Androgens - Berenbaum & Hines CAH Girls Gender Roles

3.
Discuss, using examples, the functions of two hormones on human behaviour

Androgens - Berenbaum & Hines CAH girls gender roles

Aim: Investigated the effects of excess androgens in the womb on CAH girls.
Method: They observed and interviewed CAH girls aged between 3 - 12 years to see their toy choices
and future career preferences then compared them to their male/female siblings.
Results: CAH girls tended to choose male-typical toys such as cars and construction, and wanted
male-typical careers such as pilots and engineers when compared to their non-CAH sisters

Conclusion: Early exposure to excess androgens was shown to alter brain organisation as measured
by future behaviours and personal choices.

Critical analysis:

- Gained parental consent, remains ethical
- Observational bias, no inter-rater reliability
- Allows us to understand how androgens effect us
- Reductionist

Oxytocin- Fehr et al.

Aim: Investigated the effects of oxytocin on trust levels during an investment game
Method: A controlled experiment on 178 male college students whereby the control group had a
placebo spray and the experimental group had an oxytocin nasal spray. They played an investment
game.
Results: 45 percent of the oxytocin group invested all their money, 21 percent of the placebo group
invested all their money.
Conclusion: Oxytocin was seen to decrease the natural suspiciousness humans have in relation to
investing money.

Critical Analysis
interrater reliability - 2 researchers observing
Environment - controlling for any socio-cultrual effects, although we dont know how their parents
treated them (extraneous variable)
Reductionism - your femininity is not defined by toys and prospective careers

Androgens - Related Study: Doreen Kimura

Aim: Kimura investigated the effects of androgens on the sexual behaviour of rats
Method: Pre-natal or post-natal blocking of androgens by a compound or castration in male baby rats
occurred. Similarly female baby rats are injected by androgens. Adult behaviour is then observed.
Results: Male adult rats exhibit reduced male sexual behaviour and increased female sexual behavior
such as lordosis. Female adult rats display male sexual behavior such as mounting.
Conclusion: An important factor in corresponding sexualised behaviour is the exposure to androgens
during early brain organisation (pre or post natally).

Critical Analysis

- Bidirectional ambiguity, we dont know whether the androgens are directly related to sexualised
behaviour
- Humans are much more complex and there are cognitive and socio-cultural factors as well as
biological - despite the BLOA principle

Hatfield and Clark study -

Aim: Investigated how receptive males versus females were to sexual invitations
Method: 22 year old confederates (5 female/4 male) approach students (midweek) on Florida state
uni campus. 48 males and 48 females were approached and told: ive noticed you around campus
and find you very attractive will you
1. Will you go on a date with me?
2. Will you come to my apartment?
3. Will you have sex with me?
Results:
% females asked by males who agreed vs. %males asked by females who agreed
1. 50% vs. 50%
2. 6% vs. 60%
3. 0% vs. 75%
Conclusion: Males are much more willing to have a casual sexual encounter with a stranger than
women. Lower investing sex in the theory of parental investment will be less discriminate than higher
investing gender.

Critical analysis:

- Lack of informed consent
- Ethnocentric - hard to generalise
- No demand characteristics
- Quasi/natural experiment

Curtis et al. (2004)

Aim:
o To investigate on the internet to test whether there were patterns in
peoples disgust responses
Procedure:
o 77000 participants from 165 students
o Used an online survey in which participants were shown 20 images
o For each image they were asked to rank their disgust level (5)
o 7 pairs within the 20 images were ones that showed infectious or
potentially harmful to the immune system
o Others were visually similar but non-infectious
e.g. plate of blue viscous liquid
Results
o Confirmed that disgust reaction was most strong with the pictures
that threatened ones immune system
o Disgust reaction decreased with age
o Disgust levels were higher in young people compared to older
people
o Higher in women than men
Conclusion
o This therefore supports the emotion of disgust as a key to
successful reproduction
Evaluation
o Strengths
Applicable as it is ecologically valid
Can be generalised
Cost effective
Time effective
Some quantitative data
o Limitations
No cause and effect
No control over variables
Low range of levels
The study was conducted online
The validity of the results is somewhat unreliable
Ethics
o Protection from physical and psychological harm
o No right to withdraw after submitting

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3.

Discuss, using examples, the functions of two hormones on human behaviour

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