GENDER

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GENDER

• Stereotype rigid belief, generalization from
• few experiences, hearsay. Gender
• stereotypes one type among many.
• Gender roles behaviours, prescribed by
• society, reflect cultural stereotypes.

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• Gender role identity self-perception as
• masculine or feminine characteristics,
• abilities and behaviours are included.
• Gender typing socialization process based on the
  belief that there is a cause-effect relationship
  between biological sex and behaviour,
  preferences, thinking, etc..
• Sex anatomical and physiological
• categories

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• Gender more inclusive term differences
• and similarities due to interaction
• biology/environment feminine and
• masculine
• NOT opposites but overlapping

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• Feminine expressive traits warm, caring,
• sensitive
• Masculine instrumental traits rational,
• competent, assertive.

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• GENDER
• Gender role identity
• Good predictor of psychological adjustment
• Masculine and androgynous children better
• off, good self-esteem
• Feminine children lower self-esteem
• Androgynous score high on both femininity and
• masculinity scales

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• GENDER
• Kohlberg
• Gender labeling stage early preschool. Think
  its changeable.
• Gender stability stage permanent in the present
  but changeable in the future.
• Gender consistency stage late preschool and
  early school years constancy of gender.
  Correlates with conservation (Piaget)
• If given opportunity to see genitals of both
  sexes,
• attain stage 3 earlier.

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• GENDER
• Observable differences
• At birth
• Boys cry more, neural and digestive
• immaturity
• Girls easier to soothe

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• GENDER
• Adult expectations affect perceptions
• Boys strong, big, loud, physical
• Girls sweet, dainty, pretty
• Physical perceptions lead to psychological
• attributions
• nursery decoration
• toys
• clothes
• style of play

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• GENDER STEREOTYPES (Contd)
• Even egalitarian parents
• Experiment varying baby clothes
• Lewis and Goldberg 13 month olds

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• GENDER
• Moms hold and touch baby sons more,
• talk more to baby girls
• More acceptance of anger in boys
• Rough play accepted and encouraged in
• boys, discouraged in girls
• Girls seen as needing more help

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• GENDER
• Encouraged in boys
• assertiveness
• exploration
• acting on the physical world
• emotional control

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• GENDER
• Encouraged in girls
• dependency
• emotional sensitivity
• emotional expression
• obedience

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• GENDER
• Toddlers and preschoolers
• By one year children choose gender
• consistent toys!
• Acquisition of gender stereotypes happens
• before it can be tested women cant
• drive trucks.
• Television 25 hrs. vs. 10 hrs. per week

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• GENDER
• Cognitive immaturity rigid classifications,
• no exceptions or deviations, overregulation
• Sitters, daycare more stereotyping
• Toys very important for spatial skills,
• perception, dexterity, action, competence

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• GENDER
• Fathers stereotype more.
• Afraid to let boys play with dolls homophobia
• Tomboys and sissies
• Rough play accepted and encouraged in
• boys, not in girls!

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• GENDER
• School years
• Increased stereotyping
• space allocation (boys get more)
• sports (boys more)
• labs (boys better in sex segregated schools)
• teachers attention (boys get more)

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• GENDER
• interruptions
• reinforcements
• restrictions
• differential acceptance of socially unacceptable
  behaviours
• expectations

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• GENDER
• Learn avoidance, rejection and devaluation
• of the other sex must actively unlearn any
• behaviour associated with the other sex.
• Severe peer punishment for deviants,
• particularly for boys.

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• GENDER
• Different ways of exerting influence
• Girls verbally but doesnt work for boys
• Boys physically works for both
• Boys use of aggression encouraged by
• culture.

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• GENDER
• By middle school cognitively sophisticated
• can understand incidence of gender-
• inappropriate behaviour but still disapprove.
• Boys more rigid in their stereotypes.

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• GENDER
• Differences in play
• Girls more structured games, use less space
• Boys spread out, messy, unstructured
• Girls ask for help from adults, seek approval
• Boys initiate, command, compliance with
• peers more important than with adults.
• Not surprisingly, boys prefer to play with boys
  and
• girls with girls.

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• GENDER
• Is there a biological base?
• Hormones
• In utero influences congenital adrenal
  hyperplasia (CAH) causes secretion of high levels
  of androgens by the adrenal glands. Girls
  masculinized at birth. Behaviourally tomboys,
  weak identification with feminine role.

