PS30084 / PS50098

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PS30084 / PS50098 Understanding Gender
Relations
Lecture 2 Psychology of sex differences research
Dr Andrew Bengry-Howell, Prof Chris Griffin, Dr
Helen Lucey
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Structure of the unit
MainstreamSocialPsychology
FeministPerspectives
Critical SocialPsychology
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Reading

• Hare-Mustin, R. and Maracek, J. (1990). Making A
  Difference. Chapters 1, 2 and 4.
• Stainton Rogers, W. Stainton Rogers, R. (2001).
  The Psychology of Gender and Sexuality. Chapter
  1.
• Kitzinger, C. (ed.) (1994). Should Psychologists
  Study Sex Differences? Feminism and Psychology,
  4(4), 501-546. (in course pack)

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Learning Outcomes

• Aim To provide students with a critical
  understanding of the rationale underlying
  research on the psychology of sex differences.
• Learning Outcomes
• After attending this lecture and reading
  chapters 1 2 of Hare-Mustin Maracek
  (1990) and the article by Kitzinger (1994),
  you should be able to
• 1. Understand the concepts of alpha-bias and
  beta-bias as they apply to research on the
  psychology of sex differences.
• 2. Appreciate the main arguments made for and
  against research on the psychology of sex
  differences in recent debates amongst feminist
  and social psychology researchers.
• 3. Understand how different approaches to the
  study of sex differences (by minimalists and
  maximalists) are associated with different
  theories about gender relations.
• NB Chapter 1 of Stainton Rogers Stainton
  Rogers (2001) provides more detailed coverage of
  research that offers biological explanations of
  apparent differences between females and males.

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Psychology of sex differences

• A lot research from 1970s.
• Two main strands
• (a) Descriptive/empirical little analysis
• Analytic studies biological determinism,
• e.g. Hutt 1972.
• Reviews of Sex difference research
• MacCoby and Jacklin, 1964, 1974
  
  Fairweather, 1976

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Biological paradigms

• Biology Producing immutable sex differences
• Biological sex (and gender) organised/constructed
  as a duality/dichotomy (opposites)

• Biological sex Physiological difference
• Anatomy, chromosomes, hormones

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Chromosomal sex Genetic difference
X chromosome from male X chromosome from female
female foetus Y chromosome from male X
chromosome from female male foetus
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Psychological sex differences

• Psychology draws on ideas and theories from
  natural science - unlike other social sciences)
• Mainstream psychology discovering and
  understanding biological bases of human behaviour
  and experience - processes that produce qualities
  and capacities that make us human/male or female

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Neurological sex differences

• Since early days of Psychology, psychologists
  have claimed that male and female brains are
  different
• Originally women seen as intellectually inferior
  to men, having brains unsuited to scholarship,
  womens brains smaller than mens.

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• Much of the debate centred on whether or not
  women could be educated, especially in college
  and universities. One writer suggested that a
  woman of average brain could attain the same
  standards as a man with an average brain only at
  the cost of her health, of her emotions, of her
  morale. Another prophersized that women would
  grow bigger and heavier brains and their uteruses
  would shrink if the went to college. (Kimmel,
  2000)

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Neurological sex differences

• Simon Baron-Cohen
• Essential differences between the human brain
• Females hard wired - empathising
• Males hard wired understanding/ building
  systems

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Essential differences - Natural selection?

• Empathising is the drive to identify another
  person's emotions and thoughts, and to respond to
  these with an appropriate emotion. The empathiser
  intuitively figures out how people are feeling,
  and how to treat people with care and
  sensitivity.

Systemising is the drive to analyse and explore a
system, to extract underlying rules that govern
the behaviour of a system and the drive to
construct systems.
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Research on Sex Differences
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Psychology and sex differences

• Early psychology - preconception that men are
  more intelligent than women.
• Early intelligence tests, however, modified to
  make sure men scored, on average, the same as
  women.
• Otherwise, average scores for women proved higher
  than average scores for men.
• Adjustment still going on in the 1950s and
  1960s in UK to ensure as many boys as girls
  passed the 11 test

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Research evidence

• Some small differences in way mens and womens
  brains are organised, but cannot account for
  differences in mens and womens performance
• Social and cultural factors, social attitudes and
  expectations play a significant part

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Psychology and sex differences

