Outline And Evaluate Research Into The Influence Of Sex Differences In Biological Psychology

In the essay “Even Nine-Month-Olds Choose Gender-Specific Toys,” Jennifer Goodwin acknowledges the possibility of gender being innate, as a research showed that “even 1-day-old boys spent longer looking at moving, mechanical options than 1-day-girls, who spent more time looking at faces” (89). However, she claims that even actions this early in life may already be influenced by the parents’ different treatments, which start almost instantly after their child is born. Goodwin states that, even when their children are still infants, parents tend to show more affection towards girl than boys, who are dealt with in a more active and playful manner, which could explain the findings of the research mentioned. This difference in treatments is later

Engendering the Brain written by Melissa Hines provides an insight of hormonal influences and implications on brain gender. The chapter begins with explaining the differences between gender difference and sex difference, and explains the psychological factors responsible for brain gender. It describes the role of hormones in the genetic development of individuals and their sexual differentiation. It illustrates a list of hormones, such as testosterone and DHT, which are responsible for sex-related characteristics. Furthermore, the chapter gives an account of how the gonadal hormone plays a crucial role in the development of human brain and human behavior.

Reproductive behaviour can fall under either Nature or Nurture

The main issues to be tackled address the similarities and differences regarding male and female capacity to exert control over the others and upon themselves, be it physical or mental. The conducted

When Gender Theory is applied, several points can be supported,

In my placement at the private nursery, there are identical twins of around 2 years – they have just began to see that they are separate people by recognising that they have different names and are different people. When they first commenced at nursery they didn’t recognise themselves as separate children. Evidence of increased self awareness is the change in a child’s language to using ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘mine’. As part of self-awareness, a child’s sex concept begins to develop between 2 and 5 years. Toddlers begin to play with gender stereotyped toys, such as dolls and cars, etc.

Although some inherent distinctions between the sexes exist, Orenstein mentions Eliot’s findings on neuroplasticity to suggest that nurture supersedes nature in determining a child’s behavior. A child is most impressionable during the earliest stages of life, when his or her brain is still developing. That is why learning various concepts such as language, for example, is most easily acquired before the age of puberty. Thus, an individual’s upbringing is fundamental in the development of traits and therefore, gender

These traits should not be associated with one specific gender as these traits is as likely to be shown by

The study does not show if females act in the same way and conform hence or if this dispositional factor to behavior only applies to men. A limitation with both studies is also that situational and dispositional factors often go hand in hand as factors of why people behave as they do and neither of these researches take this into account. In conclusion, situational and dispositional factors explain behavior through the impact of the environment, situation, social surroundings and mood, personal traits and opinions, respectively.

According to science, biological differentiations between women and men seem to define the differences in women and men’s interest in

According to sexologists John Money and Anke Ehrhardt, sex and gender are separate categories. “Sex, they argued, refers to physical attributes and is anatomically and physiologically determined. Gender they saw as a psychological transformation - the internal conviction that one is either male or female (gender identity) and the behavioral expressions of that conviction” (Sterling 4). Although there are biological differences between the two sexes, but gender roles are socially constructed. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, behave and interact with society.

Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are all connected in the developmental task of a baby smiling at his or her mother’s touch. Biological processes produce changes in an individual’s physical nature. Cognitive processes bring changes to the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language. Socioemotional processes include changes in the individual’s relationships with other people, changes in emotions and changes in personality. For the baby, the biological process has to do with the physical touch by the mother and the baby’s

The first year of a child’s life is spent communicating entirely through nonverbal means. Infants use every part of their bodies to convey their wants and needs as their parents and early childhood educators respond to meet them. Examples of this are reflexes, such as opening their mouths when hungry. Also, crying and whole body movements to demonstrate feelings. Another way that is interesting in infant nonverbal communication is allowing infants to play with each other.

The article states that, “Chronologically, another important contribution was Maccoby and Jacklin’s (1974) book, The Psychology of Sex Differences. This book presented an unparalleled synthesis of research findings on gender differences in development” (para. 9). It highlights that within-gender differences are often larger than those between the genders (a point still lost in many of the popularized beliefs held today) (Para. 9). This quote explains that the way a girl or a boy looks at the opposite gender, may not be the way the opposite gender looks at itself.

Every culture has different guidelines about what is suitable for males and females and family members may socialize babies in gendered ways without consciously following that path. For example, in a modern society, the colour pink is associated with girls and the colour blue with boys. Even as tiny babies, boys and girls are dressed differently according to what is considered ‘appropriate’ to the respective sexes. Even parents who strive to achieve a less ‘gendered’ parenting style unconsciously reinforce gender roles. A family structure acts as the most important agent of gender socialization for children and adolescents as it serves as the centre of a child’s life.