exam 1 Flashcards
(105 cards)
1
Q
Sex
A
a relatively narrow term that typically refers to those inborn biological characteristics relating to reproduction such as sex chromosomes or sex organs.
2
Q
Gender
A
a broader term referring to the psychological characteristics and social categories that human culture create
3
Q
Doing gender
A
the concept that says you express gender when you interact with other people; you also perceive gender in these people. Emphasizes that gender is an active dynamic process rather than something thats stable and rigid. It is also impossible to stop doing because its part of our identity.
4
Q
Feminism
A
principle that values women’s experiences and ideas; emphasizes that women and men should be socially, economically, and legally equal. Feminism is a life philosophy, a worldview and a blueprint for justice.
- not one unified point of view but variety of perspectives
5
Q
Types of Feminism
A
- liberal feminism
- Cultural feminism
- Radical feminism
- women of color feminism
6
Q
Liberal feminism
- goal?
A
- emphasizes the goal of gender equality, giving women and men the same rights and opportunities. Argue that ppl can achieve this goal by passing laws that guarantee equal rights for women and men.
- Emphasize that bio factors have little effect on gender differences In addition these gender diffs are small and would be even smaller if women has the same opportunities as men.
- Belief that everyone benefits if we can reduce our culture’s rigid gender roles
7
Q
Cultural Feminism
- argues?
A
- emphasizes the positive qualities that are presumed to be strong in in women than in men (nurturing and care taking) –Focuses on gender differences that value women rather than on the gender similarities of liberal feminism.
- Argues that society should be restructured to emphasize cooperation rather than aggression
8
Q
Radical Feminism
A
- Argues that the basic cause of women’s oppression lies deep in the entire sex and gender system, rather than in some superficial laws and policies.
- Emphasize that sexism permeates our society from the personal level in relationships to the national/international level.
- Argue that our society needs to dramatically change is policies on sexuality and violence against women.
9
Q
Women of color feminism
A
- points out that the other three types overemphasize gender. Instead you must pay attention to other human dimensions such as ethnicity and social class
- We cannot achieve a genuine feminist approach by making a few minor adjustments to the other types. (The life of a black is different from a whites) If we want to understand a black women’s perspective you must begin with her.
10
Q
The similarities perspective
A
- believe that men and women are generally similar in their intellectual and social skills. Social forces may create some temp differences. (women in workplace more submissive bc they hold less power)
- supporters of this perspective tend to be liberal feminists
- by dememphazing gender roles and strenghintg equal rights laws they say gender similarities will increase even further
11
Q
The similarities perspective: Social constructionism
A
- individuals and cultures construct their own versions of reality based on prior experiences, social interactions, and beliefs
- argue that we can never objectively discover reality because our beliefs always influence our observations
- most psychologists support this perspective
-we tend to perceive, remember, and think about gender in a way that exaggerates the differences between women and men.
A young woman develops a female identity, for exam- ple, by learning about gender through her social interactions in her culture.
12
Q
The differences perspective
A
- argues that men and women are generally different in their intellectual and social abilities.
- Feminists who support this usually emphasize women’s positive characteristics that have been undervalued primarily bc they are assoc with women. ( emphasize women being more concerned with caregiving)
- Most likely are cultural feminists
- Typically believe essentialism can explain gender diffs
- Criticism is that if we emphasize gender differences we simply strengthen pols stereotypes on gender
13
Q
Essentialism
A
- argues that gender is a basic unchangeable characteristic that resides within an individual
- emphasize that women are more concerned than men with caregiving bc of their own inborn nature not bc society assigns women the task
- All women share the same psych characteristics which differ from mens. These characteristics are universal in every culture (*this proposal is inconsistent with WOC feminism and other cross cultural research)
14
Q
White-privelge concept
A
White ppl have certain privileges based on their skin color and they take these for granted. In contrast those from other ethnic groups lack this status. (white women being late vs. Latino women being late)
- psychologist point out that white women seldom realize this advantage and those who ignore other’s ethnicity are ignoring and important part of their identity
15
Q
White-as normative concept
A
Being white is the normal standard in our culture. White individuals don’t regard Europenan American as a ethnci group.
16
Q
Formulating the hypothesis
- 3
A
- Researchers are often committed to a certain theory and if there theory is biased against women then the researcher will have biased results.(bias the theoretical orientation)
- Psychologists may formulate a hypothesis based on previous research that is unrelated to the topic they want to study. (using children from an opharange to argue mothers should stay at home) (bias of the prev research they consider relevant)
- The nature of the researchers questions can also bias the hypothesis and effect the topics they investigate.
