Galliano ’03 Gender: Crossing boundaries, ch. 2 summary
The subject matter of chapter 2 is the history and methods of psychology and
their application to the study of gender.
Psychology is a relatively new field, its creation as a separate area of study
dating to the late 19th century. It combined the existing areas of philosophy and
biology. Its method of building knowledge follows that of biology and other
natural sciences. Thus it uses scientific method to build knowledge. Chapter 2
describes scientific method. Another point of historical interest is that some early
psychologists (led by Wilhelm Wundt) favored a cultural view of behavior, rather
than the dominant individual view. In our textbook, the author Galliano brings
both a cultural and an individual focus to the study of the psychology of gender.
Summary consists of quotes from the textbook, each preceded by page
number. Within text of summary, my comments are in parentheses.
(p. 22) … early psychologists and educators saw a natural order in nature, with
educated white men of the upper classes as the highest examples of human
evolution. (At that time, women and non-white men were seen as limited in their
abilities and as inferior. Psychology thus focused on the study of white men, not
all people)
(p. 23)… Over the following decades, psychologists ignored, omitted, or distorted
the issues of gender and ethnicity in their research and theories.
(p. 23-25) Modern Psychology and the Study of Gender
Up until the 1970s, masculinity and femininity were viewed as non-overlapping
concepts. An extreme version of this notion was that if women had a particular
trait, then men had non of that trait, and vice versa… However, researchers
could not identify any psychological traits that fit that pattern.
… A second conceptualization was that masculinity and femininity were opposite
poles of a single continuum… also assumed that men who were highly masculine
and women who were very feminine would be considered psychologically
healthier and thereby better adjusted… However, empirical researchers found
the world to be quite otherwise… Broverman and her colleagues made clear how
much more favorably traditionally masculine traits were valued.
(A more current view is that femininity and masculinity are separate dimensions
within one personality. Sandra Bem created the Bem Sex Role Inventory which
measured both dimensions) Those individuals (regardless of sex) who scored
high on both feminine and masculine traits were labeled as androgynous.
(p. 27) Gender Stereotypes
(To understand people, we organize them into “socially meaningful categories,”
including gender. Galliano’s definition of stereotype: Culturally based belief that
all members of particular human groups have the same characteristics.) …
Gender stereotypes distort both people and reality itself (since it may lead you to
an incorrect conclusion about what you think you see).
(Research methods used to study gender)
Refer to chapter 2 for description of these methods:
Case Studies
Observation
Surveys
Developmental Approaches
Correlational Studies
Experimentation
Meta-Analysis
Qualitative Methods