AQA A-level Psychology (7182): Paper 3 – Gender – Study Guide

This guide covers the Gender topic in the AQA AS and A-level Psychology (7181, 7182) specification, Version 1.4 (1 September 2025), for teaching from September 2025. Gender is section 4.3.3 of the A-level content. It is assessed in Paper 3: Issues and Options in Psychology, where it is one of the three topics in option 1 and is examined in Section B.

Use it with the AQA A-level Psychology hub and the AQA A-level Psychology checklist. For quick recall, go to the Gender revision notes; to test yourself, try the Gender practice questions. Social learning theory and the biological approach first appear in Paper 2, so the Approaches in Psychology study guide is useful background.

Coverage

Syllabus reference	What you must know or be able to do (from the specification)	Where assessed
4.3.3	The role of chromosomes and hormones (testosterone, oestrogen and oxytocin) in biological sex	Paper 3, Section B
4.3.3	Diversity in sex development, including androgen insensitivity syndrome, Klinefelter’s syndrome and Turner syndrome	Paper 3, Section B
4.3.3	Gender identities, including binary, non-binary and gender fluid; how gender has been measured using the Bem Sex Role Inventory	Paper 3, Section B
4.3.3	Biological explanations of gender development, including chromosomes and hormones	Paper 3, Section B
4.3.3	Cognitive explanations: Kohlberg’s theory (gender identity, gender stability, gender constancy); Martin and Halverson’s gender schema theory	Paper 3, Section B
4.3.3	Social learning theory as applied to gender development; the influence of culture and media on gender roles	Paper 3, Section B
4.3.3	Gender incongruence: biological and social/cultural explanations	Paper 3, Section B
4.3	Research methods, practical research skills and mathematical skills in relation to Paper 3 content	Paper 3

How Paper 3 is organised

The specification prints these facts about Paper 3: Issues and Options in Psychology. It is a written exam of 2 hours, 96 marks in total, worth 33.3% of the A-level. The compulsory content is Issues and debates in Psychology. You also study optional content: “one from option 1, 9–11, one from option 2, 12–14, one from option 3, 15–17”. Option 1 is Relationships, Gender, and Cognition and development.

• Section A: multiple choice, short answer and extended writing, 24 marks (Issues and debates).
• Section B: one topic from option 1, multiple choice, short answer and extended writing, 24 marks.
• Section C: one topic from option 2 (Schizophrenia, Eating behaviour, Stress), 24 marks.
• Section D: one topic from option 3 (Aggression, Forensic Psychology, Addiction), 24 marks.

If your school teaches Gender, it is your Section B topic; your teacher will confirm your centre’s options. Research methods and maths skills can be tested within Gender questions.

Biological sex: chromosomes and hormones

Biological sex refers to physical differences: chromosomes, hormones, reproductive organs. Gender refers to the psychological and social experience of being a man, woman or another identity.

• Chromosomes. Most people have 23 pairs. The 23rd pair are the sex chromosomes: typically XX (female) or XY (male). A gene on the Y chromosome, the SRY gene, triggers the development of testes in the embryo.
• Testosterone. An androgen produced mainly by the testes. Before birth it directs the development of male reproductive organs. At puberty it drives male secondary sex characteristics. It is also linked to aggression and to masculinisation of the brain.
• Oestrogen. Produced mainly by the ovaries. It drives female secondary sex characteristics at puberty and regulates the menstrual cycle.
• Oxytocin. Released during labour and breastfeeding, and linked to social bonding. Taylor et al. (2000) proposed a “tend and befriend” response to stress in women, partly based on the effects of oxytocin.

Diversity in sex development

Sometimes chromosomes, hormones and anatomy do not follow the typical pattern.

Condition	Chromosomes	Main features
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)	XY	Body cells do not respond (fully or partly) to androgens such as testosterone. In complete AIS, external genitals are female, testes are internal and there is no womb. Often identified at puberty when periods do not start. People with complete AIS usually identify as women.
Klinefelter’s syndrome	XXY	Male. Smaller testes and lower testosterone; usually infertile. Some people have learning or language difficulties.
Turner syndrome	One X chromosome; the second sex chromosome is missing or partly missing (often written XO)	Female. Short stature; ovaries do not develop typically, so puberty often needs hormone treatment; usually infertile. Some people have difficulties with spatial or maths tasks.

Evaluation. These cases show that biological sex is not always a simple binary. Complete AIS supports the role of hormones: without androgen response, an XY person develops a female body and usually a female identity. But case studies are small samples, and psychological differences may come from how people are treated, not only from their biology.