• Search for measurable differences betweenwomen
  and men/explaining difference
• Search for sex differences historically
  associated male theorists fascination with
  unravelling womens nature (Hollway, 1994)
• Men were unmarked reference group - male
  behaviour norm or standard of comparison
• Womens difference to men largely treated as
  inferiorities
• Women constructed as lacking e.g. Freud women
  as lacking penis, rather than possessing a
  vagina

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Feminist Psychology

• 1970s - A lot of interest in SD research
• Investigating extent to which men women are
  different and similar
• Historically differences between men women
  attributed to essential biological factors -
  presented as universal, natural often morally
  correct
• Concern - womens behaviour treated as a function
  of biology e.g. raging hormones, PMS, maternal
  instincts/men more rational/less determined by
  biology
• Feminist psychology - challenging/testing
  assumptions of traditional research on
  male-female differences
• Feminist critique of methods research
  design/methodology
• Tendency to seek out/report on significant
  differences and ignore findings where no
  significant difference exists

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Feminist Psychology

• Two strands
• Minimisers Research that explores the
  similarities between men and women - argue for
  sexual equality on the basis of similarity.
• Maximisers Research that explores the way in
  which women differ from men reclaim and
  celebrate womens different ways of knowing.

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• Because discriminatory practices (such as the
  exclusion of women from higher education) have
  often been justified with reference to alleged
  differences between men and women, many
  feminist psychologists have felt it imperative to
  investigate objectively and scientifically the
  extent to which such differences actually
  existan alternative approach involves stepping
  back from the question of sex differences to
  ask why this question is constructed as
  important
• (Kitzinger, 1994)

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What are the facts/truths about sex differences?

• Hare-Mustin (1990)
• Most research into sex differences fundamentally
  flawed - real nature of male female-cannot be
  determined
• Ideas linked to apparent sex differences shape
  our understandings, enable certain social
  realities to be constructed rather than
  reflecting actual out there social truths
• Theories embody two distinct biases
• One sees profound differences
• Other sees considerable similarities

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Alpha Beta bias

• Alpha bias tendency to exaggerate differences
• Beta bias tendency to minimise or ignore
  difference
• Alpha-beta schema corresponds with scientific
  hypothesis testing in experimental psychology
• Alpha bias/Type 1 errorReporting a significant
  difference when one does not exist/maximising
  difference
• Beta bias/Type 2 errorOverlooking a significant
  difference when one does exist/ minimising
  difference

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Should Psychologists study sex differences?
Kitzinger (1994)

• Arguments used in favour of SD research
• SD research can help to challenge traditional
  gender stereotypes
• Research should never be censored
• Pro-science SD research allows us to test
  theories and do better science
• Feminist psychologists must be part of this
  research debate

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Should Psychologists study sex differences?
Kitzinger (1994)

• Arguments used against SD research
• SD research doesnt always challenge traditional
  gender stereotypes
• Anti-science science cant reveal truths about
  anything not value-free
• SD research is asking the wrong questions, should
  look at
• How gender / sex itself is constructed?

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BREAK
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PS30084 / PS50098 Understanding Gender
Relations
Lecture 3 Gender stereotyping and sex-role
socialisation theory
Dr Andrew Bengry-Howell, Prof Chris Griffin, Dr
Helen Lucey
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Readings
Reading

• Hare-Mustin and Maracek (1990). Making a
  difference. Chapter 3.
• Stainton Rogers Stainton Rogers (2001). The
  psychology of gender and sexuality. Chapter 2
  (and part of chapter 3).
• Carrigan, T., Connell, B. and Lee, J. (1985).
  The sex-role framework and the sociology of
  masculinity. Theory and Society, 14, 531-604. (in
  course pack)

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Learning Outcomes

• Aim
• To present students with an account of the
  development of mainstream social psychological
  analyses of gender relations involving gender
  stereotyping and gender roles.
• Learning Outcomes After attending this lecture
  and reading chapter 2 of Stainton Rogers
  Stainton Rogers (2001) and chapter 3 of
  Hare-Mustin Maracek (1990), you should be able
  to
• Define the terms gender stereotyping and
  gender roles as developed in mainstream social
  psychological research during the 1970s.
• Appreciate the difference between essentialist
  and social constructionist approaches to the
  study of masculinity, femininity and gender
  roles.
• Understand the main elements of feminist
  critiques of sex-role socialisation theory as an
  explanation of relations between women and men
  and of the social organisation of gender.
• NB Part of chapter 3 (pp. 73-80) of Stainton
  Rogers Stainton Rogers (2001) covers research
  that takes an interactive approach (ie. draws on
  both biological and social/cultural explanations
  for gender differences).

