Psychology of Women - Chapter 1 Notes

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Psychology of Women

Definitions: Sex and Gender

  • Sex: Classification of individuals as female or male based on genetic makeup, anatomy, and reproductive functions.
  • Gender: The meanings that societies and individuals give to female and male categories.

Women and Men: Similar or Different?

  • Similarities Approach/Beta Bias: Emphasizes the similarities between women and men.
  • Differences Approach/Alpha Bias: Emphasizes the differences between women and men.

Feminism

  • Liberal Feminism
  • Socialist Feminism
  • Women of Color Feminism
  • Cultural Feminism
  • Radical Feminism
  • Neoliberal Feminism

Significant Women in History

  • 1777: Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, advocating for women's rights, stating, “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.”
  • 1848: Birth of American Feminism at the Seneca Falls convention
  • 1892: Mary Whiton Calkins and Christine Ladd-Franklin join the American Psychological Association (APA), though neither was awarded a Ph.D. at the time.
  • 1894: Margaret Floy Washburn becomes the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology.
  • 1905: Mary Whiton Calkins becomes the first woman president of the APA.
  • 1920: The 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the legal right to vote.
  • 1921: Margaret Floy Washburn was elected as the second woman president of the APA.
  • 1935: Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray develop the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
  • 1937: Anna Freud publishes The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense; Karen Horney publishes The Neurotic Personality of our Time.
  • 1955: Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
  • 1963: The Equal Pay Act was passed.
  • 1970: First formal charges of sex discrimination were filed.
  • 1973: Roe vs. Wade.
  • 1980: First woman graduated from military service academies.
  • 1981: Sandra Day O’Connor appointed as the first woman Supreme Court Justice.
  • 1983: Sally Ride becomes the first woman in the U.S. to travel in space.
  • 1984: Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman to run for vice-president on a major party ticket.
  • 1989: Repeal of most abortion rights of Roe vs Wade.
  • 1990: Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as U.S. Surgeon General, becoming the first woman (and first Hispanic) to hold that job.
  • 1992: Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois becomes the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate; Mae Jemison becomes the first black female astronaut.
  • 1993: Janet Reno becomes the first woman Attorney General of the U.S.
  • 1995: Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot a U.S. spaceship; she had been the second woman to be an Air Force test pilot.
  • 1997: Madeleine Albright was appointed the first woman U.S. Secretary of State.
  • 1999: Lt. Col. Eileen Collins is the first woman astronaut to command a space shuttle mission; Nancy Ruth Mace is the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel.
  • 2002: The Citadel graduated its first black women.
  • 2005: Condoleezza Rice becomes the first African-American female Secretary of State.
  • 2007: Drew Gilpin Faust became Harvard’s first female president; Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House of Representatives.

History of Women in Psychology

Challenges and Obstacles
  • Sexist educational policies
  • Women and the American Psychological Association
  • Fifteen women presidents of APA since its founding in 1892
  • Women’s contributions often overlooked or ignored (Etaugh 2017)
  • Easily overlooked by use of the last name only to refer to authors

History of the Psychology of Women

The Early Years
  • Concepts in psychology were often based on the male experience (e.g., Freud, Erikson).
  • Women were viewed as different from and inferior to men.
  • The first generation of women psychologists conducted research to challenge assumptions of inferiority.
The Recent Years
  • 1960s: Beginning of the second wave of the feminist movement in the U.S.
  • Emergence of the psychology of women as a separate field of study.
  • Development of psychology of gender textbooks.
  • Establishment of journals such as Psychology of Women Quarterly and Sex Roles.
  • Today, women represent more than two-thirds of the psychologists in the workforce.

Studying the Psychology of Women

Bias in Psychological Research
  • Selecting the Research Topic: May be influenced by researchers’ personal interests and assumptions about gender and other categories of social identity.
  • Formulating the Hypothesis
  • Designing the Study
  • Selecting Research Participants: Considerations include representativeness of the larger population, gender composition, and other sampling limitations (race, socioeconomic status, sexuality, disability).
  • Selecting the Measures
  • Analyzing and Interpreting the Findings:
    • Statistical significance
    • Interpreting findings in a way that suggests female weakness or inferiority.
    • Inappropriate generalization
    • Assumption that presence of gender differences implies biological causes.
  • Communicating the Findings:
    • Publishing
    • Avoiding gender-biased language
Research Methods
  • Quantitative: Emphasizes objectivity and control, uses quantitative measures, and compares participants’ responses to standard situations.
  • Qualitative: Emphasizes subjective procedures, focuses on women’s accounts of their own experiences, and attempts to capture each participant’s unique perspective.
  • Feminist Research Methods
    • Narrative approach: Review and summarize many studies to form an impression of general trends on a particular topic.
    • Meta-analysis: Statistical method of integrating results of many studies on the same topic.

Themes in the Text

  • Intersectionality
  • Diversity of Experiences
  • Gender Differences in Power
  • Social Construction of Gender

For Next Class:

  • Bring in 2 examples of stereotypical and 2 examples of non-stereotypical images of women or girls in the print media.
    • These can include magazine ads, newspaper headlines, magazine article titles, or any other representation of females.