1 Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences September 29 Lecture 6

2 Office Hour Invitations October 1, 2:30-4:30PM, Kenny

3 Opportunity! The Mask You Live In: Screening and Panel Presentation. When: September 29, 3:30-5:30PM. Where: The Norm Theatre, 6138 Student Union Blvd, 130. Registration: live-in-screening-and-panel-tickets

4 Announcement The Psychology Department has not yet confirmed office spaces for the TAs. You may meet with your TA by appointment as we await office confirmations.

5 Scoring Your Questionnaire: BSRI Compute the following averages: Score 1: Add your scores on items 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 58. Divide total by 20. Score 2: Add your scores on items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, 59. Divide your total by 20. Compute the following difference: Score 3: Score 2 – Score 1

6 Scoring Your Questionnaire: PAQ Compute the following sums: Score 1: Add items 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15. Score 2: Add items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

A little R&R …. (Review and Reflect) 7

8 Research Methods and History of Research 1.What research methods do psychologists use to study gender and sex differences? (continued) 2. What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology?

9 By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. describe the types of studies that are used in gender- related research. 2. interpret the statistic (d) associated with meta-analytic research. 3. generate examples of case and meta-analytic studies.

10 5. describe major shifts in theory and research on sex and gender between 1879 and apply research methods to distinct hypotheses. 6. describe the structuralist and functionalist perspectives.

11 4. Case studies  Designed to generate theory, illustrate theory, or examine rare phenomena through in-depth analysis of one person or a small group of people. What research methods do psychologists use to study gender and sex differences? (continued)

12  Assessment techniques include: Direct observation. Interviews. Surveys. Analysis of written text.  Example: Ehrhardt, Epstein, and Money (1968) Examined gender-related characteristics among females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).

13 5. Meta-Analytic Studies  Designed to statistically combine the results of multiple studies.

14  Involves 3 steps: (a) Obtain all published studies contrasting females and males on the characteristic of interest. (c) Average the effect sizes across all studies. (b) Compute an effect size for each study.

15 In general, a positive d indicates that males score higher than females on the characteristic of interest. In contrast, a negative d indicates that females score higher than males on the characteristic of interest.  The most commonly used measure of effect size is d: d may exceed and

16  Example: Byrnes, Miller, and Schafer (1999) Examined risk-taking tendencies of females and males. Obtained all published studies contrasting females and males on risk taking between 1967 and 1994, n = 150. Computed d value for each study; averaged d values across all studies.

17 Average d-value obtained across all studies:.13. However, sex differences varied for distinct risk-taking behaviours: Drinking/drug use:d =.04 Sexual activities:d =.07 Physical activity:d =.16 Gambling:d =.21 Driving: d =.29 Intellectual risk taking:d =.40 Risky experiment: d =.41

18 Moreover, the magnitude of d varied across age groups: 3-9 years: d = years:d = years:d = years:d =.24 Older than 21: d =.05

19 HypothesisIdeal Research Method Same-sex relationships are characterized by less violence than heterosexual relationships. Adults smile more frequently when interacting with female infants than male infants. Exercise: Application of Research Methods High testosterone levels are associated with high levels of aggression.

20 HypothesisIdeal Research Method The Hijras who reside in the village of Koovagam in India are treated with unique reverence by other villagers. Girls with ADHD exhibit less hyperactivity and impulsiveness than boys with ADHD. Past research on temperament demonstrates a consistent sex difference in levels of extraversion.

21 Correlational study. HypothesisIdeal Research Method Same-sex relationships are characterized by less violence than heterosexual relationships. Quasi-experimental study. Adults smile more frequently when interacting with female infants than male infants. Experimental study (sex as a ________ variable). Exercise: Application of Research Methods High testosterone levels are associated with high levels of aggression.

22 Meta-analytic study. HypothesisIdeal Research Method The Hijras who reside in the village of Koovagam in India are treated with unique reverence by other villagers. Case study. Girls with ADHD exhibit less hyperactivity and impulsiveness than boys with ADHD. Quasi-experimental study (sex as a ________ variable). Past research on temperament demonstrates a consistent sex difference in levels of extraversion.

23 What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? A – 1894: The Inception and Rise of Psychology Wundt proposed a natural science of the mind: psychology. Psychology adopted a structuralist perspective. Little interest in sex and/or gender differences.

24 B – 1920: Sex Difference in Intelligence Psychology shifted to a functionalist perspective. Ellis (1894) published Man and Woman. Primary sex difference of interest: intelligence. Researchers largely studied sex differences in brain size (e.g., weight, cranial capacity).

25 This research demonstrated sex differences in brain size. These findings were taken as support for the widely held belief that females are less intelligent than males:

26 “We might ask if the small size of the female brain depends exclusively upon the small size of her body. Tiedemann has proposed this explanation. But we must not forget that women are, on the average, a little less intelligent than men, a difference which we should not exaggerate but which is, nonetheless, real. We are therefore permitted to suppose that the relatively small size of the female brain depends in part upon her physical inferiority and in part upon her intellectual inferiority” (Broca, 1861, p. 153).

27 “The man who fights for two or more in the struggle for existence, who has all the responsibility and the cares of tomorrow, who is constantly active in combating the environment and human rivals, needs more brain than the woman whom he must protect and nourish, than the sedentary woman, lacking any interior occupations, whose role is to raise children, love and be passive” (Topinard, 1888, p. 22).

28 “In the most intelligent races, as among the Parisians, there are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studied the intelligence of women, as well as poets and novelists, recognize today that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and that they are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man. They excel in fickleness, inconstancy, absence of thought and logic, and incapacity to reason. Without doubt there exist some distinguished women, very superior to the average man, but they are as exceptional as the birth of any monstrosity, as, for example, of a gorilla with two heads; consequently, we may neglect them entirely” (Le Bon, 1879, p ).

29 Ultimately, Terman and Cox (1936) published Sex and Personality, in which they concluded that there are no sex differences in intelligence: “Intelligence tests, for example, have demonstrated for all time the falsity of the once widely prevalent belief that women as a class are appreciably or at all inferior to men in the major aspects of intellect” (p. 1).

30 By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. describe the types of studies that are used in gender- related research. 2. interpret the statistic (d) associated with meta-analytic research. 3. generate examples of case and meta-analytic studies.

31 5. describe major shifts in theory and research on sex and gender between 1879 and apply research methods to distinct hypotheses. 6. describe the structuralist and functionalist perspectives.