Chapter 15 - Gender Development Flashcards
1
Q
Direct teaching (social learning theory)
A
- Parents do: buy gender appropriate toys (could be result of child’s pre-established preferences), are supporting of sex-appropriate play, talk differently to children (ie. About emotions)
- Parents don’t: display different in warmth, differ in # of interactions or responsiveness, restrict # of activities
2
Q
Observational learning (social learning theory)
A
- Because of gender segregated play (kids playing together according to gender) they witness same sex activities more (children increase gender segregated play from pre-school to first grade)
- Children see and experience the roles of men and women in society, resulting in gender-typed activities
- Attend more to, and remember better, info about same sex activities/toys
3
Q
Gender schema theory (theories of social cognition)
A
- Children develop gender schemas: mental representations incorporating everything they know (or believe) about gender
- Schemas lead to a confirmation bias (eg. A bias to attend to or remember info that “fits” with or confirms schema and distort or forget disconfirming info) -> Ex. Telling story about Johnny playing soccer and then doing ballet -> kids most likely to forget that he did ballet when they have to remember and recall the story a few hours later
- Gender self-socialization
- Self-fulfilling prophecies (eg. Stereotype threat)
- Gender stereotypes influenced by media (ex. More representation of males than females on TV, representation of both genders is stereotypical)
4
Q
gender self-socialization
A
- The child determines what other info they learn about gender
- Perpetuating cycle (eg. Initial preference for trucks leads them to learn more about trucks over other things and that creates more opportunities eg. To meet others with common interests)
5
Q
bioecological model (ethological and evolutionary)
A
- Children learn and are influenced by gender at
every level (all systems) - ex. occupations/genders of neighbors, media, belief systems of the culture, time period
6
Q
evolutionary model and gendered behaviours
A
- Gender behaviors are genetically based to influence survival and mating
- E.g. physical activity, aggression in males due to “hunter” characteristics, need to compete for mates
- E.g. nurturance and emotional characteristics in females, playing with dolls is the ‘caregiver’ in females
7
Q
evolutionary model and parental investment theory
A
- differences in relationships and roles due to different investment needs of males vs. females in offspring
- E.g. Males can have large numbers of offspring, females limited number and larger time commitment
- E.g. males emphasize attractiveness of mates (signs of youthfulness and health for increased reproductivity); females emphasize stability/resources (to support their more limited # of offspring)
8
Q
evolutionary model and brain structure/function
A
- Male and female brains show some small differences in physical structure.
- The corpus callosum tends to be large and more dense in women than in men.
- When engaged in cognitive tasks, male brains tend to show more unilateral activation whereas female brains show more bilateral activation
9
Q
sex-typed behaviour: biological explanations
A
- Female rats and monkeys treated with testosterone showed increased activity level, ‘rough and tumble’ play, and aggression
- Sensitive periods are different for different sex-typed
behavior (~8 weeks gestation – 6 months of age) - gender is a continuous variable (biologically)
10
Q
biological explanations: hormones during pregnancy
A
- In humans, when androgen is reduced: Preference for more feminine clothing, less ‘Tomboyish’ behavior, score lower on spatial ability
- When androgen is increased: Males enter puberty much earlier; Females have ambiguous genitalia, more “masculine” physical traits, gender identity issues (e.g. less satisfaction with gender), more time with “male”
toys and male playmates, better spatial skills
11
Q
integrating the theories
A
- Hormones and biological differences influence
gender identity and play styles - Play styles being more compatible leads to
gender segregation - Gender segregation leads to greater
opportunities to learn about gender typed behavior
and form gender schemas - Others beliefs get incorporated; e.g., peers,
adults media - All are influenced by cultural beliefs, time period
etc. (5 systems; bioecological)
12
Q
effect size of gender differences
A
- Most average gender differences in cognitive abilities are in the small range
- similarities far outweigh differences on most attributes -> “gender similarity hypothesis”
13
Q
documented gender differences
A
- verbal ability
- visual/spatial ability
- mathematical ability
- aggression
- activity level
- fear, timidity, risk-taking
- emotional expressivity
- compliance
- developmental vulnerability
14
Q
verbal ability
A
girls develop this earlier; are slightly better than boys throughout childhood and adolescence
15
Q
visual/spatial ability
A
from middle childhood on, boys outperform girls
