Chapter 13: Gender roles and gender differences – Flashcards

In most societies women and men are treated differently and they play distinctive roles but in some situations they are treated equally.

1.Freud's psychoanalytic theory proposed that the child acquires either masculine or feminine traits or behaviors by identifying with the same sex parent. He noted that children develop a curiosity of their own bodies which alerts the differences in human anatomy. 2.Cognitive social learning theory that children acquire gender identification both through parents direct guidance and encouragement and by imitating parents, according to this view children understand gender quite early and the parents generally treat children differently at birth. 3.Gender schema theory (information processing theory): proposes that children as young as 2 ½ years old begin to develop theories on gender differences and behavior. 4.Cognitive development theory by Lawrence Kohlberg: children categorize themselves as male or female and act accordingly. They do not make stable gender-typed choices until about 6-7. 5.Evolutionary approaches: stressed principles of natural selection

Males and females use different strategies to achieve reproductive success. Males use aggressive and competitive with other males in order to attract mates. Females have developed strategies for attracting and keeping males who are able to provide resources including protection for their offspring. the two strategies compliment each other and have lead to the evolution of both genders. Other biological factors contribute to differences such as hormones and brain laterilization.

typically gender is referred to as cognitive and social differences between males and females. Sex refers to biological and physiological differences. We use the terms interchangeably except when we describe primary or secondary sex characteristics or sexual behavior. -Gender typing: the process by which children acquire the values, motives, behaviors that are considered appropriate for their gender in their particular culture, - Gender based beliefs: ideas and expectations about ehat is appropriate behavior for males and females. -Gender stereotypes: beliefs that members of a of a culture holf about how females and males should behave, that is what behaviors are appropriate and accepted. These stereotypes prescribe how males and females should be. -Gender roles: the reflection of a male and female, the roles a typical male or female takes on. -Gender identity: in early life children develop a perception of themselves based on if they are more masculine or feminine. - Gender-role preference: the desire to possess certain gender-type characteristics. Choice of toys and play partners reflects this. -Sexual Preferences: preference for same sex or opposite sex partners, developed in late childhood or adolescence.

When children are young we tend to try and socialize them to fit their gender roles and expected behavior. the process starts immediately at birth by giving them a name and bringing them home to there decorated nursery. they dress them in certain ways and style them in certain ways if the child does not follow the standard its looked at negatively. Men are expected to be independent, assertive, dominant, and confident in social and sexual relations. Women are to remain passive, loving, sensitive, and supportive in family. Age affects gender roles standards as well. It is more common to find fathers more concerned with maintaining gender roles than women. Even educated ppl believe that aggression is more associated with men and sensitivity is more associated with women.

Children develop gender typing at an early age. Children learn at a very early age and tend to comply with playing more with gender appropriate toys. Girls are more likely to break the standard and play with gender inappropriate toys. Western culture is more male oriented and the masculine role is associated with more privileges and higher status. The male role is more clearly defined and much more strict. Boys tend to stick to it and will learn all about cars unlike girls. Boys play with gender stereotyped toys for much longer than girls, girls interest decreases over time. Boys shy away from girl things but girls enjoy playing with things associated with higher status. Boys are condemn for not following the guidelines while when girls break standard it is much more acceptable. We socialize children by assigning certain chores or encouraging certain activities associated with each gender.

Childhood masculinity and femininity remain stable throughout the years. Gender roles may shift over time depending on the circumstances. but one of the most imporatn transitions is parenthood even egalitarian couples return to traditional gender roles. Men exhibit more instrumental characteristics; task and occupation oriented.

Boys tend to be more skilled as manipulation objects and constructing. Girls tend to speak and write earlier and be better at grammar and speeling than boys. boys are more likely to suffer with social and communicative difficulties; autism is 4x more common in boys than girls.

Hormone function and brain lateralization.

male hormones called androgen's where testosterone is the most prominent one. Each sex has some hormones of each gender and children aren't much different during elementary school they really change during puberty. the more a baby is exposed to androgen in the fetus the more masculine the child will be. Biology plays an important role in gender role development.

When androgen levels in fetuses are high girls tend to have better visual-spatial skills.

One thing that contributes to brain functioning is the organization of two cerebral hemispheres. Right is more involved in spatial information and the left is in processing verbal information. Some evidence that men's brains are more lateralized than womens.

Women are more committed to prenatal activities than men. Boys higher levels is visual-spatial skills could be related to the idea that they are encourage to play with toys that build this skill.

biology and culture are not the only determinants of gender typing. Children's own understanding of gender roles and rules contributes to gender-role acquisition. two cognitive approaches to gender typing: kohlbergs cognitive developmental theory and informaiton processing approach called gender schema theory.

Children learn the different gender roles and categorize themselves as male or female based on how they are socialized. They find it achievement oriented to follow the gender roles and imitate the same sex. he proposed that they go through 3 stages: 1) between 2-3 they acquire basic gender identity 2)by 4-5 they acquire gender stability,accepting that males remain male and females remain female. 3) by 6-7 they acquire the notion of gender consistency, recognizing superficial changes like appearance or activites do not alter gender. in most cultures they acquire gender identity first, gender stability then gender consistency. Genital knowledge is an impprtant determinant of gender constancy

Children develop schemas or naive theories about gender to help them organize and structure experience related to gender roles. During a study children were shown photos of children doing activities and children were more likely to get right the things where the children were consistent of there gender schemas and distort when the images were inconsistent.

parents have a significant impact on gender roles behaviors and gender typing. They speak differently to boys and girls, dress them differently. As they get older they encourage them in more gender appropriate activities and disapprove of gender inappropriate activities.