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• GENDER
• Catch
• Parents and kids told of the condition and
• given a prediction of masculine preferences.
• Even told that possibly infertile.
• Similar cases inconclusive or contradictory.

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• GENDER
• Testosterone only consistent behavioural
  relationship is with level of aggression.
• Catch a two-way street

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• GENDER
• Cross-cultural data Margaret Mead research in
  New Guinea.
• Arapesh both sexes feminine
• Tchambouli women and men reversed roles
• Mungdugumor both sexes masculine

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• GENDER
• Animal models ample evidence for diversity.
• Conclusion no conclusive evidence
• for gender differences being biologically
• based.
• Major difficulty all studies methodologically
• flawed.

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• GENDER
• Watch out for
• File drawer statistic studies that contradict
  accepted trend rarely published.
• Boundary variables variables that explain why
  two seemingly identical studies reach
  contradictory results. (Ex whether kids think
  they are being observed or not.)

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• GENDER
• Have any true differences been found?
• Mental abilities
• 3 areas studied math, verbal and spatial
• Small differences found in all.

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• GENDER
• Math
• girls do better up to Grade X
• only for Whites in U.S., Canada and Australia,
  not for other countries e.g. Europe
• more boys drop out of high school (skewed
  distribution)
• therefore, boys get better SAT scores (top heavy
  sample)

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• GENDER
• boys more likely to be directed to advanced math
  courses
• boys helped and encouraged more
• math word problems biased with masculine content
  (sports, cars, etc.)
• girls perceive math as male

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• GENDER
• Spatial abilities
• Mental manipulation of visual information.
• Many types. Only a few types studied, which
• favour boys experiences.
• Differences appear in mid-childhood.

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• GENDER
• Brain lateralization hypothesis earlier in
• girls for left brain.
• Later for boys for right brain.
• This would allow boys to use both brains
• for spatial manipulations.
• Too many flaws and exceptions.

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• GENDER
• Prenatal androgen hypothesis promote
• spatial abilities.
• Contradictory data.
• Even when present, differences very weak.
• Uncontrolled variable type of problem
• Early influence toys

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• GENDER
• Mostly, girls slower but accurate less
• experience, more anxiety.
• Difference disappears with training.
• Brain use determines growth London
• cabbies, posterior hippocampus.

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• GENDER
• Language
• Girls ahead first 2 years.
• Talked to more by moms.
• Brain lateralization (left) not convincing.
• Culture in North America reading not seen
• as masculine.
• Disappears with training.

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION
• Biological hypotheses
• Androgens facilitate more physical activity.
• Combined with environmental influences,
• can lead to aggression
• OR

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Prenatal hormones affect later emotional
• reactions, can lead to more anger,
• excitement or anxiety.
• Combined with environment, can lead to
• aggression.
• ALSO

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Adolescent hormone surge in boys.
• Boys with high testosterone seem to act
• more aggressively.
• However, aggressive behaviour can
• increase levels of testosterone!

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• SO are genes unimportant?
• NO. But genes are turned on by
• environment. (epigenetics)
• Genes can be altered by environment at
• critical stages.

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Experiment with rats
• 2 groups stress/no stress as pups.
• Stress group both the receptors for
• neurotransmitters and the genes that
• control them were altered!

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Other differences
• Emotional sensitivity girls higher, but boys
• can be equally sensitive with the approved
• object (e.g. an animal).
• Compliance and dependency girls higher
• environment.

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Depression and aggression two sides of
• the same coin.
• Depression aggression turned toward self.
• Social conditioning (environment).

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Two types of aggression
• overt, physical (mostly boys)
• relational (mostly girls)
• Lately, many girls engaging in the first type,
• as gender barriers are torn down.
• Also instrumental and hostile aggression.
• Family influences see chapter 11.

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Inverse relationship to language
• development.
• Frustration/aggression hypothesis. E.g. case
• studies of child with auditory handicaps.

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• Factors in developing aggression
• difficult temperament
• cognitive deficits
• ADDH

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• GENDER AND AGGRESSION (Contd)
• conflict in the home
• inconsistent discipline
• rejection by average peers
• academic failure
• association with deviant peer group
• social tolerance of aggression
• cultural climate, glorification of violence

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• GENDER SCHEMA THEORY
• Information processing approach
• Combines social learning and cognitive
• developmental approaches.
• Organizes self-perception and perceptions
• of others.

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• GENDER SCHEMA THEORY (Contd)
• Children select congruent gender schemas
• E.g. shown picture of boy using stove
• they later recall a girl.