Psychology of Gender and Sexuality

1
Psychology of Gender and Sexuality

• Introduction
• Chapter 1

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Congratulations, Its a ..?

• Sex
• Importance
• Two mutually exclusive categories
• Immediate exposure

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Important Terms

• Sex
• Refers to biological categories of male and
  female
• Distinguished by genes, chromosomes, and hormones
• Sex-Related Behavior
• Behavior that corresponds to sex
• Masculine
• Traits, behaviors, and interests assigned to male
  gender role

• Gender
• Refers to social categories of male and female
• Distinguished by psychological features and role
  attributes
• Gender Role
• Expectations that go along with being male/female
• Feminine
• Traits, behaviors, and interests assigned to
  female gender role

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Even More Terms

• Gender Identity
• Perception of psychological self as male or
  female
• Transgender
• Biological sex ? gender identity
• Heterosexual
• Preference other sex partners
• Homosexual
• Preference same-sex partners
• Bisexual
• Accepts both other-sex and same-sex partners
• Sex typing (gender typing)
• Acquisition of sex-appropriate preferences,
  behaviors, skills, and self-concept

• Gender Role Attitude
• Personal view of how men and women should behave
• Sexism
• Prejudice toward people based on their sex
• Can be both positive and negative
• Sex Stereotype
• Beliefs about features of biological categories
  of male/female
• Gender Role Stereotype
• Beliefs about features of psychological
  categories of male/female
• Sex Discrimination
• Differential treatment of people based on
  biological sex

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You Dont Know Me

• List two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages
  of being male/female.

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Evolutionary Psychology vs. Biosocial View

• Evolutionary psychology
• Takes essentialist view
• Hypothesizing that gender differences
  arebiologically based
• Resistant to change
• Males predominate the theory
• II. Biosocial view
• A great deal of flexibility in gender-linked
  differences
• Females subscribe frequently

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So, Are There Differences Between the Genders?

• Minimalist View Few underlying differences
  exist
• VS
• Maximalist View Large differences exist

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So, Why Study Sex and Gender?

• Traditional Psychology and Experience of Women
• Structuralism
• Functionalism
• Behaviorism
• Psychoanalytic

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Womens and Mens Studies

• Womens Studies
• One result of the feminist movement of 1960s
• Feminism
• Liberal feminists
• Radical feminists
• Cultural feminists
• Overall, womens entry into psychology field
  changed the field
• Mens Studies
• Initiated during suffrage movement of 1800s
• Evolving challenge to study gender roles and
  inhibitions of traditional masculinity, as well
  as evoking mens full potential
• Appearance of the mens movement was prompted by
  the feminist movement

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Discussion Question

• How do you think the traditional male gender role
  inhibits men from realizing their full potential?

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So, Why Should We Study Sex Gender?

• Two opposing views
• Most importantly, obtain a better understanding
  of human behavior
• Two social goals
• Increase our understanding of the impact of the
  roles of gender
• Increase probability that research findings can
  be generalized to a greater proportion of the
  population