Study Guide for Psychology of Gender Exam 1:
Innate/”nature” explanations of sex/gender differences
Theories and concepts to understand
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Faulty arguments for innate/”biological”/”nature” explanations for sex
differences
o See list on handout from class—understand the flaws in each argument
o Be able to recognize examples of each faulty argument
Variability of traits that are completely or partly innate
Innate sex differences in circulating hormones explanation for sex differences
Critical thinking about research on this topic
o Problems with causality in hormone research
o Ethical issues in true experiments with hormones
o Presence of various hormones in males and in females
o Cycles of hormones in adult women, adult men
According to the prenatal hormone theory of sex differences
o Role of testosterone wash
o Proposed effects on male brains
o Explanation for sex differences in childhood and later
o Behaviors and abilities theorized to be affected
Critical thinking about brain imaging studies that compare the sexes (such as
baseline issue, confound of sex with brain size, leaping from structure to
function, etc.)
o Validity of findings
o Interpretation of findings
According to Fine, what might be the effects of females having a smaller brain on
average than males do? (Ch 13 Delusions of Gender)
Sex differences in the brain not linked to a major theory (know that there are
some differences and the general categories of anatomy/structure,
function/activity, and chemistry; but don’t need to know specific examples
mentioned in class)
How does experience affect the brain? Relevance to sex differences research?
Why does Fine object to the conclusions of popular neuroscience authors Ruben
& Raquel Gur? What does Fine mean when she accuses them (along with many
other theorists, past and present) of “theoretical U-turns” when it comes to brain
sex differences?
According to Fine, what are some of the problems with Louann Brizendine’s
book The Female Brain? (Ch 14 Delusions of Gender)
What criticisms does Fine present regarding popular neuroscience and claims
about gender and brain-based education? (Ch 14 Delusions of Gender)
What is the “seductive allure” of neuroscience? How is it related to research on
sex differences?
What is the problem with a single study getting too much attention?
Relevant evidence/research to know
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Effect of testosterone wash on brain development—what’s controversial, what’s
not
John Money and colleagues’ research on children exposed to abnormal levels of
prenatal hormones (see both class notes and Delusions of Gender)
o CAH girls compared with matched controls without CAH (including
sisters)
o CAH individuals raised as girls compared with those raised as boys
o Money’s conclusions, current use of Money’s research
Confounds and ambiguities in research with CAH girls—besides prenatal
hormones, how do the experiences of CAH girls differ from those of other girls?
See Jordan-Young (2010) and class
Summary of research on prenatal testosterone as an explanation for gender
differences—Hines (2010), Fine (Ch 9 & 11 in Delusions of Gender), and class
o Research with rats
o Research with rhesus monkeys
o Research with CAH girls
o Testosterone in amniotic fluid
o Do CAH girls differ from other girls? If so, how? Sex-typed play/toy
preferences, preferences for same-sex playmates, rough and tumble
play, gender identity, sexual orientation, cognitive abilities, aggression
o Flaws with this research, according to Fine and as discussed in class
Money’s case study of a boy who lost his penis in a circumcision accident and
was raised as a girl
o Money’s conclusions vs. later information revealed about this case
o Problems with drawing conclusions about the origins of gender
identity based on this case
Research cited by Fine on gender norms in various primate species, and in
various groups of the same primate species living in different regions
Voyer (1996) meta-analysis of sex differences in lateralization
Sommer meta-analysis of sex differences in language lateralization
Research on sex differences in (a) corpus callosum size, and (b) size/shape of
splenium, an area of the corpus callosum
o Sex difference reported in an early study
o How influential was this study?
o How has this research been portrayed in the popular media?
o Have other researchers been able to replicate this finding?
o What does the research on this topic reveal overall?
Research on sex differences in recovery of function after injury to primary
language areas of brain
Complexities and flaws of deciding whether males or females have a bigger brain
and whether that matters functionally
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Why does Fine believe many brain sex differences findings are spurious (not
reflecting an actual sex difference)? (Fine Ch 13 Delusions of Gender)
Recent neuroscience paper showing that a large number of neuroscience
findings are likely to be false positives—why is this the case? How does this
apply to neuroscience sex differences research?
Understand how/why each of the following might produce spurious findings
o Small sample size
o A large number of male vs. female comparisons within a study
o Conducting only one study regarding a specific possible sex difference
Weisberg (2008) study on allure of neuroscience,
McCabe (2008) “seeing is believing” study of effects of seeing a brain image
Terms
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Ad hominem attack
“Biology as fallback”
Sex chromosomes
Androgens
Testosterone
Estrogen
Progesterone
Oxytocin
Testosterone wash
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) / Androgenital syndrome (AGS)/
Congenital Virilizing Adrenal Hyperplasia (CVAH)
Lateralization
Greater male lateralization (GML) hypothesis
Cerebral hemispheres
Corpus callosum
Hypothalamus
Spurious sex difference
Reverse inference (regarding brain imaging studies that compare sexes)
Proteus phenomenon