Male Case Study

Male Case Study

Some people have argued that the Johns Hopkins psychologist used this opportunity as an experiment to test his nurture theory of gender identity. What are the expected results of this experiment, assuming that the nurture theory is valid? If the theory were valid the expected outcome of this experiment would be that Brenda would grow up identifying herself as a female because she was raised to believe she was in fact a female.

According to the nurture theory, predict the gender identity Bruce would express if he were not subjected to the gender re-assignment surgery and raised as a boy? Had his parents not gone through with the gender reassignment surgery Bruce would’ve been raised as a little boy and would have identified as such. I assume as he got older though and started to realize that he was “different” then other little boys there would be personal self esteem issues he would need to deal with.

What, if any aspects of David’s experience support the nurture theory of gender identity? The nurture theory is based on the idea that ones environment and social conditions can influence one’s gender identity. None of what was shared in the text supports this theory. The family attempted raising him as a girl but David favored playing like a boy and imitating what his father did, and as he got older he even began to identify more with being “masculine”.

What, if any aspects of David’s experience support the nature theory of gender identity? The nature theory states that gender identity comes solely from biological mechanisms, which I think is exactly what David was experiencing. Physically he may have favored a female, but in his head he felt like a boy. so despite his parents efforts, and even though he had no idea initially about what had happened to him as an infant he still identified more as a male.

How well do the results of studies in humans agree with the studies in rodents that support the nature theory of gender identity? Explain your...