causing the male foetus to develop external
sex organs.
The psychological effects can also be seen in a condition known as CAH (Berenbaum and Hines, 1992). This is where you
would explain this case…
Laboratory studies of animals have showed that testosterone does lead to increased aggression (Silber and Wagner
2004):

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
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Male rats show more aggression than female rats
Castrated males show reduced aggression
Male-male aggression begins at puberty when male hormones are secreted
Aggression increases with injections of testosterone, since Von de Poll et al found that injecting female rats with
testosterone led to increased aggression.
Studies with men taking bodybuilding androgenic steroids show that they have higher than normal levels of aggression
on questionnaire scores. However, it is impossible to determine cause and effect in such studies. For example some of
the participants worked in occupations including security staff and bouncers which may be viewed as aggressive in
nature. Perhaps their work was the cause of the aggression not the steroids.
Research with prison populations has also been used to determine a link between testosterone and offending, which is
presumably aggression.
Dabbs et al (1995) wanted to find out if there was an association between prisoners’ behaviour, the types of crimes
they had committed and their testosterone levels. They measured the testosterone levels of 692 male offenders in
prison by testing saliva samples. They looked at the prisoners’ records and coded the prisoners according to the type of
crime they committed and the extent to which they had complied with prison rules.
They found that men with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to have carried out violent and sexual offences
than men with lower testosterone levels. The latter were more likely to have committed drug offences and burglary.
Prisoners who had higher testosterone levels were also more likely to have broken prison rules. It was concluded that
testosterone causes heightened arousal and aggressive behaviour. This could explain why men are more likely to be
aggressive than women, as they have higher testosterone levels.
They concluded that testosterone may be linked with aggression.
The problem with the studies so far is that they are based on naturally occurring phenomena which means it is difficult
to establish a cause and effect i.e. we do not know if testosterone alone is the only factor that causes
aggression….there could be other confounding factors that we cannot control for. To discover more valid results we
must complete an actual experiment.
Therefore Tricker et al (1996) conducted a study to eliminate confounding variables. In a double blind study 43 males
aged between 19 and 40 years received either 600mg of testosterone or a placebo. Neither the participants nor the
researchers knew who was receiving the drug or the placebo. The study lasted for 10 weeks and participants were
tested before, during and after treatment using two anger questionnaires which investigated their aggressive behaviour.
The results showed that there were no significant differences found between the experimental and the control group
on any of the measures over the 10 weeks. In other words high levels of testosterone have no effect on aggressive
behaviour or attitudes of the males.
General evaluations of testosterone research….
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Increased levels of T may be a consequence of aggressive behaviour rather than the cause.
It might not be appropriate to generalise from animal research findings to human behaviour.
Explaining aggression purely in terms of chemical activity is perhaps an oversimplification.
Environmental factors like family background also influence how people respond to frustrating situations. Most
males manage to control their behaviour and behave in socially acceptable and non-violent ways.
The effect of T may be indirect: males with high testosterone might have more muscular bodies, which might
lead others to treat them as if they are aggressive. Perhaps it is the way other people response to them that
leads them to be aggressive – the self fulfilling prophecy.
Female Hormones
Oestrogen is a female hormone, responsible for the development of female sexual characteristics and menstruation.
In addition to physical changes which occur in the body due to oestrogen, some psychological and behavioural effects
have been reported. In some women it causes pre menstrual syndrome PMS (sometimes known as premenstrual tension
or PMT). This can sometimes lead to feelings of emotionality, irritability and even aggression. It has also been
suggested that it could be responsible for momentary lapses of self control or attention leading to antisocial behaviours
such as committing criminal acts. Even though it is debatable whether crime can result from PMS this has successfully
been accepted as a mitigating factor in the defence of women tried for shop lifting and even murder (Easteal, 1991).
However, Golombok & Fivush (1994) summarise the results of the investigations into the effects of oestrogen and
psychiatric symptoms in the pre menstrual period and during the menopause. They conclude that there is no consistent
evidence that changes in oestrogen levels are responsible for the depression, anxiety or irritability that women
report. They suggest that where these symptoms are carefully measured, for example using daily records, they are
found to be less evident than when reported individually.
Evaluations

Some evidence supports the view that biological differences between males and females affect behaviour
however the evidence is usually inconsistent so not significant enough to make firm conclusions