Parents are actively shaping there child's preferences, bedrooms are decorated in certain ways. Boys toys are more action oriented and girls toys are more family oriented. Both parents are likely to treat the children differently however father are more likely to do so.

Parents view sons and daughters differently. They describe their daughters as softer, smaller, cuter and more delicate than boys. Fathers are more likely to talk more with their sons than there daughters. Fathers play a more prominant role in gender typing than do mothers.

Fathers are very strict in being consistent and playing with gender consistent toys while mother are more inconsistent and sometimes reward and punish if they play with gender inconsistent toys. Men gender-type toys then women. Another way parents treat them differently is because they are more protective of girls physical well being than boys. Boys are given more freedoms then girls. Parents are more likely to encourage boys in math and science than girls. parents spend more time teaching boys things and more quality time with girls. Girls do better when their parents treat the boys and girls more balanced.

Fathers are more important when it comes to gender typing so when they are absent boys struggle with gender identity and gender roles. the absent parents has minimal effects on girls until adolescence where she struggles relating to other men. they tend to become more promiscuous and sexual. when the father is absent due to divorce or never married, she likely to have sex sooner and get pregnant. father-absent girls lack positive male models, they are exposed to irresponsible dating, and re-partnering on part of their mothers. They view male as unreliable and unimportant.

children in gay and lesbian families tend to challenge the typical father contribution to gender typing. Children reared in lesbian tends to be very similar heterosexuals households, not all turn out gay or lesbian. However, evidence suggest that children reared in gays homes are largely heterosexual regardless of time spent in the home. Children can learn a variety of gender roles in many family arrangements.

Siblings influence gender choices, attitudes, and behaviors. firstborns are very influential to second born's. if the firstborn is a girl they generally engage in more feminine activities but if the first born is a boy then they are more likely to engage in masculine activities.

as children get older, outside influences become very influential, the earliest influences are tv and books. Peers and teachers are also very influential on children.

Boys appear much more often in books and tv shows. Books show girls as more passive and boys more action oriented, this is evident in books that are classified as non-sexist. Males on tv are more likely to be classified as aggressive and females are more sociable and warm. When women are aggressive on tv they tend to be unsuccessful. Women are less likely to be in a leading role and play married, soon to be married or and younger. Women tend to be experts in food, beauty or cleaning products. Children who watch more tv are likely to sterotype more gender and race.

Children criticized other children who don't follow traditional gender roles. boys ignored girls more than they did boys even though they criticized other boys. young children are more likely to partake in same sex play than boys. Gender segregation occurs in many cultures not just the US, it occurs with out encouragement. Children spontaneously choose same sex play partners. Self-socialization- children spontaneous adoption of gender appropriate behavior.

Schools send a lot of gender related measures to children, the school structure is predominantly male like the principal or superintendent but the teachers are mostly female. Teachers often play more attention to boys than to girls. But girls are built more for school because they are more verbal, well behaved and better at following rules. While boys are taught to be assertive and they are condemned for this behavior in school. Boys tend to not like school because of this they have many behavioral problems, receive lots of criticism and are treated and perform at a level way below there ability. Boys perceive school as gender inappropriate and have more difficulties while girls tend to perform better and they even have a higher chance of learning to read 6x faster than boys. Girls have a much higher advantage in the early grades but this decreases over time, girls are likely to be more underachievers by college. Schools encourage girls to be dependent and conforming but this could be detrimental since dependence is related to intellectual achievement. independence or nonconforming behavior is related more to assertive and leads to creative thinking and high levels of achievement. Girls may lower their effort or ability or intentionally performing poorly. even successful try to hide their abilities with more feminine ones like being super mom and super wife.

teachers respond to boys and girls differently even in preschool they tend teach them gender stereotype ways and encourage these behaviors. Boys are more criticized for cross gender behavior than girls. Teachers interrupt girls conversations more than boys and they pay more attention to boys assertive play. Teachers acted more positively to the students who followed gender appropriate behavior. Teachers are influence interests by encouraging boys in math and science and girls in literature. They pick up on this and develop a higher interest in it.

Some children decide they do not fit the stereotype and want a different type of relationship where they prefer to have a same sex partner. Typically this decision is a process that some children are aware by 4th grade. They do not prefer gender appropriate behaviors. Patterns were similar for both boys and girls. Sexual questioning impaired self concepts more than the other way around. Boys act first then label later while girls label first and act later. Act meaning sexual encounters. Identity integration is the final milestone of the process where they accept there decision and come out to there family. More young people are coming out earlier than they were before. Mothers are much more accepting of their child's sexual orientation than are fathers. Ethnicity and religion are huge predictors of acceptance. Same sex preference could be both biological and environmental but gay and lesbian parents do not have gay or lesbian children.

Possessing both masculine and feminine psychological characteristics. Children who have this they tend to not have preferences of play, activities and they better adjusted and more creative. Children who are higher in masculine and adrogynous tend to have higher self esteems then those who are more feminine.

Multischematic- possessing both multiple cultural schema s for responding to the environment, and the necessary criteria for deciding what schema to use in particular situations. Children cann learn to use less stereotypes.