Hormones and chromosomes

Chromosomes

DNA which holds all of an organism’s genetic material. Each human has 46 chromosomes split into 23 pairs. Males have XY and females have XX

Hormones

Chemicals which affect gender development prenatally and during puberty

Androgens

Hormones which cause embryos to develop as male

Testosterone

Male hormone causing the development of male sex hormones. Commonly associated with anger and aggression

Van de Poll

Female rats injected with testosterone were more aggressive

Oestrogen

Female hormone causing the development of female sex organs. May cause heightened emotion and irritability during the menustral cycle

Oxytocin

Female hormone stimulating lactation, reducing stress and facilitating bonding

David Reimer

• After a botched circumcision, Reimer was left without a penis

• Dr Money proposed the theory of gender neutrality and encouraged his parents to raise Reimer as female

• Reimer was not aware of sex reassignment but struggled with gender dysphoria while living as a woman

  • When aware of his real identity, he lived as male again but later committed suicide

Dabbs et al.

Prison offenders with the highest levels of testosterone were most aggressive

Goozen et al

Transgender people on HRT showed different levels of aggression depending on what hormone they took

Tricker

Conducted a double blind study where males were given a weekly shot of testosterone or a placebo and noted no real difference in aggression

Slabbekoorn

Sex hormones have no consistent effect on gender related behaviour

Nature/Nurture

Does not take into account the effect of nurture on gender at all