The issue being raised was easy to understand, but the mass variability in the data Hines provided made her claims at the end of the chapter rather shallow. Hines raises the question of whether or not certain hormones, androgen and gonadal, influence cognition. She initially points out the sex differences found in males and females, and then compares different studies to determine if this exposure to a certain hormone increases cognition in non-sex typical traits. For example, if prenatal exposure to androgen increases a female’s spatial skills, which is considered to be a male characteristic. Hines first shows studies where androgen does increase cognitive abilities, and then shows ones where it has no effect.
They administered the drug dexfenfluramine, which depletes levels of serotonin in the brain, to participants. The researchers then used a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels, which were raised after taking dexfenfluramine in males but not in females. There may be a gender bias in this research. Although a link was found between low levels of serotonin and aggression, this was not evident for the female participants. This suggests that the role of serotonin in aggression may be different for female compared to males, and therefore there is a gender bias in human studies in this area.
For our young athletes that are doping their growth is halted prematurely, bones fuse ahead of schedule, muscles grow but do not strengthen, and increase risk of injury. These drugs not only affect our athletes physically but also emotionally. If athletes dope they are for sure to get these side effects, extreme mood swings (commonly known as roid rage), depression, irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment. Risks for men are, shrunken testicles, reduced sperm count, baldness, breast development, and an increased risk for prostate cancer. Performance enhancing drugs not only effects our male population but woman are also effected they risk, growth of facial hair, male pattern baldness, menstrual cycle disruptions, and a very unattractive manly voice.
Coates et al propose that the trauma led to a cross gender fantasy as a means of resolving the ensuing anxiety. Another psychosocial explanation is the effect of mother-son relationships. Stoller found that GID is often a result of distorted parent attitudes. He interviewed GID individuals and found that the majority displayed overly close mother-son relationships. Therefore, this may have led to greater female identification and confused gender identity.
d. Norepinephrine helps control alertness and arousal. It is associated with depression. e. GABA is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter. It is linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia. f. Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter that is involved in memory.
Increasingly, we are told that the source of these robust preferences must lie outside society—in prenatal hormonal influences, brain chemistry, genes—and that feminism has reached its natural limits. What else could possibly explain the love of preschool girls for party dresses or the desire of toddler boys own more guns than Mark from Michigan? True, recent studies claim to show small cognitive differences between the sexes: He gets around by orienting himself in space; she does it by remembering landmarks. Time will tell if any deserve the hoopla with which each is invariably greeted, over the protests of the researchers themselves. But even if the results hold up (and the history of such research is not encouraging), we don’t need studies of sex differentiated brain activity in reading, say, to understand why boys and girls still seem so unalike.
Discuss the issue of gender bias in psychology Gender bias is looking at one particular gender and considering it as the normal gender. There is a large problem with psychology being seen as gender bias in favour of men, often devaluing women or simply ignoring them in their studies. An example of this is Asch, who only looked at male students, meaning that his findings can’t be generalised to women. Aristotle viewed women as a deformity in terms of both physiology and biology. Kitzinger (1988) believes that questioning whether women can do certain activities such as going to university or having certain positions in government are often used for political reasons to save men’s jobs or protect them from losing face to an inferior woman.
It is said that individuals who have these traits may have parents with the same traits. But not all individuals who turn to crime are from broken home homes, some are from homes with supportive parents. Parenting affects a child’s temperament and is inter-related in important ways to include harsh physical discipline, parental supervision, and antisocial attitudes. Parenting plays an important role in the development of antisocial behavior. At an early age boys tend to be more aggressive than girls, due to the ability to socialize being easier for girls than for boys thereby, creating gender difference in antisocial behavior.
One out of twenty Americans suffers from a clinical body image disturbance such as an eating disorder or body dysmorphic disorder. The questions deepen beyond the magazine images and television causing these issues: what are other factors contributing to wanting the media’s ideal body image. We are all exposed to these images of the ideal body image, but some people are more likely to be affected. According to research, indicators of various biological and environmental factors come together to create the problem with body image. Recent research shows a deficit in this internal sense along with exposure to media images playing a leading role in the development of anorexia, bulimia and body dysmorphic
However from ages one to four children’s toys begin to send distinct messages about gender roles. Girl’s toys start to appear only in pink, purple, and yellow (mainly pastel) and if modeled after characters have only female names. At this stage boy’s toys are blue, red, or green (also pastel) and have male names. Girls learn to care for their baby dolls and boys begin to gain interest in cars and action figures. Society starts telling children what is expected of them.