Sex Differences and Gender-Role Development

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Sex Differences and Gender-Role Development

• Chapter 13

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Definitions

• Sex biological identity
• Gender social and cultural identity as
  male/female
• Gender-role standard a behavior, value, or
  motive that society deems more appropriate for
  males/females

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SOME FACTS AND FICTIONS ABOUT SEX DIFFERENCES

• Actual Psychological Differences Between the
  Sexes
• Verbal Ability girls are superior
• Visual/Spatial Abilities boys are superior
• Evident by 4, persists across life span
• Mathematical Abilities
• In adolescence, boys better at arithmetic
  reasoning
• Girls better at computational skills

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SOME FACTS AND FICTIONS ABOUT SEX DIFFERENCES

• Aggression
• Boys ? physically and verbally
• Girls ? covert

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SOME FACTS AND FICTIONS ABOUT SEX DIFFERENCES

• Other Sex Differences
• Activity level boys are more physically active
  (even before birth)
• Fear, timidity, and risk-taking girls are more
  fearful, timid, and take fewer risks
• No difference in cognitive impulsivity
• Developmental vulnerability boys are more
  vulnerable to prenatal and perinatal hazards and
  disease

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SOME FACTS AND FICTIONS ABOUT SEX DIFFERENCES

• Conclusions
• Differences reflect group averages
• Differences are small
• Differences are most apparent at the extremes
• Males and females are much more psychologically
  similar than they are different

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SOME FACTS AND FICTIONS ABOUT SEX DIFFERENCES

• Emotional expressivity / sensitivity
• Beginning in toddlerhood
• Boys ? anger
• Girls ? other emotions
• Compliance girls are more compliant

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Gender Differences in Social Behavior

• Gender segregation
• Play styles
• Social Influence Styles
• Charlesworth
• 4 children, playing with movie viewer designed so
  only one child could watch at a time

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Gender Differences in Social Behavior

• Forms of Verbal Influence
• Social Interaction
• Jacklin Maccoby
• Pairs of neutrally dressed, unacquainted 33 m/o
  brought to playroom
• Group Structure

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Evolutionary Theory
• Males and females face different evolutionary
  pressures

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Criticisms of the Evolutionary Approach
• Applies to differences that apply
  cross-culturally
• Ignores differences limited to cultures or
  historical periods
• Social roles hypothesis
• Cultures assign roles based on gender
• Socialization practices

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Evidence for Social-Labeling Influences
• Cultural influences
• Meads study of tribal societies
• Arapesh both males and females were taught to
  be expressive
• Mundugumor both genders were taught to be
  masculine
• Tchambuli from Western standards, males more
  feminine, females more masculine

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Evidence for Social-Labeling Influences
• Condry Condry
• Saw film of 9 m/o presented with jack-in-the-box
• Half told male, half told female
• boy was described as angry
• girl was described as afraid

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• A psychobiosocial viewpoint
• Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Direct tuition/reinforcement
• Observational learning

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Kohlbergs Cognitive-Developmental Theory
• Basic gender identity
• Gender stability
• Gender consistency
• Gender Schema Theory (Martin Halverson)

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Martin Halverson
• Show 5-6 y/o pictures
• Boy engaging in traditional masculine activity
• Girl engaging in traditional masculine activity
• Boy engaging in traditional feminine activity
• Girl engaging in traditional feminine activity
• One week later, show pictures

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• Martin
• 4-10 y/o told story
• Character in story was either a boy or girl
• Description was neutral, stereotyped, or
  counterstereotyped

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THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING AND GENDER ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

• An Integrative Theory
• Biological theories account for major biological
  developments
• Social-theories account for differential
  reinforcement processes
• Cognitive development explains the growth of
  categorization skills
• Gender schemas are also important as are models
  as children age

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Androgyny Bem

• Historically, masculinity and femininity were at
  opposite ends of a single dimension
• Androgyny sees them as 2 separate dimensions,
  allowing individuals to be high in both masculine
  and feminine traits

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Scoring for BEM

• Use the scoring guide to tally up scores for a
  and b answers
• A answers tally scores, divide by 20 (as long as
  you didnt omit any a answers), place number in
  the box at the bottom of your sheet labeled R.S.
  and a.
• B answers tally scores, divide by 20 (as long
  as you didnt omit any b answers), place number
  in box labeled R.S. and b.

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• Do Androgynous People Really Exist?
• In a college student sample
• 33 were masculine men or feminine women
• 30 were androgynous
• 37 undifferentiated or gender-type reversed

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• Are There Advantages to Being Androgynous?
• More highly adaptable to the situation
• Higher self-esteem
• More likeable
• Perceived as better adjusted
• The masculine traits are more important for
  adjustment
• Advantages may differ across lifespan