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Nature vs Nurture

• SD research - Gender as natural Biological
  determinism
• Early Psychology preoccupation with conflict
  between nature nurture
• 18C The enlightenment - Move away from nature
  civilising forces taming innate influences -
  external civilising customs internalised -
  beliefs, ideologies, mechanisms of control
• Focus on social cultural influences on sex
  gender
• Sexual identities mediated through culture -
  society culture open close possibilities for
  forms of being

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Gender and social science

• Anthropologists
• Role of culture in internalisation gendered
  cultural practices rites of passage segregation
  of genders-different lives clearly demarcated
  gender roles
• Sociologists
• Focusing on internalisation of broader social
  processes - socio-economic forces (i.e. societies
  needs for gender roles - men breadwinners -
  devoting time to work women good wives
  mothers - devoting time to home family)
• Psychologists
• Internalisation - a process of socialisation -
  children gain knowledge of social rules governing
  behaviour from family agent of primary
  socialisation other social institutions
  (schools, church, etc.) agents of secondary
  socialisation

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Contribution of Anthropology

• 1920s/1930s - Biological determinism challenged
  gender differences not product of biology
• American anthropology - concerned with
  enculturation socialisation mediated by culture
• Ruth Benedict Margaret Mead (1935) Sex and
  Temperament in Three Primitive Societies
• Conducted research in Samoa New Guinea Gender
  constituted/operated differently to mainstream US
  culture

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Ruth Benedict Margaret Mead (1935)
New Guinea tribes Arapesh Men women both
displayed characteristics that Western culture
would regard as feminine - gentle, responsive,
and cooperative.
Mundugumor - Men women displayed
characteristics that Western culture would regard
as Masculine/macho - violent and aggressive,
seeking power and position Tchambuli - reverse
of Western gender roles - women were sexually
dominant initiated sexual relations/men were
sexually submissive
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Meads thesis
Masculinity Femininity not products of Biology,
but culture/ not fixed, but relative Role of
Culture Network of customs, rituals rules that
provide social coherence to a group to belong
to group, members must adhere to rules and engage
in rituals customs Within cultures social
expectations of how men women should behave
ideas about what it means to be Male or Female -
This can vary from culture to culture Cultures
provide powerful pressure to conform
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Contribution of Sociology

• Goffman (1959)
• Interest in gender roles dramaturgical -
  people perform roles
• Male female roles - scripts that people learn
  and follow
• Socially encouraged patterns of behaviour -
  people are expected to perform in specific
  situations
• Gender roles - ways in which women pass as
  women men pass as men (culturally convincing)

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Sex role theory (Talcott Parsons)

• Rejected biological determinism - gender
  differentiation a product of structural
  functionalism
• Social organisation emerges through social
  evolution social practices/customs evolve that
  benefit cohesion/social function of particular
  groups communities
• Drew on psychoanalytic theories - gender acquired
  through internalisation - Male and females become
  competent in/committed to gender appropriate role
• Male female roles perform complementary
  functions/ operate together make society work
• Womens role Expressive Mens role Practical

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Contribution of Social Psychology

• Research
• How we learn gender appropriate behaviour
• How children acquire understanding of gender
  behave in gender appropriate ways
• Social Learning Theory
• Cognitive Developmental Theory
• Gender Schema Theory

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Social Learning Theory Bandura (1963)

• Developed from behaviourist orientation - Gender
  appropriate behaviour reinforced/ inappropriate
  behaviour undermined/punished
• Bandura Walters observed traditional cultures -
  tended to stay with mothers boys with fathers/
  each observed and imitated activities performed
  by their parents

• Observational learning - watching, imitating
  behaviour of another - encoding of
  experience/children model behaviour of people
  around them
• Social roles attached to gender not necessarily
  ordained by biological differences

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Social Learning Theory Bandura (1963)

• Themes in arguments for acquisition of gender
  roles through social learning
• Imitation
• Parents are the people most likely to modelled by
  children/esp. young children
• Children more frequently exposed to models of
  their own gender than of other gender
• Children tend to imitate role models they see as
  similar to themselves/same-gender models imitated
  more than opposite-gender ones

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Problem?

