Chapter 13: 13.3 Gender Identity and 13.4 Gender Roles in Transition

Describe how children's interactions with peers changes as they age and as they learn more about gender stereotypes.

- During the preschool years, children prefer playing with same-sex peers. -By age 10 or 11 vast majority of peer activity is with same-sex children. -These preferences reaches a peak in adolescence. -By adulthood the tides have turned, even so, often work is separated by gender.

How does behavioral genetic research, such as twin studies, show the impact of heredity on gender role learning.

- If one identical twin strongly prefers gender typical toys and activities, the other one does too. -Fraternal twins are also similar in their preferences but not to the same extent as identical twins.

How do fathers treat their sons and daughters differently?

-Fathers often encourage gender related play -Fathers may push their sons to achieve more but accept dependence in their daughters.

How are men and women depicted on t.v?

-Women on t.v. are often depicted as emotional, passive, and weak. -Men on t.v. are often depicted as rational, active, and strong. They are often cast in management roles.

How do teachers contribute to defining gender roles?

-teachers help to differentiate gender roles by making gender more evident in the classroom. -Teachers often spend more time interacting with boys than girls.

Who/what are the different people and media that help a child to form a gender identity?

1. Parents 2. Teachers 3. Peers 4. Television

How can parents help children go beyond traditional gender roles?

1. Parents should be sure that they themselves are not gender bound. 2. Parents should not base decisions about children's toys, activities, and chores on the child's gender. 3. It's not feasible for parents to shelter their children from forces outside the home, such a media and teachers who often work against parents who want their children to go beyond traditional gender roles. *Parents can encourage children to think critically about others' gender based decisions.

According to Kohlberg what do preschoolers come to understand about gender?

According to Kohlberg, preschoolers come to understand that gender is stable, that boys become men and that girls become women. But at this age, they believe that a girl who wears her hair like a boy will become a boy, and likewise a boy who plays with dolls will become a girl.

What hormone affects the prenatal development of brain regions critical for masculine and feminine gender role behavior?

Androgen

When do children begin learning about gender typical behaviors?

As soon that they learn that gender is stable

Whose interactions with peers is typically constricting boys or girls?

Boys interactions tend to be constricting.

How does boys' constricting style have an evolutionary basis?

Boys' concerns about dominating others may stem from a concern with establishing one's rank among a group of males, because those males have better access to mates, and resources needed for offspring.

According to Kohlberg, at what age do children come to understand that maleness and femaleness do not change over situations or according to situations. (I.e. you don't suddenly become a girl by playing with dolls or a boy cutting your hair short)

By 5 or 6 years of age (elementary school), children learn that gender is stable.

When does a child's play with other peers show the impact of gender stereotypes?

By age 3 many children's play shows the impact of gender stereotypes. Youngsters are also critical of peers who engage in inappropriate play.

What does evolutionary development psychology have to say about gender roles and gender identity?

Evolutionary developmental psychology reminds us that men and women performed vastly different roles for much of human history. Women were invested in child rearing, and men were more invested providing resources for their children. In adapting to these roles, different traits and behaviors evolved for men and women. (Ex: male aggressiveness was adaptive in helping them to hunt and ward off predators.)

T/F: Teaching children to adopt non-traditional views of gender is easy.

False; it's challenging

Who is more likely to treat sons and daughters differently, mothers or fathers?

Fathers are more likely to treat sons and daughters differently.

How does girls' enabling style have an evolutionary basis?

Girl's concern about affiliation may be a byproduct of the fact that women left their own communities to live in their husband's community and needed the enhanced value of having a friend.

Are the benefits of androgyny better for girls or for boys?

Girls

Whose interactions with peers is typically enabling boys or girls?

Girls interactions tend to be enabling.

Androgynous

Having a combination of gender-role traits that includes both instrumental and expressive behaviors.

Summary of 13.3

In conclusion, biology, the socializing influence of people, media, and the child's own efforts to understand gender typical behavior (gender-role schema) all contribute to gender roles and differences.

What is an enabling style?

It is an interaction style in which children's actions and remarks tend to support others and to sustain the interaction.

What is a constricting style?

It is an interaction style, in which one child tries to emerge as the victor by threatening or contradicting the others, or by exaggerating.

What is the newer view of gender roles based on?

It is based on the independent dimensions of instrumentality and expressiveness. In this view, traditional males are rated high on instrumentality but low on expressiveness.

What does the gender-schema theory prove?

It proves that male and female becomes much more salient (evident) to a child after they understand gender.

What does the new view of gender roles recognize?

It recognize that many combinations of traits are possible and not just masculinity and femininity seen as ends of a continuum.

What was the family lifestyles project?

It was research that examined families in which the parents were members of the 1960's and 1970's counterculture and were deeply committed to raising their children without traditional gender stereotypes.

What is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)?

It's a genetic disorder in which, beginning in pre-natal development, the adrenal glands secrete large amounts of androgen. During childhood and adolescence girls with CAH prefer masculine activities to a much greater extent than girls who were not exposed to large amounts of androgen.

Who was one of the first psychologists to describe children's understanding of gender, and believed that toddlers know that they are either boys or girls and label themselves accordingly?

Lawrence Kohlberg, he also describes moral development as a sequence of stages.

How do mothers treat their sons and daughters?

Mothers are more likely to respond based on their knowledge of the individual child's needs, where as fathers are more likely to respond based on stereotypes

Do twin studies tell us what factors are responsible?

No, but they do point to a biological basis for gender-role learning.

Did the children of the family lifestyles project have many gender stereotypes?

No, they had very few gender stereotypes.

What is the gender-schema theory? And who was it proposed by?

The gender-schema theory was proposed by Carol Martin. According to gender-schema theory, children first decide whether an object, activity, or behavior is female or male, then decide whether or not they should learn more about the object, activity or behavior.

According to social cognitive theorists, such as Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel, how do children learn gender roles?

They learn gender roles in a similar way that they learn other social behaviors, by watching the world around them (i.e. through observation) and learning the outcomes of their actions.

T/F: In the U.S. the range of acceptable roles for girls, boys, men, and women has never been greater than today.

True

What happens when both styles of interactions are brought together?

When the two styles are brought together, girls often find that their enabling style is quite ineffective with boys.

Are androgynous children often better adjusted than children whose gender roles are highly stereotyped?

Yes

Can children learn less stereotyped views of gender?

Yes

Do theorists believe that androgyny is psychologically healthier than acting with either expressiveness or instrumentality alone?

Yes

Is it true that apart from parents, teachers may be the most influential adults in children's lives?

Yes

Is it true that boys will often receive more negative feedback for doing feminine considered things?

Yes

Is it true that children who watch a lot of t.v. often have more stereotyped views of males and females?

Yes

Is it true that boys learn mainly from boys and girls learn mainly from girls?

Yes, and eventually social segregation by sex reinforces gender differences in play.

Do parents respond differently to behavior related to gender roles?

Yes.