Deck 2: Biology, Sex, and Gender: the Interaction of Nature and Environment

Question 1

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

A) Typically, a person is born with 46 chromosomes.
B) One set of chromosomes is referred to as the sex chromosomes because it plays a primary role in determining the sex of the fetus.
C) Genetically normal females have two X chromosomes.
D) The mother's genetic contribution determines the sex of a child.

Answer 1

The mother's genetic contribution determines the sex of a child.

Question 2

All embryos are sexually bipotential (anatomically identical) until the

A) third month of development.
B) sixth week of development.
C) 28th week of development.
D) none of the above; embryos are never sexually bipotential

Answer 2

sixth week of development.

Question 3

The hormone testosterone is important in the development of the male fetus because it

A) causes the degeneration of the female duct system.
B) promotes the formation of the external genitals.
C) promotes the transformation of indifferent gonads into fetal testes.
D) promotes the further growth of the male (Wolffian) duct system.

Answer 3

promotes the further growth of the male (Wolffian) duct system.

Question 4

Meiosis refers to

A) chromosomes dividing and duplicating themselves during sperm production.
B) when sperm fail to divide properly.
C) an absence of chromosomes during the sperm production process.
D) Both B and C are correct.

Question 5

Turner syndrome (XO) is caused by

A) nondisjunction during the first meiotic division after fertilization.
B) over-exposure to prenatal testosterone.
C) under-exposure to prenatal testosterone.
D) none of the above

Question 6

Individuals with Turner syndrome

A) tend to be "tomboyish" girls.
B) exhibit a stereotypical femininity in their behavior and personalities.
C) have a confused gender identity owing to the lack of a second chromosome.
D) tend to be overly aggressive.

Question 7

Men with Klinefelter syndrome are at an increased risk of developing emotional and interpersonal problems, most likely because

A) they do not secrete enough testosterone to adequately regulate their behavioral drives.
B) the possession of an extra sex chromosome directly produces abnormal behavior in males.
C) of the difficulties involved in trying to cope with the physical abnormalities associated with this chromosomal abnormality.
D) they do not produce sperm.

Question 8

The overrepresentation of XYY men among the institutionalized and incarcerated can best be explained by

A) elevated testosterone levels which produce aggressive behavior.
B) the disproportionate number of violent acts they commit.
C) the way the criminal justice system reacts to their physical appearance.
D) Both A and B are correct.

Question 9

Adrenogenital syndrome (AGS) occurs in approximately 1 in _____ births.

A) 5
B) 50
C) 500
D) 5,000

Question 10

Which of the following suffer from Adrenogenital syndrome (AGS)?

A) individuals who possess the sex chromosomes of normal males (XY) but are born with the external genitalia of females
B) individuals who have only one sex chromosome, an X
C) individuals in whom sexual differentiation is incomplete
D) individuals who have the internal reproduction organs of females but whose external genitals are masculinized

Question 11

Studies of AGS girls indicate that they

A) are significantly more aggressive than non-AGS girls.
B) appear to be more "tomboyish" than non-AGS girls.
C) show less interest in motherhood and marriage than non-AGS girls.
D) express a greater interest in dolls and dresses than non-AGS girls.

Question 12

Individuals who have the condition called androgen-insensitivity syndrome

A) are sometimes referred to as XY females.
B) are typically raised as females.
C) express a lesser interest in dolls, motherhood, and dresses than genetically normal females.
D) both A and B

Question 13

Androgen-insensitive individuals

A) often do not have their condition discovered until puberty.
B) are as feminine as normal XX females.
C) often have lower intelligence than normal XX females.
D) all of the above
E) Only A and B are correct.

Question 14

Individuals with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency

A) typically are reared as boys, even though externally they appear to be girls.
B) have little difficulty changing their sex and gender identities at puberty when their external genitalia change.
C) usually are recognized as "different" at birth and are socialized differently then "normal" boys.
D) behave masculinity throughout childhood because of exposure to prenatal testosterone.

Question 15

The specialization of the right and left hemispheres of the brain for different tasks is brain

A) organization.
B) dualism.
C) lateralization.
D) meiosis.

Question 16

Studies of genital ambiguity

A) are suspect because they must rely on data from very small, atypical samples.
B) suggest that one's gender identity develops independently of one's chromosomal makeup.
C) are subject to researcher biases.
D) all of the above

Question 17

Given the research on genital ambiguity, the authors of your text conclude that

A) sex is dichotomous, gender is not.
B) gender is dichotomous, sex is not.
C) neither sex nor gender is dichotomous.
D) more research needs to be done before any conclusions are drawn.

Question 18

The E-S (empathizing-systemizing) theory states the following:

A) Males are stronger at empathizing than females.
B) Males are under-perform females in spatial tasks.
C) Males are stronger at systemizing and females are stronger in emotion recognition, social sensitivity, and verbal fluency.
D) Males and females have identical sex differences and brain organization.

Question 19

Research on the human brain has revealed that

A) men tend to depend on one hemisphere of the brain to complete certain tasks.
B) women tend to draw on both hemispheres of the brain.
C) women tend to depend on one hemisphere of the brain to complete certain tasks.
D) Both A and B are correct.

