| Things to remember? | Gender dysphoria |
| What is gender dysphoria? | An example of atypical gender development that is described as a gender identity disorder. Gender dysphoria is feeling uncomfortable or distressed because your gender identity (who you feel you are) doesn’t match the sex you were assigned at birth. |
| Biological explanations of dysphoria and disadvantage? | Genetics, hormones and brain differences
It's reductionist to say gender identity is biologically determined but perhaps hormonal and genetic factors do produce the conditions in some people that make them more predisposed to gender dysphoria during childhood. But this identity persists onto adulthood depending on social psychological experiences as they age. Thus an interactionist approach for gender development is needed |
| Explanation from brain differences? | The BSTc is typically larger in males compared to females.Zhou et al found that in male-to-female transgender individuals, the BSTc is closer in size to that of females. This means BSTc might influence gender identity as BSTc size aligns more with a person’s experienced gender rather than their biological sex which is why some feel their gender identity differs from their biological sex |
| Hormonal explanation? | If the growing foetus is exposed to unusual levels of testosterone this could lead to a change in gendered behaviour. Overexposure in female foetus leads to masculinisation and underexposure leading to feminisation |
| Genetic explanation? | Variation in genes leads to a biological process that changes gender expression. e.g less testosterone produced leading to feminine behaviour |
| What are some social psychological explanations for gender dysphoria? | If the child is rewarded by the parent for cross-gendered behaviour, they'll be more likely to repeat cross gendered behaviour(positive reinforcement) eventually developing gender dysphoria. Social learning theorists agree and add that children who observe non-gender conforming role models being rewarded will be more likely to do cross gendered behaviour through vicarious reinforcement in hopes they'll also be rewarded. Also cross gender behaviour is more likely if there are few same-sex models available. |
| Social psychological research? | Littman (2019) conducted interviews with parents of adolescents with gender dysphoria and found that parents felt that this was a case of positive reinforcement from peers leading to these young people developing the disorder |
| What is an advantage of the biological and social explanations of gender dysphoria | Biological research can lead to successful hormone treatment for gender dysphoria
Research suggests that social explanations for gender dysphoria have to be accepted when there are no physiological brain differences to be found between those with gender dysphoria and those who do not experience it |
| What is a disadvantage of the biological and social explanations of gender dysphoria | There is a lack of empirical evidence for a social explanation - even Littman’s research (above) had to be withdrawn and revised substantially to show that this was just parental opinion |
| Things to remember? | Gender dysphoria, biological explanation and brain difference explanation, genetic, social psychological explanation |
