Psychology: Hormones, Social Learning, And Cognitive Development

Many people confuse the definition of gender and sex. “Gender, on the other hand, refers to the meanings, values, and characteristics that people ascribe to different sexes. Sex is a biological concept, determined on the basis of individual 's primary sex characteristics.” (Blackstone) Society gives social cues on the appropriate behavior for each sex. For example, women are to exert more feminine traits such as being dependent, emotional, passive, innocent, nurturing, and/or self-critical. On the contrary, men should be more

Gender roles describe the normative expectations of a culture group regarding the position that both sexes should hold in society. It also refers to the division of labor tasks, differences in behaviors, preferences, abilities; personalities that society expects of specific genders, (Kaiser, C. R., & Miller, C. T. 2009). It concerns the processes of how gender roles socialize and interact with each other in society as a whole and as an individual, (Stockard & Johnson, 1980; Thomas, 1986). Gender role deals with identity and at times are conceptualized as the acceptance and identification with social roles and behaviors associated with

The predictor for sexual orientation has been debated and analyzed for a long time. Two explanations that have established possible predictors are biological factors and envionrmental factors, more commonly known as the "nature vs. nurture" debate. According to various studies, these factors play a unique role in determining ones sexual orientation. For clarification, sexual orientation as illustrated here is defined as "distinct preferences consistently made after adolescence in the presence of clear alternatives" (King, 226).

Equality between men and women is more than a matter of social justice .gender roles is a way of characterizing and labeling other in society. Gender roles include attitudes, actions, and personality traits associated with a gender within that culture. Gender roles determines over all how men and women should act, speak, dress, and think. Gender defines masculine and feminine roles on society. Social influence parents, teachers, peers, movies, television, music, books, and religion teach and reinforce gender roles.

Thus, concluding that the explanation of biological, psychodynamic and learning approaches does influence on gender development. Each of these approaches explains how gender is developed in their own way. From the biological approach, we found out that gender differences are seen as resulting from sex differences. In other words, women and men act, think and feel differently because of differences in how their brains work. These brain differences may result from chromosomal differences and may also be the result of hormonal differences.

For generations, cultural norms have significantly influenced male and female gender roles. Gender roles emphasizes that social and cultural influences are the main energy force for differentiating between gender roles and the root of division of labor based on sex. Furthermore, contingent to our social environmental conditions, we adapt to our cultural characteristics, learn accepted behaviors, and pass those characteristics from generation to generation. The following section looks to guide the reader through the biological and communal impacts of gender roles and discusses how it relates to America culture.

Gender is considered an axis of social order. Its categorisation into masculinity and femininity is social constructed and maintained in everyday life (Clark and Page, 2005; Mackie, 1994). Gender identity is our innermost understanding of our self as ‘male’ or ‘female’. Most people develop a gender identity that matched their biological sex (their body). Gender identity can be affected by, and is different from one society to another, depending on the way the members of society evaluate the role of females and males. Our gender identity can be influenced from the ethnicity of the group, their cultural background, and family values. Gender like social class and race can be used to socially categorize people and even lead to prejudice and discrimination. From day –to-day, continuous production of gender has been called ‘doing gender’ (West and Zimmermann, 1987), meaning that gender is “made” by us in everyday lives in our interactions with others.

The book Learning to Be Gender points out a serious question of gender norms in our society in which both men and women should behave appropriately in their desire gender. For instance, we learn how to act, talk and dress up like our gender. Then when we grow up and have kids and

The origin and cause of human sexual orientation have been highly debated topics between sociologist and biologists. Most scientists believe sexual orientation is biologically determined while sociologists argue that it is socially constructed. There is a third belief that human sexual orientation is not solely biologically determined or socially constructed. From this belief come theories that combine both arguments, where human sexual orientation contains a biological component and a social component. One of the conjoint theories is that humans are born with a propensity for certain sexual tendencies which are determined biologically, and these tendencies are developed into a complex sexual identity as an adult. This development of sexual tendencies into a sexual identity is influenced by society, and therefore, sexual orientation depends on biological influences as well as society and social influences. There is various evidence and arguments for biological determination and social construction of sexual orientation, as well as a few conjoint theories of sexual orientation, but there are also criticisms of each theory and the validity of these arguments will be explored.