17
Q
Designing the study
- 4
A
- Using one biased operational definition instead of several.
- Choice of participants. Limiting specific topics of research to certain groups of people. ( lows income mothers and blacks)
- Choice of person who will conduct the study. Gender will cause biases.
- Confounding variables: Some variable other than gender that influences the two groups of men and women.
18
Q
Conducting the study - 2
A
- Researcher expectancy: the biases researchers bring to the study. Especially important in gender research bc researchers can’t help notice the gender of participants
- Participants and researchers have absorbed expectations and stereotypes about their owns behavior
19
Q
Interpreting the data
- 4
A
- Confusing statistical significance with practical: statistical means the results are not likely to occur by chance alone. Sample size has a major influence. Practical is the meaningful implications in the real world. Reseachers often only discuss statistical when they should discuss practical in gender studies.
- Ignore alt. explanations
- Misinterpret correlational data
- Making inappropriate generalizations: ex is sampling unusual populations and draw conlcusions from them
20
Q
Communicating the findings
- 4
A
- Psychologists continue to be preoccupied with gender diffs and a gender similarity is seldom considered. When a researcher summarizes results they may leave out results showing similarities and instead report any diffs found among genders.
- Biases influence the title for a research report. (gender differences)
- Selective publication: Journal editors may be more excited about gender diffs than similarities. Distorted even further when secondary sources discuss these studies.
- Media might misrepresent the population in an attempt to entice their audience.
21
Q
Critical thinking
- 4
A
- Look for potential biases in information on gender by:
1. Ask thoughtful questions about what you see or hear
2. Look for potential biases at each step you the research process
3. Determine where the conclusions are supported by the evidence that has been presented
4. Suggest alternative interpretations of the evidence
22
Q
Themes of the text
- 4
A
- Psychological gender diffs are typically small and inconsistent
- People react differently to men and women
- Women are less visible than men in many important areas
- Women differ widely from one another
23
Q
- Psychological gender diffs are typically small and inconsistent
- rejects
- Gender diffs are most likely to occur in the following three contexts:
- gender is a?
A
- Even the published literature on gender diffs show that gender similarities are more impressive than gender differences. In terms of internal psych characteristics, women and men are not that different. Gender diff studies often have a “now you see me, now you don’t” quality
- theme one also rejects the notion of essentialism
- Men and women acquire different skills and characteristics because they occupy diff social roles
- Gender diffs are most likely to occur in the following three contexts:
1. When ppl evaluate themselves rather than when a researcher records behavior objectively
2. When ppl are observed in real life situations rather than in lab settings where men and women are equal in power
3. When ppl are aware that others are evaluating them - Theme one focuses on gender as a subject variable or characteristic that influences how a person acts. Gender of the participant typically has little impact on behavior
24
Q
- People react differently to men and women
A
- Gender as a stimulus variable (as opposed to subject v) is important and is the characteristic of a person to which other ppl react.
25
3. Women are less visible than men in many important areas
our language has demonstrated Andorcentrism (male experience treated as norm)
26
4. Women differ widely from one another
Women differ in their psych characteristics, life choices and responses to bio events. Inivivdual women show so much variability that we often cannot draw any conclusions about women in general.
- this theme contradicts essentialism (that all women possess that same psych characteristics
- Whenever variability within a group is large we prob will not find a statistical significant diff between this two groups
27
Stereotypes
the BELIEFS and assumptions that we assoc with particular groups of ppl
28
Gender sterotypes
the beliefs and assumptions that we assoc with females and males. (some may be accurate but doesn't apply to all males and females)
29
Gender biases
- Includes all three: gender stereotypes, gender prejudice and gender discrimination.
incorporates beliefs attitudes, emotions and behaviors aimed at a particular group.
30
Prejudice
an EMOTIONAL reaction or ATTITUDE toward a particular group
| - usually negative but can be positive
31
Discrimination
refers to biased BEHAVIORS or treatment of a particular group of ppl
32
Invisibility of women in historical accounts
- prior to?
- history
- 4 forgotten accomplishments
- prior to 1960s the field of women's history did not exist
- Archelolgists typically focused on tools assoc with hunting (males) and ignored the fact that women provided most of the diet
- In early middle ages women fought some battles
- women are often missing from the history books because they were confined to the home.
- women often expressed themselves in fragile and anonymous art forms like music and dance that were less likely to be preserved than men's paintings and sculptures.