Gender identities and the Bem Sex Role Inventory

• Binary gender identity: identifying as either a man or a woman.
• Non-binary: a gender identity that is not exclusively man or woman.
• Gender fluid: a gender identity that changes over time.

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). Sandra Bem (1974) created a self-report scale of 60 traits: 20 seen as masculine, 20 as feminine and 20 neutral fillers. Traits were selected using ratings by Stanford undergraduates of how desirable each was for a man or a woman. People rate each trait from 1 (“never or almost never true”) to 7 (“always or almost always true”). Scores place people as masculine, feminine, androgynous (high on both) or undifferentiated (low on both). Bem treated masculinity and femininity as two separate dimensions, not opposite ends of one scale.

Evaluation.

• Strength: Bem reported good reliability, including test-retest reliability.
• Limitation: the traits came from 1970s American students, so the scale may be culture- and time-bound.
• Limitation: it measures traits on a binary of masculine and feminine. It does not measure gender identity, so it cannot capture non-binary or gender fluid identities directly.
• Limitation: self-report invites social desirability bias.

Worked paragraph. The BSRI measures gender as two independent scales, so a person can score high on both and be classed as androgynous. This was progress, because older scales forced a choice between masculine and feminine. However, the traits were chosen by American students in the 1970s. A trait such as “ambitious” may no longer be seen as masculine, so the scale may lack temporal validity. This suggests the BSRI tells us about stereotypes of its time as much as about the person completing it.

Biological explanations of gender development

The biological explanation says gender comes from chromosomes and hormones. Chromosomes set the pattern of prenatal hormones. Prenatal testosterone is thought to masculinise the developing brain, and hormones at puberty strengthen sex differences.

Evidence.

• Berenbaum and Hines (1992) found that girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, who were exposed to high levels of androgens before birth, preferred toys typically chosen by boys more than their unaffected female relatives did.
• Van Goozen et al. (1995) found that trans women given anti-androgens showed reduced aggression, and trans men given testosterone showed increased aggression.
• The case of David Reimer: after a surgical accident in infancy, he was raised as a girl on John Money’s advice. He was unhappy with this identity and later lived as a man (Diamond and Sigmundson, 1997). This suggests biology can outweigh socialisation.

Counter-evidence. Imperato-McGinley et al. (1979) studied a community in the Dominican Republic where some XY children have 5-alpha-reductase deficiency: they appear female at birth and masculinise at puberty. Of 18 raised unambiguously as girls, 17 changed to a male gender identity during or after puberty. This supports a role for testosterone, but the community’s attitudes may also have shaped the change.

Evaluation. The explanation has scientific support and explains why gender identity often resists socialisation. However, it is reductionist and determinist. It struggles to explain cultural variation in gender roles. Case studies such as Reimer’s are unique and cannot be generalised.

Worked paragraph. Biological explanations claim that prenatal androgens shape gendered behaviour. Berenbaum and Hines found that girls with CAH preferred toys usually chosen by boys, which supports this. However, parents of these girls knew about the condition and may have treated them differently, so a social cause cannot be ruled out. The evidence therefore suggests hormones contribute, but the relative weight of nature and nurture is still debated.

Kohlberg’s cognitive theory

Kohlberg (1966) proposed that gender understanding develops in fixed stages as the child’s thinking matures.

1. Gender identity (around age 2 to 3): the child can label their own gender and others’, but thinks it could change.
2. Gender stability (around age 4): the child knows their gender stays the same over time, but may think it changes if appearance or activities change.
3. Gender constancy (around age 6): the child understands that gender stays the same over time and across situations. Only now does the child actively seek out same-gender models and imitate them.

Evaluation.

• Strength: Slaby and Frey (1975) found that preschool children with higher gender constancy spent more time watching the same-sex adult in a film, though the effect was significant only for boys.
• Limitation: children show gender-typed preferences well before age 6 (Martin and Little, 1990). This suggests constancy is not needed for gender learning to begin.
• Limitation: the stage approach does not explain why some people’s gender identity differs from their assigned sex, or why gender identity can be fluid.

Gender schema theory

Martin and Halverson (1981) argued that gender learning begins once the child has basic gender identity (around 2 to 3). The child forms gender schemas: organised beliefs about what is appropriate for each gender.

• In-group schema: knowledge about one’s own gender, which the child explores in detail.
• Out-group schema: knowledge about the other gender, which the child tends to ignore.
• Schemas guide attention, memory and behaviour. Information that does not fit tends to be distorted or forgotten. Schemas are most rigid in early childhood and become more flexible later.

Evaluation.

