Psychology 241-FON02
22 April 2013
Research Question 11 Behavioral characteristics classically that identified as "male" or "female" are evident at an early age; i.e. playing with dolls or guns and later in life as well in the way men and women differ in their sexual attitudes, the way they follow directions, or notice detail, for example a dirty bathroom are described in theory of gender typing. Early in preschool years, this process is well under way in the preschool years. This is manifested in a process of developing gender roles or gender linked preferences and behaviors valued by the larger society. Girls spend more time in the housekeeping, art, and reading corners, whereas boys gathered more often in spaces devoted to blocks, woodworking, and active play. In all these, there is evidence is that these differences are genetic, hormonally mediated, and are learned. In a book “Sociology” of J. J Macionis 2003 p326, they explained gender in general perspective, and showed how researchers had worked out by making global comparisons that societies do not consistently define most tasks as either feminine or masculine. They showed that with industrialization this importance of muscle power declines, giving people even more options, and further reducing gender differences. Thus, gender is simply too variable across cultures to be considered a simple expression of biology. Instead, as with many other elements of cultures, what it means to be female and male is mostly a creation of society. This is a really process in which children acquire the values, motives, and behaviors viewed as appropriate to their gender, and is distinguished in behaviors that males and females actually exhibit, usually a reflection of gender stereotypes, and later the perception of oneself as either masculine or feminine. The genetic influence on gender typing: Many researches has sowed that heredity, through prenatal hormones, contributes to boys’ higher activity level and overt aggression and children’s preference for same-sex playmates. Example Berenbaum (1999) has shown clear differences in activities and job interests between adolescent boys and girls and she found that overall boys were more aggressive than girls; most aggressive acts tended to involve boys fighting with other boys. The amount of aggression by boys directed towards girls and vice versa tended to be relatively low. Corrine argued that this sex difference in aggression was due to masculinization of the brain by testosterone. Sex differences in human physiology are distinctions of physiological characteristics associated with either male or female humans. These can be of several types, including direct and indirect. Direct being the direct result of differences prescribed by the Y-chromosome, and indirect being a characteristic influenced indirectly (e.g. hormonally) by the Y-chromosome. Sexual dimorphism is a term for the phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Sex differences are also increased or decreased according to societal situations. [2] Direct sex differences follow a bimodal distribution. Through the process of meiosis and fertilization (with rare exceptions), each individual is created with zero or one Y-chromosome. The