1. Lavinia Fontana painted portraits,
2. Artemesia Gentileschi was an artist, and inspired a movie, a novel and a exhibit
3. women often presided over monasteries before the 9th century
4. The continental congress chose Mary Katherine Godard to print the official copy of the declaration of independence
33
Gender Biases in Religion and Mythology
- 7 negative examples: christian,judaism,Hinduism,islam, buddism
- 2 accomplishments
- Women are typically portrayed as having negative characteristics
- ex: Adam and Eve- women made from men
- Judaism traditional prayer for men
- Parts of new testament treat men and women differently
- Ying and Yang: yin reps darkenss, ignorance and evil
- The islamic religion based on quaran which emphasized equal treatment of genders. But successors decided more restrictions and the current islamic cultures vary widely in treatment of women
- In hinduism a woman is typically defined in terms of her husband and a single women has no identify. Kali is a hindu goddess and monster
1. Jewish women have become more rabis and scholars
2. Women have assumed leadership in protestant religions (Katharine Jefferts Shori is the national bishop)
34
Combo of views of women from Greco- Roman mythology and religion pose several conflicting views
- 3
1. Women are evil
2. Women are terrifying sorceresses
3. Women are virtuous
35
Terms used for women
| - 3
1. Non parallel terms for men and women (lady doctor)
2. the Female member of a pair of words is much more negative, sexualized than the male member does (bachelor vs. spinster)
3. Language can infantilize women (adult women called girls)
36
The masculine generic
AKA androcentric generic is the use of masculine nouns and pronouns to refer to all human beings.
- research show that such neutral terms produce thoughts about males instead of both genders.
- people have increased use of gender neutral language
37
```
Gender biases in the media: Stereotyped representations
1. newspaper, sports, actors
2. voice stat
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
```
1. Women are relatively invisible: Underrepresented in the media; in 5 major US newspaper women constituted just 10% to 28% of the opinion columnists. 60-70% actors in tv are men. Coverage of women's sports only 6%
2. Women are relatively inaudible: Not seen much and heard even less. (no tv ad's with women's voice) 70-90% of voiceovers are male
3. Women are seldom shown working outside the home: magazines minimize the importance of pursuing a career
4. women are shown doing housework: the percentages are actually accurate.
5. Woman and men are represented differently: Men treated more seriously by media. (finding figure flaws in female politician)
6. Women's bodies are used differently from men's bodies: rarely show overweight women. Women more likely to serve a decorative function
7. Women of color are underrepresented and they are often shown in a particularly biased way: In NAmerica blacks often represented in TV programs and mags but still seldom shown in relationships. Other women of color invisible. (30% of women in Korean mag were white)
- Colored women often seen as either sinner's or saints
8. Lower social class women are underrepresented and often shown in a biased way: Tv features middle class and half of the lower income women featured in mags are black
38
Content of Male vs. Female Stereotypes
Men tend to be seen as more concerned with own self interests (agency) and women as more concerned with relationshiips and
others (communion)
• Higher status characteristics typically associated with men (strength, independence)
39
Communion
emphasizes a concern for your relationship with others ppl (gentle, warmth) stereotypically feminine
40
Agency
concern with your own self-interests (self-confident, competitive) stereotypically masculine
- however women's agency scores have been increasing over years
41
Implicit stereotypes
Stereotypes you reveal when you arent aware your stereotypes are being assessed
42
IAT
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- presents a series of words either constant with gender stereotypes
- showed that participants respond significantly faster to the stereotype consistent pairings
43
Explicit stereotypes
are those youre aware of when being tested; may lead to socially-desirable rather than honest responses
44
Contemporary Sexism: three components of prejudice
1. attitude towards women's competence
2. attitude towards women's pleasantness
3. ambivalent sexism
45
2. attitude towards women's pleasantness
2. Women are viewed as pleasant and nice Unless theyre feminists and then theyre viewed negatively
46
3. ambivalent sexism
- a combination of hostile and benevolent sexism.
Hostile Sexism- blatant kind of sexism. holding sterotypically negative views of women
Benevolent Sexism- more subtle kind an attitude that appears to be postivie to women (they are nice) but still stereotypical. Still bad because it emphasizes that women are different from men.
47
1. attitude towards women's competence
| - 3 circumstances in which women's competence is most likely to be devalued
1. Women's competence is likeley to be devalued. Bias likely strongest when a woman is acting in a stereotypically masculine fashion.
