ABSTRACT
Biological psychology is an approach that emphasises the role of biological factors in the study of our behaviour. These include genetics, hormones, brain function and evolution. Therefore, our behaviours could be controlled by biological mechanisms. The topic of focus for this chapter is sex and gender. One debate is how much our sense of being a male or female is influenced by biological factors or by psychological factors such as upbringing, observation and cognitive processes. What's in this Unit?
The specification lists the following things that you will need to be able to do for the examination:
Outline definitions of sex identity and gender identity and the distinctions between them
Describe biological differences between males and females (chromosomes and hormones)
Outline and evaluate the psychodynamic theory of gender development, including Oedipus and Electra complexes
Outline and evaluate the social learning theory of gender development, including imitation, modelling and vicarious reinforcement
Outline and evaluate the gender schema theory of gender development
