Deck 11: Male-Female Differences

Question 1

In Broverman et al.'s 1972 study of perceptions of men and women, it was found that

A) men and women were perceived to differ on over 400 personality characteristics.
B) both men and women perceived masculine characteristics to be more desirable than feminine characteristics.
C) men and women were perceived to differ on only five personality characteristics.
D) men and women were not perceived to differ in terms of personality characteristics.
E) feminine characteristics were perceived by both men and women to be more desirable than masculine characteristics.

Answer 1

both men and women perceived masculine characteristics to be more desirable than feminine characteristics.

Question 2

The statement "there is substantial overlap between the distributions of male and female traits and behaviors" means that

A) although there may be group differences between males and females in traits and behaviors, there are some men that score higher than most women on "feminine" traits and behaviors, and vice versa.
B) men and women share a few behaviors.
C) men and women share a few traits.
D) there is no detectable difference between males and females in traits and behaviors.
E) researchers have not done careful measurement.

Answer 2

although there may be group differences between males and females in traits and behaviors, there are some men that score higher than most women on "feminine" traits and behaviors, and vice versa.

Question 3

Which of the following male-female "differences" does NOT exist?

A) Boys, on average, do better on tasks requiring spatial abilities than girls do.
B) Females are more psychologically sensitive than are males.
C) Females tend to be more sensitive to nonverbal cues than are males.
D) Girls, on average, learn to talk earlier than boys do.
E) Males commit more violent crimes than females.

Answer 3

Females are more psychologically sensitive than are males.

Question 4

Which of the following individuals believed women to be inferior to men?

A) Aristotle
B) Thomas Aquinas
C) Plato
D) All of the above

Question 5

In ancient petroglyphs and hieroglyphs, men were usually portrayed as

A) builders.
B) monks.
C) animals.
D) warriors or hunters.
E) fathers or husbands.

Question 6

If you are presented with two cages of rats (in which each cage contains both males and females in equal numbers), and the rats in one cage seem much more aggressive and active, you might hypothesize that the rats in the cage were

A) postnatally exposed to serotonin.
B) deprived of sleep.
C) fed a high-fat diet.
D) prenatally exposed to extra estrogen.
E) prenatally exposed to extra androgen.

Question 7

There is some evidence that individuals with Turner's syndrome are

A) especially timid.
B) especially generous.
C) especially mathematically and spatially adept.
D) especially aggressive (relative to other women).
E) more verbal than other women.

Question 8

Women's hormonal cycles have historically been associated with

A) indecisiveness.
B) violence.
C) cognitive deficits.
D) emotional instability.

Question 9

The influence of hormonal cycles on personality in women is

A) unknown; it has not yet been studied.
B) small.
C) large.
D) moderate.

Question 10

Why did Freud assert that "anatomy is destiny"?

A) Because he believed that we cannot change our sex
B) Because he believed that different races should not intermarry
C) Because he believed that ultimately identity is determined by our sex
D) Because of all of these reasons
E) Because he believed that success requires a strong and muscular body

Question 11

Which theorist placed an emphasis on recognizing and incorporating both "maleness" and "femaleness" into healthy human development (that is, the concept of androgyny)?

A) Horney
B) Skinner
C) Freud
D) Erikson
E) Jung

Question 12

The statement "men can't be faithful to just one woman; it's not in their nature" implies a(n)

A) cognitive approach.
B) behaviorist approach.
C) evolutionary approach.
D) psychoanalytic approach.
E) neo-analytic approach.

Question 13

Maslow posited that a self-actualized person would have

A) only traditionally masculine characteristics.
B) only traditionally feminine characteristics.
C) both traditionally feminine and traditionally masculine characteristics.
D) mental illness.

Question 14

According to the humanistic perspective, gender differences in personality will __________ as societies equalize opportunities for men and women.

A) become larger
B) remain the same
C) become smaller
D) fluctuate widely

Question 15

Which of the following is an example of the social learning of gender-related norms?

A) Brian's mom scolds him for being a sissy when he is picked on by others and doesn't retaliate.
B) Tom's father teaches him to work on the car.
C) Gene's older brothers encourage him to join in their tackle football games, but tell their younger sister Julie she can't play.
D) Grandma calls all the girls to the kitchen after Thanksgiving dinner to wash the dishes.
E) All of these

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT an example of a gender schema?

A) Loud and sassy women are not attractive to men.
B) It's not appropriate for girls to call boys on the phone.
C) When going to the prom, boys should wear tuxedos, and girls should wear gowns.
D) Only a weak man cries.
E) A kind person would never hurt an animal.

Question 17

Erik is an excellent student, excels in math, and enjoys spelling. He is gregarious and has lots of friends. Often, he is a group leader, directing other children and coordinating their games. He loves setting up competitions and races (and tries very hard to win them). He is also sensitive, and is often sought out for advice or just a "listening ear." Based on this brief description, Erik would probably score as __________ on the Bem Sex Role Inventory.