- Places women in a double blind because when the act in a feminine way they are critized but when they act in a masculine way they are critized as well.
1) Males more likely to downgrade women especially if they have traditional attitudes
2) Ppl more likely to rate women less favorable when they don't have much info on person's qualifications
3) Bias against women may be stonrgest when woman is acing in a masculine fashion
48
Real-life sexist encounters in North America
- Gender stereotyped remarks
- Demeaning comments or behaviors
- Sexual comments and behaviors (college women reported an avg of 1-2 sexist remarks and behaviors a week)
49
Gender discrimination in other cultures
In many countries the kind of discrimination discussed in the Us would be considered relatively minor.
- Women in Scandinavian countries experience less discrimination than US women
- Percent a women in parliament ranges from 24%-39% while the current number of women in the senate is 17%
- The us norm perspective encourages Us citizens to assume that women are especially well treated in society
50
Gender stereotypes and cognitive errors
errors in our though process explained by the social cognitive approach- stereotypes are belief systems that guid and simplify the way we process information include info about gender.
- A cognitive process is our tendency to divde ppl into sisal groups by males and females
- The SCA argues that stereotypes help us simplify by creating categories and categorizing gender is habitual and automatic. The problem is can cause errors bc it causes us to perceive men and women differently which only further strengthens are stereotype.
51
4 ways in which gender stereotypes encourage cog errors
1. People tend to exaggerate the contrast between women and men.
2. People tend to see the male as normative and the female as
nonstandard.
3. People tend to make biased judgments on the basis of stereotypes.
4. People tend to selectively remember information that is consistent with
gender stereotypes.
52
Gender polarization
Happens when we divide the world into two groups, male and female, we tend to see all males being similar and vice versa and the two categories being diff from each other.
- we exaggerate the similarities within a group and exaggerate the differences between groups
- This encourages ppl to downgrade individuals who deviate from this definitons
53
Attributions
particular kind of judgement; explanations about the cause of a person's behavior.
- Ppl often think a woman's success on a task is explained bc she tried hard.
54
Self-fulfilling prophecy
your expectations about someone may lead him or her to act in ways that confirm your original expectations.
55
Androgynous
- possessing high scores on femininity and masculinity scales.
- Psychologists argue that androgyny has several problems: androgynous ppl are not psychologically healthier than others. Also tempts us to believe that the solution to gender bias lies in changing the individual.
- Critics emphasize that we should instead reduce institutional sexism and discrimination
56
Internalizing gender stereotypes
Your own gender concepts consists of a wide variety of diff gender related characteristics; some based on personality traits and others based on interests.
- ppl do not have a simple constant gender identiy, instead it depends on complex factors like ethnicity and social context.
57
Gender typing
includes how children acquire their knowledge about gender and how they develop their gender-related personality characteristics, prefer- ences, skills, behaviors, and self-concepts
58
Hormones in prenatal development
- until about 6 weeks after conception, female and male embryos are virtually identical
- in about the third month after conception, the fetus’s hormones encour-age further sex differentiation, including the development of the external gen-itals. In males, the testes secrete two substances. High levels of androgen encourage the growth and development of the Wolffian ducts .Androgen also encourages the growth of the external genitals.
- the ovaries begin to make estrogen, one of the female sex hormones. However, researchers currently believe that estrogen does not play an important role in the development of female organs
59
Atypical Prenatal Development
| - 3
prenatal development sometimes takes a differ- ent pathway . The result is an intersexed infant whose biological sex is not clearly female or male
- intersexed individual, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, androgen insensitivity syndrome
60
intersexed individual
has genitals that are not clearly female or clearly male. An intersexed person also does not have the chromosomes or an internal reproductive system, gonads, hormones, and external genitals that are either consistently female or consistently male.
61
androgen insensitivity syndrome,
a condition in which genetic males (XY) produce normal amounts of androgen, but a genetic condition makes their bodies not respond to androgen. As a result, the genital tubercle does not grow into a penis; the external genitals look female. These children are usually labeled girls because they lack a penis. However, they have a shallow cavity instead of a complete vagina, and they have no uterus. This syndrome is usually discovered when they do not begin to menstruate at the normal time of puberty
62
congenital adrenal hyperplasia,
in one form of this condition, genetic females (XX) receive as much androgen as males do during prenatal development. The excess androgen causes their genitals to look somewhat masculine at birth. The tradi-tional medical treatment has been surgery—even though surgery is not med- ically necessary—so that the genitals can appear more feminine
63
Response to infant girl vs. infant boy
* Girl infants veiwed as more fine featured, delicate and feminine compared to boys
* Infants are often given sex-typed toys
64
Social Learning approach of gender development
• Children are rewarded for "gender apppropriate" behavior and are punished for "gender-inappropriate" behavior
• Children watch and imitate behavior of other people of their own gender
- According to this first component of the social learning approach, children directly learn many gender-related behaviors, based on positive and negative responses from other people
- According to the second of the two social learning components, children also learn by watching others and imitating them, a process called modeling or observational learning.