Since the beginning of time, homosexuality has always been shunned, taboo, and misunderstood. Homosexuality and its psychological behavior is a phenomenon with a long history, to which there have been various cultural and moral responses. Theories on sexual development claim that homosexuality is developed after birth as a result of a person’s environment (nature). Environmental factors such as a child 's emotional relationship to his same-sex parent or peers, and the presence of sexual abuse or molestation can affect sexual development; while other theories have suggested that homosexuality is genetic and can be traced to a specific gene. Most researchers have come to the conclusion that sexual orientation is likely determined by a complex interaction between a person’s genetic make-up and their environment. However, there are still some who claim that science has found a “gay gene.”

The concept of gender has a strong social impact on me. When I was born, I was immediately assigned to a biological sex as a female with two X chromosomes. I was then socially classified as a girl in the society with feminine gender roles. Gender is defined as a social principle which attribute to the roles and expectations of males and females through the years of different societies (Phillips, 2005). Gender can be considered as behavioural, cultural and psychological traits

Oxytocin is a natural hormone produced by the hypothalamus that is used as a medication during childbirth to induce or speed up labor. But scientists noticed that in non-human mammals, intranasal administration of oxytocin seemed to promote positive social behavior, traditionally “good” social forces like trust and cooperation; for this reason came about the study of oxytocin’s effects on social behavior in humans. Positive social behavior is instrumental in our everyday interactions, and especially can have important consequences in business, where individuals make decisions often about the well-being of their “groups”. Many experiments were performed dedicated to understanding oxytocin’s effects on positive social behavior, and the hormone took on the moniker of the “love drug” or “cuddle chemical.” This positive social behavior, stronger bonds of trust within the members of a group, was coined in-group favoritism in De Dreu et al. (2011); negative social behavior, or the tendency towards prejudice, was labeled out-group derogation.

Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender. Family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.

Sexuality begins to shift from curiosity in childhood to experimentation in young adulthood. Masturbation becomes a common activity for the majority of males while only 43% of females do it (Strong, Yarber, Sayad, & DeVault, 2013, p. 172). Adolescents start to undergo puberty, which causes their bodies to grow and change quickly. During this time teenagers are influenced greatly by their peers and the media. Adolescents are easily swayed by the information given to them by their peers and highly sexualized media. Teenage pregnancy is a nationwide problem for the United States (Strong et at., 2013, p. 180). However, teenage pregnancy rates are declining because sexual education delays adolescents from having sex. Sexual intercourse cannot be completely stopped, but sexual education can help prevent STIs and unintended pregnancies from happening. Young adults begin to practice safe sex and make intimate commitments to others when exploring their sexuality (Strong et at., 2013, p. 189). Homosexuals tend to stop hiding or faking their sexual orientation because young adults are more accepting and tolerant of different sexual orientations (Strong et at., 2013, p. 196). When single, young adults gain more sexual experience, but with it comes the risk of pregnancies, abortions, separations, and single parent families. Being single as a young adult makes it harder to find a relationship later on and outside of college (Strong et at., 2013, p. 200). Young adults start to live

Sexual behavior is a significant part of a human’s life that differs between people. According to Myers (2011) there are biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors that play a role in the sexual behavior of humans. Things such as sexual development serve as the basis in order to be able to have sex. Biological influences are those such as sexual maturity, sexual orientation, and hormones such as testosterone. Psychological influences are impacted by such biological factors along with exposure to stimulating conditions. Social-cultural influences include family and society values, religious and personal values, cultural expectations, along with media (p. 360).