PSYC 3310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Adrenal Gland, Social Cognitive Theory
20 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER 8 GENDER
Terminology
• Sex: anatomical differences
• Gender: more tied with psychological and cultural attributes and
characteristics
• Gender role: social roles that are expected for each gender
• Gender typing: the mechanisms of learning about gender and gender roles
o Socialization, biology, cognition
• Gender identity: independent of sex, what you take on
• Intersexed: an individual who has genitalia and or reproductive organs that
are a mix of male and female characteristics
• Sex difference: a difference between males and females that is based on
chromosomes
• Gender differences: a difference between males and females that is thought
to be based mainly on cultural and social factors
Gender Development
The Biological Approach
• The production of hormones plays a role in organizing the structure and
functioning of the body, the nervous system, and the brain.
• Genes and hormones affect gender-linked characteristics in less obvious
ways as well.
o Prenatal hormone levels may affect the development of brain
structures such as the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.
o Brain imaging studies show difference in these structures between
males and females.
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Sex Hormones
• On average, prenatal testosterone levels are much higher for male than for
female fetuses.
• However, within each sex, the levels can vary a good deal from one fetus to
another.
• Girls who are exposed to high levels of prenatal androgens are more prone to
have more masculinized genitalia.
o More interest in playing with boys
o More involvement with masculine toys, games, and activities
o Tend to be more dissatisfied with their femininity as adults
• Prenatal exposure to testosterone is also linked to traditionally masculine
activities and an interest in girls, as well as to poor social relationships in both
girls and boys.
• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH): a genetic condition that causes the
adrenal gland to overproduce androgens, or male sex hormones, beginning
well before birth.
o Boys with CAH seem relatively unaffected, probably because their
testes produce less androgen as compensation for the overproduction
from the adrenal glands.
o In girls, CAH causes the genitals to develop in a masculine direction.
• Compared with other girls, those with CAH tend to like what have been
traditionally identified as boys’ toys more and those considered girls’ toys
less; to show a greater preference for boy’s activities; and to play more with
boys.
o Perform better than other girls on some spatial tasks
o As adults, report more dissatisfaction with being women and less
sexual interest in men.
• It is certainly possible that parents and other family members had some
lingering reaction to knowing about these girls’ condition, and somehow
pushed them toward more masculine activities.
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• Youths with CAH had more difficulty remembering emotional faces, and
showed different patterns of brain activation depending on their gender, as
well as a preference for careers involving things rather than people.
• Likely the issue is an intricate combination of the prenatal environment,
parental behaviours, and the interaction between the altered parts of the brain
and the environment.
Genetic Factors
• One twin study found that genetic factors accounted for a large part of the
variability in the children’s gender behaviour.
• However, other studies that looked at atypical gender behaviour in twins
found that both genetic and environmental factors made significant
contributions, and that environmental factors were more important than
genetic background.
• The hormonal changes of puberty, and the many physical and psychological
changes that follow, have an enormous impact on gender roles and gender
differences.
o E.g., the release of adrenocortical hormones early in adolescence has
been linked to the emergence of a child’s first romantic interest in
another person.
The Socialization Approach
• Socialization: the processes through which children acquire the attitudes,
beliefs, behaviours, and skills that their parents, peers, and culture consider
appropriate
• Those who consider socialization the crucial factor in gender development
point out that children and adolescents, from their very earliest days, are
affected by a broad network of gendered social influences.