A) feminine
B) masculine
C) androgynous
D) undifferentiated

Question 18

Marcia loves sports and is fiercely competitive. She's played soccer since she was seven, and since starting high school has become a track and field star. Marcia's friends describe her as "tough," although they are quick to add that she always has fun. Although her friendships are not deep, Marcia is extremely popular and almost everyone in school knows her name. Marcia hopes to be an engineer one day. Based on this brief description, Marcia would probably score as __________ on the Bem Sex Role Inventory.

A) masculine
B) feminine
C) undifferentiated
D) androgynous
E) none of these

Question 19

Men generally are found to have more "dominant" personalities when dominance is defined as

A) leadership.
B) affiliation.
C) aggression.
D) affection.

Question 20

When babies and preschoolers are observed, __________ cry most; when older children and adults are observed, __________ cry most.

A) girls; girls
B) boys; girls
C) boys; boys
D) girls; boys

Question 21

Andrea wants to be famous. She works hard in her classes and gets straight A's; she attends workshops and conferences in her field and makes an effort to meet all the right people; and during the summer, she volunteers many hours at a research lab. She is sure that nothing will stand in her way. McClelland would say that Andrea is

A) high on need for affiliation.
B) high on achievement motivation.
C) low on conscientiousness.
D) high on sensation-seeking.
E) low on social status.

Question 22

As a group, women have been found to be better than men at

A) expressing themselves nonverbally.
B) decoding facial cues of others.
C) decoding body cues of others.
D) recognizing faces.

Question 23

A study of courtship among Boston-area college students found

A) that men were more likely to be "broken up with" than to "break up with" their partners.
B) that men's goals in the relationship were more romantic than women's goals.
C) that men seemed to "love" more in the relationship.
D) that men were more devastated when relationships ended.

Question 24

In some societies, girls were (and sometimes still are) given clitoridectomies (genital mutilations) in order to prevent their "insatiable and shameful" sexual drives. This suggests that current American views (and studies) showing men with greater sex drives are likely the result of

A) androgyny.
B) repressed penis envy.
C) culture-specific gender stereotypes.
D) Madonna repression syndrome.

Question 25

According to an evolutionary perspective,

A) it is always adaptive for a woman to care for her children.
B) selfless devotion to an unhealthy infant may compromise a woman's reproductive success.
C) a "maternal instinct" always includes being nurturing.
D) it is almost unheard of for mothers of any species to abandon their children.
E) a woman's reproductive success is always enhanced by caring for her children.

Question 26

Androgynous individuals are

A) men who are high in feminine traits.
B) women who are high in masculine traits.
C) low in both masculine and feminine traits.
D) high in both masculine and feminine traits.

Question 27

__________ are more susceptible to diseases during childhood and __________ live longer.

A) Females; males
B) Females; females
C) Males; females
D) Males; males

Question 28

Research by Whiting and Edwards suggest that across many different cultures,

A) females tend to learn to talk later than males.
B) females maintain more "egotistic dominance."
C) females are consistently more nurturant.
D) males are consistently better at math.

Question 29

On average, boys tend to have better abilities than girls in

A) verbal skills.
B) social skills.
C) spatial skills.
D) cognitive skills.
E) fine motor skills.

Question 30

The earliest evidence that suggests that males and females are viewed differently came from where?

A) Post-World War II Europe
B) Modern America
C) Ancient civilizations
D) Biblical times
E) The renaissance in Europe

Question 31

According to the psychoanalytic view, personality differences associated with gender are due to

A) girls and boys experiencing psychosexual stages of development differently.
B) girls having a stronger superego than boys.
C) boys needing to overcome many more stages than girls.
D) boys being expected to be aggressive and girls being expected to be subservient.
E) differences in the toilet training of boys versus girls.

Question 32

A behaviorist view claims that gender differences in personality arise from

A) society.
B) genetic differences.
C) different cognitive abilities.
D) different internal drives.
E) the central nervous system.

Question 33

The cognitive perspective of personality explains gender differences arise as a consequence of

A) gender distinctiveness theory.
B) gender relations theory.
C) unconscious memories.
D) gender schema theory.
E) differing archetypes of male and female.

Question 34

Differences in sexual behavior between males and females, such as higher levels of masturbation among males, earlier age at first intercourse among males, and greater interest in pornography and erotica among males, are best understood as arising

A) primarily from biological differences in the consequences of sexual activity, where it is the woman who might become pregnant without a man who will support her and the child.
B) primarily from societal expectations about what is "normal" and "proper" sexual behavior for males and females.
C) primarily from socializing within same-sex peer groups in early adolescence, and adopting the norms of same-sex peers.
D) primarily from experiences of women being punished more than men for early and non-marital sexual activity.
E) from a combination of all the factors listed.

Question 35

Studies have shown that women seem to cry more than men. Which of the following is NOT a likely explanation for this difference?

A) Childhood socialization differences, where boys are discouraged from crying
B) Hormonal differences that affect the tendency to cry
C) Differences in how males and females express emotionality
D) Different functioning of the tear ducts in males versus females
E) Differential social acceptability of crying by women versus men

Question 36

Which of the following approaches would be most likely to predict that as societies give more equal rights and opportunities to women, personality differences between men and women would become smaller?