Question 20

Imperato-McGinley's controversial explanation of eighteen Dominican DHT-deficient males concluded that:

A) they easily switched their identities when their genitalia masculinized.
B) at puberty, they became men.
C) the easy transition was a result of having been exposed to prenatal testosterone.
D) they were able to reject their time socialized as females.
E) all of the above

Question 21

Your text discusses a case studied by Money involving a set of identical twins who were genetically and physically normal males at birth. However, one of the twins had his penis accidentally cut off during surgery. The doctors recommended sex reassignment. At seventeen months old, the boy was surgically reconstructed as a girl and lifelong hormone replacement was begun. Research on this case revealed the twin who had undergone the sex reassignment

A) was initially socialized successfully as a girl.
B) preferred to wear dresses and play with traditional girl toys.
C) began experiencing serious emotional problems in puberty and eventually refused to continue living as a girl.
D) all of the above

Question 22

A difficulty in looking for sex differences in the brain is that

A) human brains remain the same as people age.
B) scientists do not yet fully understand the way in which the structure of specific parts of the brain affect how they function.
C) human brains are identical to the brains of animals.
D) none of the above

Question 23

Research about "His" and "Her" brains have revealed that

A) male brains are larger than elephants and that is evidenced in their great intelligence.
B) intelligence can accurately be measured by dividing body weight and brain size.
C) brain organization may contribute to sex-specific behavior and sexual orientation.
D) rats and other animals are accurate and reliable research subjects to use for studying human brains.

Question 24

Research on men's and women's brains indicates that

A) men have a larger corpus callosum.
B) males are left-brain dominant; females are right-brain dominant.
C) men's and women's brains are identical.
D) males' and females' brains may develop or be structured differently.

Question 25

Today, those interested in studying sex differences in the brain focus primarily on

A) brain size.
B) brain organization.
C) IQ.
D) None of the above; there are no known sex differences in the brain.

Question 26

Researchers have had difficulty ascertaining the relationship between testosterone and human aggression because

A) testosterone levels fluctuate dramatically in response to environmental stimuli.
B) neurotransmitters complicate matters by also affecting human behavior.
C) only males produce testosterone and it therefore cannot explain female aggression.
D) Both A and B are correct.

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT true regarding human aggression?

A) Studies show that women are never as aggressive as men, regardless of the situation.
B) Women become more aggressive when they think no one is looking.
C) Females are more likely than males to inhibit aggression when the chance of retaliation is high.
D) For both males and females aggressiveness decreases as age and education increase.

Question 28

Androgen comes from the Greek word for "man," while estrogen comes from the Greek word for "__________."

A) woman
B) frenzy
C) prostitute
D) illness

Question 29

Some argue that much of the research on PMS is plagued by serious methodological difficulties, which include

A) retrospective studies dependent on subjects' recall.
B) selective memory of mood changes that happen during PMS.
C) women perceiving researchers as condescending and therefore are reluctant to report information about PMS.
D) all of the above

Question 30

Research on the social-psychological causes of PMS indicates that

A) negative expectations of and attitudes toward the experience of menstruation may precipitate a variety of physical and emotional symptoms.
B) negative mood changes do not appear to be related in any significant way to stressful external events.
C) debilitating symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle are psychosomatic.
D) cyclical mood swings are exclusively a female experience.

Question 31

Scientific studies of premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

A) provide conclusive evidence that PMS is a gynecological disease.
B) demonstrate that the job troubles of a majority of women are due to menstrual changes.
C) indicate that PMS can be cured with regular injections of sex hormones.
D) provide inconclusive evidence about the causes, consequences, and treatment of PMS.

Question 32

Lynda Birke (as well as the authors of your text) supports the view that

A) a person has a biological beginning which can later be culturally influenced.
B) biological determinism provides the best explanation of gender development.
C) social constructionism should replace biological determinism as the explanation of gender development.
D) none of the above

Question 33

XYY syndrome has been associated with low intellectual functioning.

Question 34

Nondisjunction occurs when the chromosomes divide and duplicate themselves.

Question 35

Both males and females may have AGS.

Question 36

Most researchers report that AGS girls are significantly more physically aggressive than normal girls.

Question 37

Cross-cultural research reveals that how a society constructs gender identity is uniform throughout the world.

Question 38

Brain size determines intellectual ability.

Question 39

Individuals may be born with an abnormal complement of sex chromosomes due to chromosomal errors that occur during sperm production.

Question 40

Much of the evidence linking testosterone levels to aggression has come from animal studies.

Question 41

The hormone testosterone can fluctuate over the course of a day.

Question 42

Unlike research on hormones, much of the research on neurotransmitters has been done on humans.

Question 43

PMS is recognized in the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual.

Question 44

Scientific research has proven that there is a direct relationship between brain lateralization and sex that predisposes males and females to behave differently.

Question 45

Some researchers have found that negative attitudes toward menstruation may influence women's experience of PMS symptoms.

Question 46

Research indicates PMS symptoms are really all "in the person's head."

Question 47

The authors of your text argue that biological explanations of gender differences are often used to justify gender inequality.

Question 48

Surgery to correct genital ambiguity is motivated by health and medical concerns.

Question 49

Neuropsychologists concede that there is considerable overlap in the male and female brain distributions and most differences are very small.

Question 50

Discuss AGS, Turner syndrome, and androgen-insensitivity syndrome and what they teach us about gender.

Question 51

Summarize this chapter's findings on sex differences in infants with regard to dependence and aggression.

Question 52

What is brain lateralization (or hemispheric asymmetry) and what does it have to do with gender?

Question 53

Should sex and gender be viewed dichotomously, according to the authors of your text? Explain your answer.

Question 54

Explain the term premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and discuss how popular acceptance of this syndrome could both help and hinder the status of women.

Question 55

Using your knowledge of sexual differentiation during fetal development, genital ambiguity, and brain lateralization, argue for or against this statement: Biological factors, not cultural ones, are responsible for specific gendered behaviors and sex differences.

Question 56

What is meant by a "transformative account of gender development"? What is the potential for such a perspective to improve our understanding of the interaction of biology and culture in the formation of gender?

Question 57

Explain the relationship between politics and the scientific explanation of sexuality.

Question 58

Intersex individuals have been historically left out of the LGBT conversations. What recent contributions have intersexed individuals contributed to our perspectives on sexuality?