In other words, even if biology has a role, it is always important to consider environmental factors.
3
Differences in brain structures
Differences in the organisation of male and female brains result from the effect of testosterone before birth. There
are two hemispheres in the brain which are linked by the corpus callosum. The left side of the brain is specialised for
language and the right side of the brain for spatial skills. Males tend to use each side of their brain separately whilst
some research suggests that females may have a denser corpus callosum and tend use both hemispheres simultaneously.
According to Mc Glone (1980) the right hemisphere is generally more dominant in men and the left in women. However
much research is still required in the field of sex differences and cognitive ability in relation to the corpus callosum
before any direct conclusions can be made.
In conclusion
Biological psychologists believe sex differences are innate (inborn) and that we are biologically ‘programmed’
to act in certain ways or to have sex-typed abilities which then leads to the male and female gender roles.
For example, Eysenck points out that the greater strength and speed of males is biologically determined
(caused) and is seen in their ‘instrumental behaviour’ such as fighting and hunting. Similarly, females give birth
to and breast feed their infants and so it is important that they are caring which would explain why biological
factors may also underpin female ‘expressive behaviour’ (Eysenck 1996).
Some differences between males and females occur very early in life before learning has had time to take
place. You should list some examples here….
Many sex differences are remarkably consistent from one culture to another. As people from very
different cultures have their biology in common it may be that chromosomes and hormones are responsible
for these cross cultural similarities.
Behaviours such as aggression differ not only in men and women but also in the male and female members of
other species. This also suggests that biological features which we share with other animals may be involved.
Biological explanations of gender are reductionist. This means that they try to explain complex behaviours in
terms of a single cause when it is likely that a number of factors are involved. ‘Nature’ or biological
explanations of gender ignore social and cultural factors, in other words, the role of nurture.
The genetic differences between males and females are not huge. It is only one pair of chromosomes which
differs, after all, and the Y chromosome, unique to males, actually contains the least genetic material.
Even if hormones do influence behaviour, this doesn’t mean that such behaviour is inevitable. People can
make choices about how they will behave.
Other studies to support biological explanations of gender
Case 4:
Adrenogenital syndrome (AGS): Money and Ehrhardt 1972
This is where a female with the normal genotype XX has been exposed to excessive levels of androgens (male
hormones) during the critical period of prenatal sexual differentiation. Therefore, the internal reproductive structures
are unaffected, but the external structures resembled those of a male infant. For example, an enlarged clitoris
appears as a penis.
This happened because either some of the mothers of these babies had been given a hormone to stop them from
having a miscarriage or some baby girls had a genetic disorder which prevented their adrenal system from
functioning normally.
Many people with AGS are declared boys and raised as boys. Since their hormonal surge continues, their voice
deepens and face and body hair sprout at puberty. These people with AGS grow up as normal men; they feel male
and pursue women romantically. They can have intercourse as men and become good husbands and fathers (by
adoption or artificial insemination).
Money and Ehrhardt studied girls with AGS who were raised initially as boys as soon as the mistake was found,
their genitals were surgically corrected and they were reassigned and raised as girls. They found that although
these children were treated as girls by their parents, they were tomboyish in that they preferred to play with boys and
fight. They disliked the activities traditionally seen as feminine.
Nevertheless Money and Erhardt concluded that androgens (male hormone) have an important role in determining
sex typed behaviour.
Case 5
Mr Blackwell: Hermaphrodite (Goldwyn, 1979)
Goldwyn cites the case of Mr Blackwell, only the 303rd true hermaphrodite in all of medical history (where person’s
cells are both female XX and male XY). He’s described as a handsome and rather shy 18 yr old boy. Although he
had a small vaginal opening as well as a penis, he was taken to be a boy and brought up as such. But when he was
14yrs he developed breasts and was sent to hospital to discover why this had happened. It was found that he had
an active ovary on one side of his body and an active testicle on the other.
Gross (1987) suggested that in fact he could well be said to have a ‘female brain’ for his hormone system was
enough to take him through the whole female cycle and ovulate every month. Nevertheless, he expressed his wish
to remain male and so his female parts were removed.
His upbringing as a male seems to have been a major influence on gender development. This case then underlines
the strength of nurture, since his upbringing as a boy influenced his gender identity as a male, OVERIDDING his
female bio chemistry. Also the surgeon who had carried out the operation on Mr Blackwell, and on 25 other similar
cases – all these people had no doubt about their gender, which was always in line to how they were raised – male
or female.
It therefore seems that biology alone can not determine gender development.
EXAM QUESTION
Discuss biological explanations of gender development. Refer to at least one study in your answer.
(10 marks)