• Strength: Martin and Halverson (1983) showed children pictures of people doing gender-consistent and gender-inconsistent activities. A week later, children tended to misremember inconsistent pictures in a gender-consistent way.
• Strength: Bradbard et al. (1986) found that children explored and remembered more about unfamiliar objects labelled for their own gender.
• Limitation: it explains why stereotypes persist, but not where the content of schemas comes from. Social learning and culture are needed for that.

Worked paragraph. Gender schema theory argues that a young child explores in-group information and ignores out-group information. For example, a four-year-old boy told that a new toy is “for girls” is likely to lose interest in it. Bradbard et al. support this, as children remembered more about objects labelled for their own gender. Unlike Kohlberg, the theory explains gender-typed behaviour long before constancy, which makes it the stronger account of early development.

Social learning theory, culture and media

Social learning theory (SLT) says gender is learned from the environment through:

• Direct reinforcement: children are rewarded for gender-appropriate behaviour. Fagot (1978) found parents responded more positively to toddlers’ gender-typical play.
• Vicarious reinforcement and modelling: watching models rewarded for gendered behaviour.
• Identification: imitating models who are similar or admired, such as same-gender parents.
• Mediational processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation.

Smith and Lloyd (1978) found that mothers playing with a six-month-old infant dressed and named as a boy or a girl varied their toy choice and play style with the infant’s perceived sex.

Culture. If gender roles are learned, they should vary between cultures. Mead (1935) reported different gender roles in three societies in Papua New Guinea: among the Tchambuli, she described women as the dominant, managing partner and men as less responsible and more emotionally dependent. However, her work has been criticised as subjective, and later fieldwork among the Tchambuli (Chambri) questioned her account. Williams and Best (1990) found broad agreement on gender stereotypes across many countries, which suggests some roles may be universal.

Media. The media provides models and stereotypes. Furnham and Farragher (2000) found that television adverts in Britain and New Zealand tended to show men in autonomous roles and women in familial roles. Williams (1986) studied a Canadian town, “Notel”, before and after television arrived, and found children’s gender stereotyping increased.

Evaluation. SLT explains cultural change and variation in gender roles. But it treats the child as passive. It cannot easily explain why gender-typed behaviour appears even when parents try to avoid it. Media studies are correlational, so direction of effect is unclear.

Gender incongruence

Gender incongruence is a marked and persistent mismatch between a person’s experienced gender and the sex assigned at birth. In ICD-11 (WHO), it is classed under conditions related to sexual health, not as a mental disorder. This topic is socially sensitive, so use respectful language such as “a person experiencing gender incongruence”.

Biological explanations.

• Brain-sex theory: Zhou et al. (1995) found that the BSTc, a brain region usually larger in men, was female-typical in size in a small sample of trans women studied after death. However, Chung et al. (2002) found the BSTc size difference does not appear until adulthood, while many people report incongruence in childhood.
• Genetics: twin studies have found higher concordance in identical than in non-identical twins, suggesting a genetic contribution.

Social/cultural explanations.

• Older psychodynamic-influenced accounts, such as Stoller’s, linked incongruence to family relationships in early childhood. These have little supporting evidence and are now rarely accepted.
• A cultural view notes that how gender diversity is understood varies between societies. Some cultures recognise identities beyond man and woman, such as hijra in South Asia and fa’afafine in Samoa. This suggests that the meaning and experience of incongruence are shaped by cultural norms.

Evaluation. Biological research relies on small samples and post-mortem studies, and cannot show cause. Social accounts struggle to explain incongruence reported in early childhood in supportive families. Many psychologists favour an interactionist view. Researchers disagree, and you should present the debate fairly in an essay.

Common errors

• Writing that Turner syndrome is XXY or Klinefelter’s is XO. Klinefelter’s is XXY (male); Turner syndrome is one X (female).
• Saying the BSRI measures gender identity. It measures self-rated masculine and feminine traits.
• Muddling stability and constancy. Stability is across time; constancy is across time and situations.
• Saying gender schema theory needs gender constancy. It needs only basic gender identity.
• Describing SLT without gender-specific examples. Every point needs a gender context.
• Calling gender incongruence a mental disorder in ICD-11.

Where to go next

Refresh SLT with the Approaches revision notes. The Issues and debates study guide covers gender bias, nature-nurture and social sensitivity for Section A, and the Cognition and development study guide covers another option 1 topic. Track this topic on the AQA A-level Psychology checklist.

Official syllabus

AQA AS and A-level Psychology (7181, 7182) specification, Version 1.4 (1 September 2025), for teaching from September 2025. Gender is section 4.3.3; Paper 3 is described in section 2.2.