PSYC 342 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Sex Steroid, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Intersex
16 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Sex differences in behavior- sex determination and differentiation. Difficult to separate nurture from nature (stress on hormones) Three strategies not requiring experiments on humans: sexual differentiation: the developmental process of becoming male or female, occurs before ore immediately after birth or hatching; use animal models. Established that hormone concentrations during sexual differentiation guide development of many physiological, morphological and behavioural characteristics displayed later in life: studies of humans or nonhumans who have undergone anomalous sexual differentiation. Girls exposed to male-typical hormonal milieu in utero helps separate rearing conditions from hormonal factors: universal commonalities in behavior of all children. In mammals &birds, chromosomal sex determines gonadal sex, which determines hormonal sex, which influences morphological sex, which leads to behavioral sex differences. Chromosomal sex-determined by sex chromosomes received at fertilization and is fundamental during sexual differentiation, determines gonadal sex [male=xy, female=xx] Gonadal sex: possessions of ovaries (female) or testes (male)
