Gender Development

Gender Development

1. Instrumental vs Expressive traits

   • Masculine - competence, rationality, assertiveness
   • Feminine - warmth, caring, sensitivity

2. Gender stereotypes

3. Gender roles

4. Gender identity

5. Gender typing

6. Gender stereotypes: EARLY CHILDHOOD

   • children apply blanket rules rather than flexible guidelines
   • world is very strongly gender-typed
     • parents dress boys in blue, girls in pink
   • do NOT realize that characteristics of a gender do NOT determine that person's sex
   • gender-typed preferences emerge sharply in preschool yrs
   • only affect if children incorporate stereotypes into their gender identities

7. Gender stereotypes: Middle Childhood & Adolescence

   • personality traits
     • girls and boys segregated groups
   • achievement areas
     • figure out which subjects are masc and which are fem
   • towards greater flexibility
     • children increasingly include conflicting social cues

8. BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES

   • parents and family can influence INTENSITY of bio based sex diffs
   • 2 sources of evidence to support
     • cross-cultural similarities of gender stereotypes, gender role adoption
       • HOWEVER: still lots of variety tho!
     • influence of hormones
       • hormones affect PLAY STYLES of children
         • gender appropriate play (social pressures too)
       • CAH (congenital adrenal hyperplasia)
         • genetic defect causes adrenal system to produce huge amounts of ANDROGENS
         • GIRLS: born with masculinised external male genitals
           • high in activity level
       • ANDROGEN INSENSITIVITY SYNDROME
         • less than normal levels of androgens produced
         • BOYS: may have more female organs, show more fem behaviour

9. ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

   • social contexts
   • perceptions and expectations of adults
     • BOYS: achievement, competition, control of emotions
     • GIRLS: warmth, ladylike, supervised activities
   • PARENTS
     • infancy & childhood
       • BOYS: action and competition
       • GIRLS: nurturance, warm, physical attractiveness
     • Middle childhood & Adolescence
       • BOYS: more independence, mastery-oriented, more scientific talk
       • GIRLS: babysitting, house chores, food prep
     • fathers discriminate the most
     • mothers play more quietly
   • TEACHERS
     • give more attention to boys than girls
     • emphasize gender distinctions
     • tolerate unruliness of boys

10. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

    • job careers
      • GIRLS - more altruistic jobs
      • BOYS: more competitive, high paid jobs
    • media portrayals
    • parents as role models
    • PEERS
      • spend much more time playing with same-sex partners
      • gender role learning in gender segregated play
        • BOYS - more commands, threats
        • GIRLS: polite, persuasive
        • CULTURAL VARIATIONS
          • Chinese girls are more assertive
    • SIBLINGS
      • modeling and reinforcement effect for 2 child families
      • Differentiation effect for large families

11. GENDER IDENTITY

    • masculine identity: ambiguous, assertive, self-sufficient
    • feminine identity: affectionate, soft-spoken
    • ANDROGYNY
      • scoring high on both gender identities
    • masc and androgynous ppl have HIGHER self-esteem
      • linked with psych/mental health over yrs
    • KOHLBERG'S GENDER CONSTANCY
      • 1) GENDER LABELLING
        • children who show early gender labelling show faster development of gender role adoption
      • 2) GENDER STABILITY
      • 3) GENDER CONSISTENCY
      • to do with understanding conservation
    • GENDER IDENTITY: MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
      • gender typicality = degree to which child feels similar to others regarding own gender
      • gender contentedness = degree of comfyness child feels about own gender
    • GENDER IDENTITY: ADOLESCENCE
      • gender intensification
        • stronger for girls
          • pubertal changes?

12. GENDER SCHEMA THEORY

    • Gender-schematic vs Gender-aschematic
    • Interest filter vs Gender schema filter

13. GIRLS BETTER AT

    • verbal
    • simple arithmetics, counting etc
    • overall school performance
    • more effortful control
    • less likely than boys to developmental disabilities

14. BOYS BETTER AT

    • complex math
    • spatial reasoning
    • less timid/fearful
    • more active
    • less likely than girls to develop depression