A) Biological perspective
B) Trait and skill perspective
C) Psychoanalytic perspective
D) Evolutionary perspective
E) Humanistic perspective

Question 37

Which of the following is true of the interactionist approach to behavior differences in males and females?

A) Males exhibit more instrumental behavior; females exhibit more expressive behavior.
B) Males exhibit more expressive behavior; females exhibit more instrumental behavior.
C) Males exhibit both instrumental and expressive behavior; females exhibit only expressive behavior.
D) Males only exhibit instrumental behavior; females exhibit both instrumental and expressive behavior.
E) Males and females both equally exhibit instrumental and expressive behavior.

Question 38

Looking across all perspectives of personality, differences between males and females most likely results from

A) genetics and evolution.
B) behavior modeling and unconscious drives.
C) nature and nurture.
D) positive and negative reinforcement.
E) defense mechanisms and evolution.

Question 39

Which of the following statements is most accurate?

A) Females tend to live longer than males.
B) Baby boys tend to cry more than baby girls.
C) Males and females both find masculine qualities more desirable than feminine qualities.
D) In the age range of 15-24, males and females have very different death rates.
E) All of these

Question 40

Which of the following differences between men and woman has been found to be true?

A) Women are more verbally aggressive than men.
B) Women exhibit more instrumental behavior than men.
C) Woman engage in sexual behavior only in order to reproduce.
D) Women, on average, have better spatial abilities than men.
E) None of these

Question 41

How is prenatal androgen exposure related to differences in later behavior?

A) Higher levels of prenatal androgens can lead to more aggressive behavior in both males and females.
B) Lower levels of prenatal androgens can lead to more aggressive behavior in both males and females.
C) Higher levels of prenatal androgens can lead to more aggressive behavior in males only.
D) Lower levels of prenatal androgens can lead to more aggressive behavior in females only.
E) Prenatal androgen exposure has no known effect on later behavior.

Question 42

The concept of __________ suggests that behaviors and thoughts evolve as a result of their usefulness for survival, and is used to both explain and justify the dominant position of men and the submissive position of women.

Question 43

The functionalists view women's __________ as central to their lives, precluding their development of other pursuits.

Question 44

__________ is determined at the moment of conception when the female's egg with its X chromosome joins with the male sperm with its X or Y chromosome.

Question 45

Individuals with __________ are born with a single X chromosome; they have female external genitals but no ovaries.

Question 46

Female embryos that are prenatally exposed to an excess of androgen develop into __________, and are born with either masculine genitals or ambiguous genitalia.

Question 47

According to Freud, as a result of the __________, a boy learns to identify with the father, thereby taking on his father's personality traits, while additionally being able to possess his mother vicariously through his father's experience.

Question 48

A boy's __________ is enhanced by the importance of his penis for pleasure, threats from his parents about masturbation, and the fact that he has noted that girls do not have a penis.

Question 49

According to Freud, when girls discover they do not have a penis they suffer from _______, in which girls become overwhelmed with feelings of inferiority and jealousy.

Question 50

Gender __________ theory argues that our culture and gender-role socialization provide us with organized mental structures that delineate our understanding of the abilities of, appropriate behaviors of, and appropriate situations for men and women.

Question 51

The __________ Inventory is used to classified individuals as feminine, masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated.

Question 52

An individual who has both feminine and masculine traits is described by the term __________.

Question 53

According to __________ theory, social behaviors that differ between the sexes are embedded in social roles; that is, the different roles in which men and women find themselves specify their behaviors.

Question 54

Brenda Major's work emphasizes that individuals tend to make same sex comparisons known as __________ comparisons when evaluating their behavior.

Question 55

__________ tend to do better on visual and spatial tasks while __________ have more advanced verbal abilities.

Question 56

What are two broad areas of research that lead us to believe that some behavioral/personality characteristics may be biologically (genetically/hormonally) determined? Give one specific example of research that points to this conclusion.

Question 57

In cases where one's genetic sex (XX vs. XY) does not match one's external genitalia, one might be raised in accordance with one's outward appearance. How does the fact that this is often quite successful speak to the power of socialization and expectations in gender formation?

Question 58

How might the psychoanalytic approach to personality be viewed as biologically based?

Question 59

Give one example of how a gender difference in sexual behavior might be acquired through learning processes.

Question 60

Describe three specific examples of how you "learned" to be either male or female. Who were your primary teachers?

Question 61

Describe two gender differences that are well documented. Then, describe two gender differences that are often discussed but are not well substantiated by research. Explain why you think conceptions of gender differences sometimes persist in spite of opposing empirical evidence?

Question 62

In the days before genetic testing, babies who were born with ambiguous genitals were assigned the gender that best fit their anatomy, and physically "fixed" to fit that gender. They were socialized as either little boys or little girls, yet sometimes when puberty began, it would become apparent (with the development of secondary sex characteristics) that the original assignment was wrong. Explain why the child might choose to remain the originally assigned gender, and why the child might decide to switch genders.