Compare and Contrast the Biological and Social Learning Theories of Gender Development

Laura Searle

Compare and Contrast the Biological and Social Learning Theories of Gender Development

Gender can be explained by the biological and social learning theories. They are two very different theories, based upon very different ideas. Gender is a psychological term, which refers to our awareness and reaction to biological sex. There are three main areas that these theories try to explain. These are, gender role, the adoption of masculine or feminine behavioral traits that are deemed appropriate or characteristic of a particular sex, gender identity, a person's private, subjective sense of their own sex and sexual orientation/preference, the erotic desire for people of same or different sex.

The Social learning theory is based upon the ideas of Bandura. He believes that childhood is the time during which the acquisition of gender occurs. The social learning theory of Bandura emphasises the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling where observing others forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. And then on the child will learn when the behavior is appropriate and when it is not. Social learning theory explains human behavior as attention, including modeled events and observer characteristics, Therefore, Social Learning involves the observation of admirable things, which are modeled, or mirrored. Social learning theory explains how thinking about gender develops from gender related behavior. Through behaving in a gender appropriate way childs sense of gender becomes internalised. Bandura called this self-efficiency, which is the feeling of competence and appropriateness abut a childs behavior and abilities. A case study example for the social learning theory is Smith & Lloyd (1978) this case study videotaped women playing with a baby who was introduced to them as either a boy or a girl. Women could choose between different gender specific toys lying around. They unconsciously chose the toys depending on whether they thought it was a boy or a girl.

The Biological theory is more scientific than the social learning theory. Normally the egg (carrying an ‘X’ chromosome) is fertilised by another ‘X’ chromosome to make a girl and is fertilised by a ‘Y’ chromosome to make a boy. However sometimes this can go wrong and people can have abnormal combinations of chromosomes. This can lead to three typical conditions which are, hermaphroditism, This is where a persons chromosomes are both male and female. Klinefelters syndrome, where there is an extra ‘X’ chromosome, and finally Turners syndrome where a person has 45 chromosomes instead of the normal 46. A ...

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The Biological theory is more scientific than the social learning theory. Normally the egg (carrying an ‘X’ chromosome) is fertilised by another ‘X’ chromosome to make a girl and is fertilised by a ‘Y’ chromosome to make a boy. However sometimes this can go wrong and people can have abnormal combinations of chromosomes. This can lead to three typical conditions which are, hermaphroditism, This is where a persons chromosomes are both male and female. Klinefelters syndrome, where there is an extra ‘X’ chromosome, and finally Turners syndrome where a person has 45 chromosomes instead of the normal 46. A biological account of gender differences argues that where there is a normal ‘XX’ or ‘XY’ pattern, innate genetic and hormonal differences between males and females are responsible for their different characteristics. For example boys want to play more ‘rough and tumble’ games whereas girls would want to play more quite games with dolls for example. An example of a case study related to the biological theory of gender development was conducted by Money (1974). One of a pair of male ‘MZ’ twins accidentally had his penis removed during circumcision. It was decided to raise him as a female. His male sex organs were removed, an artificial vagina constructed, and he was given female hormones. 'She' was always treated as a girl. According to Money, who had recommended gender reassignment, as a four/five-year-old 'she' preferred to wear dresses, and was neater and tidier than 'her' twin, but showed some tomboyish behavior. ‘She’ later committed suicide, quoted as saying ‘ I never really felt like a girl.’

These two theories of gender development are very different. The social learning theory looks more in depth at the nature side of gender development and how socially we learn to behave the way we do. The biological theory looks more scientifically into why we behave as a typical gender. It looks more in depth biologically at our chromosomes. The biological theory categorises us as males or female based on external biology, and how we are made up from before when we are born and our gender identity will be influenced by that label and not how we feel. It does not take into account a persons social environment, however the social learning theory does. It takes in to account all the people around us and our environment, Although it doesn’t take into account how we are made biologically, but the biological theory does. However both of the theories have evidence based upon multiple case studies to back them up, which makes them both psychologically credible. The biological theory also assumes that gender roles are static and contextually independent. On the other hand, the social learning theory explains that gender identities are voluntary, and that males and females choose their gender identities. The social learning theory, incorporates how children learn gender by observing others of the same sex, for example a parent, and this plays a large part in the acquisition of gender, but the biological theory say the only thing you get from your parents that make your gender is your chromosomes. The biological approach to gender takes into account male or female hormones. If a person has female hormones, they will grow breasts, and develop a womanly figure, the biological approach says this is what gives you your gender. However could it possibly just be a persons hormones that gives a person their gender identity, or is it more? The biological theory is the nature side of the argument and the social learning theory is the nurture side. However the biological approach does look into the biosocial approach which is the interaction of biological and social factors which is similar to the social learning theory. The social learning theory is very broad. It takes into account things from what a persons friends are like to what a person watches on TV that affects gender. However, very differently the social learning theory is confined to one specific thing to explain gender and that one thing only, your genetic build up. Surly something so small cannot explain fully why we feel the way we do. If someone was born a girl and felt like a boy his or her genetic build up alone couldn’t explain it. Although there is evidence to back up to back up the biological theory, for example Money (1974).

Overall the Biological theory and the social learning theory are based upon two very different ideas both leading to why we are male or female. However if we combine the two into the biosocial theory it takes both nature and nurture into account making the explanation of gender identity more reliable.