Gender Development

Instrumental vs Expressive traits
1. Masculine - competence, rationality, assertiveness
2. Feminine - warmth, caring, sensitivity
Gender stereotypes
Gender roles
Gender identity
Gender typing
Gender stereotypes: EARLY CHILDHOOD
1. children apply blanket rules rather than flexible guidelines
2. world is very strongly gender-typed
  1. parents dress boys in blue, girls in pink
3. do NOT realize that characteristics of a gender do NOT determine that person's sex
4. gender-typed preferences emerge sharply in preschool yrs
5. only affect if children incorporate stereotypes into their gender identities
Gender stereotypes: Middle Childhood & Adolescence
1. personality traits
  1. girls and boys segregated groups
2. achievement areas
  1. figure out which subjects are masc and which are fem
3. towards greater flexibility
  1. children increasingly include conflicting social cues
BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES
1. parents and family can influence INTENSITY of bio based sex diffs
2. 2 sources of evidence to support
  1. cross-cultural similarities of gender stereotypes, gender role adoption
    1. HOWEVER: still lots of variety tho!
  2. influence of hormones
    1. hormones affect PLAY STYLES of children
      1. gender appropriate play (social pressures too)
    2. CAH (congenital adrenal hyperplasia)
      1. genetic defect causes adrenal system to produce huge amounts of ANDROGENS
      2. GIRLS: born with masculinised external male genitals
        high in activity level
    3. ANDROGEN INSENSITIVITY SYNDROME
      1. less than normal levels of androgens produced
      2. BOYS: may have more female organs, show more fem behaviour
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES
1. social contexts
2. perceptions and expectations of adults
  1. BOYS: achievement, competition, control of emotions
  2. GIRLS: warmth, ladylike, supervised activities
3. PARENTS
  1. infancy & childhood
    1. BOYS: action and competition
    2. GIRLS: nurturance, warm, physical attractiveness
  2. Middle childhood & Adolescence
    1. BOYS: more independence, mastery-oriented, more scientific talk
    2. GIRLS: babysitting, house chores, food prep
  3. fathers discriminate the most
  4. mothers play more quietly
4. TEACHERS
  1. give more attention to boys than girls
  2. emphasize gender distinctions
  3. tolerate unruliness of boys
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
1. job careers
  1. GIRLS - more altruistic jobs
  2. BOYS: more competitive, high paid jobs
2. media portrayals
3. parents as role models
4. PEERS
  1. spend much more time playing with same-sex partners
  2. gender role learning in gender segregated play
    1. BOYS - more commands, threats
    2. GIRLS: polite, persuasive
    3. CULTURAL VARIATIONS
      1. Chinese girls are more assertive
5. SIBLINGS
  1. modeling and reinforcement effect for 2 child families
  2. Differentiation effect for large families
GENDER IDENTITY
1. masculine identity: ambiguous, assertive, self-sufficient
2. feminine identity: affectionate, soft-spoken
3. ANDROGYNY
  1. scoring high on both gender identities
4. masc and androgynous ppl have HIGHER self-esteem
  1. linked with psych/mental health over yrs
5. KOHLBERG'S GENDER CONSTANCY
  1. 1) GENDER LABELLING
    1. children who show early gender labelling show faster development of gender role adoption
  2. 2) GENDER STABILITY
  3. 3) GENDER CONSISTENCY
  4. to do with understanding conservation
6. GENDER IDENTITY: MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
  1. gender typicality = degree to which child feels similar to others regarding own gender
  2. gender contentedness = degree of comfyness child feels about own gender
7. GENDER IDENTITY: ADOLESCENCE
  1. gender intensification
    1. stronger for girls
      1. pubertal changes?
GENDER SCHEMA THEORY
1. Gender-schematic vs Gender-aschematic
2. Interest filter vs Gender schema filter
GIRLS BETTER AT
1. verbal
2. simple arithmetics, counting etc
3. overall school performance
4. more effortful control
5. less likely than boys to developmental disabilities
BOYS BETTER AT
1. complex math
2. spatial reasoning
3. less timid/fearful
4. more active
5. less likely than girls to develop depression

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Gender Development

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	Created by Helen Li about 11 years ago