• Young children in most societies spend more time
  with women, so what about boys?
• Among very young children (boys girls) primary
  model is likely to be their mother
• Two explanations

(1) At about 3 or 4 years boys reach a
wired-in stage causing them to shift
identification to father other men (Biosocial
explanation) (2) Other social influences steer
boys towards a shift in their identification
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Cognitive Development Theories

• Piaget childrens cognitive development a
  sequence of transformations between different
  ways-of-knowing-in-the-world
• Kohlberg applied Piagets theory to childrens
  acquisition of cognitive competencies in relation
  to gender
• Kohlbergs theory 3 main stages
• Gender labelling Accurate attribution of terms
  such as (around 3) boy girl
• Gender knowledge Knowledge about the
  characteristics (4-5) of female male gender
• Gender constancy Recognising that gender
  is(5) unchanging

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Criticisms Cognitive Development Theories

• Sandra Bem
• Challenges CDTs assumption that sex is just
  another category
• Doesnt explain why sex has primacy over other
  categories of the self (ethnicity, religion, eye
  colour etc.)
• Doesnt explain why children chose gender as a
  primary domain around which to organise
  information about the self

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Bem (1985) Gender Schema Theory

• Gender schema theory places emphasis on social
  cultural influences
• Schema-conceptual framework through which people
  make sense of the world
• Schemas - guide information processing - central
  to how people make sense of gender/including
  their own
• Sex typing product of gender-schematic
  processing child actively encoding/organising
  information according to cultures definition of
  maleness femaleness
• Sex typing mediated by childs own cognitive
  processing, but gender schematic processing
  derived from sex-differentiated practices of the
  social community

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Bem (1985) Gender Schema Theory

• Explicit agenda - how to raise gender aschematic
  children in a gender schematic world
• Androgyny
• Gender schemas - deeply embedded assumptions that
  we hold about maleness femaleness in our
  society -used to evaluate ourselves others
• Gender schemata can lead to gender stereotyping

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Gender stereotyping

• Stereotype
• Complex set of shared images conceptions which
  denote the general behaviour of a given group in
  society (Hutter and Williams, 1981).
• Gender stereotypes
• Beliefs attitudes about masculinity
  femininity
• Association of particular pattern of behaviour
  with one or other gender, overlooking of
  individual variations exceptions /belief that a
  certain behaviour is associated with one gender
  and not the other
• Gender stereotypes establish the social
  categories for gender

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Gender Stereotypes Real Woman
Welter (1978) - Idealisation of femininity
(historically culturally constructed) 5
central themes
(1) Is warm caring has moral
superiority/ care for others/esp. weak
vulnerable (2) Does not sleep around
purity-contrasted with promiscuity - labelling
slag etc. (3) Treats body as a temple clean
wholesome no unwanted body hair or odours,
disciplined body-regulated by diet
exercise (4) Gets her way by coy feminine
wiles rather than blunt aggressiveness gentle
persuasion fluttering eyelashes etc. (5)
Loves children/is good home maker Note more
censure for woman who leaves children family
home than man
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Gender stereotypes Real man

• Robert Brannon (1976) Idealisation of masculinity
  (historically culturally constructed)

4 central themes (1) No girlie stuff avoid all
female qualities (2) Be a winner competitive,
gain, status, success (3) Be a tough guy
self-reliant, strong, confident (4) Give em
hell Never let anyone get the better of you,
use aggression or even violence if you need to
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Pervasiveness of Gender stereotypes

• Men are from Mars, Women are from VenusJohn
  Gray (1993)
• Why men dont listen women cant read maps
  Allan Barbara Pease (2001)
• Traditional work carried out by psychologists on
  sex differences based on gender stereotypes
• Particularly in areas such as personality and
  social psychology

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Masculinity/Femininity

• Masculinity/Femininity social constructs,
  central to sex roles/stereotypes, which are
  transmitted in sex-role socialisation
• Sex-role Socialization The transmission of a
  given culture culture a whole way of life.
• Assumed to be quantifiable/measurable, e.g.
  Rosenkrantz and Broverman studies
• Focus on difference.- Difficult to understand
  contradictions within and between stereotypes
• Women and men constructed as uniform categories.
• What happens when socialization fails?
• Individual seen as relatively passive -
  reflection of problem with socialization
• Focus on psychological level what about
  economic, cultural, social contexts?
• No analysis of POWER differentials.

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• The end

Boy
Girl