65
Cognitive developmental theory
- 3 terms
- 6
1. Children develop powerful gender schemas
2. Gender schemas- organizes info into 2 concepetual categories, female and male
3. Children actively use gender shcemas to evaluate themselves and people around them
4. Gender schemas encourage children to act in gender-typed way
5. Gender identity- a realization of one's gender
6. Once children label themselves, then they learn how to classify others in the world and they begin to prefer people, activities ect.
most consistent with their own gender identity
66
What are the various ways in which parents shape gender typing (3)
1. Gender-typed activities:
- Chores
- Toys
- Discouraging "gender-inappropriate activity", especially by fathers.
2. Conversations about emotions:
- Daughters vs. sons; daughters are encouraged to be sad
- Different emotions discussed with daughters vs sons. (anger discussed more with little boys; little boys tend to distract themsleves from sadness)
3. Attitudes About Aggression & Independence
- Research inconsistent as to parental differences for son vs. daugthers
67
What are the various ways in which peers shape gender typing? (4)
1. Rejection of nontraditional behavior
-Peers seem to be powerful infuences of gender typing Peers rejection of nontraditional behavior
2. Gender segregation:
-Boys feel entitled simply because they are boys
3. Gender Prejudice- to prefer own gender
4. Differential Treatment
Attractiveness and proscoial behavior:
Prosocial behaviors received by girls were correlated with how attractive they were. For girls who were more attractive you see more prosocial behavior.
All boys regardless of attractiveness were treated in a prosocial mannter. No corrleation
68
What are the various ways in which teachers shape gender typing?
1. Teacher's Behavior
2. Girls as invisible
3. Provide boys with more postiive feedback and attention
4. Ignore girls of color
5. Girls are discouraged of assertivenss and responsbiliby
69
What are the various ways in which the media shapes gender typing?
1. books
2. TV
1. Books
- Role models and self-esteem (most primary characters consist of males and are usually represented as independent, solving problems while girls arent)
2. Television
- Frequency of males to females
- Different activities portrayed for males vs. females (females seen at home and males are more likely to be seen in the workplace)
- Children learn gender-role sterotypes from tv (males more likely to be taught to be leaders)
- Parental control over programs and involvement are important
70
What are children’s stereotypes about activities and occupations?
1. & 2. - activities
3. & 4. - occupations
1. At an early age, children have clear ideas about activities that are “gender consistent. Older children often protest when they encounter non stereotypical behavior. ( 2-year-old children look significantly longer at a picture of a man performing a “feminine” activity, compared to their looking time for each of the other combinations of the person’s gender and the nature of the activity)
2. Children also make gender-stereotyped choices about their own activities. By the age of 5, most children also show strong preferences for “gender appropriate”
toys and adults often have difficulty persuading children to play with toys considered appropriate for the other gender.
3. children remember a greater number of gender-stereotypical toys and activities, compared to neutral or non stereotypical activities
4. Children’s gender schemas also extend to occupations. Sadly, children also show strong gender stereotypes when thinking about their own future occupations. girls typically said that they would be happy
with a stereotypically feminine occupation, but they would be angry or disgusted with a stereotypically masculine occupation.
71
adolescence
refers to the psychological
changes that occur during puberty; adolescence is the transition phase
between childhood and adulthood
72
Puberty
- age of onset puberty & menarche
- physical changes
a young girl experiences the physical changes that lead
to sexual maturity.
• Age of onset: avg of onset for menarchy is 12. It has slowly decreased over the years. Puberty typically between 10-15
• Physical Changes:
- Secondary sex characteristics-bodily features related to physical reporduction but not directly involved
- Body fat increasees
73
Menarche
or the beginning of menstruation.
74
Dysmenorrhea
| - affects how many
typically refers to painful cramps in the abdomen. It may also include headache, nausea, (not pms)
dizziness, fatigue, and pain in the lower back
- Affects 50-75% of women
- Symptoms partly psychological; highly anxious women report more menstrual pain than non-anxious
75
What are common PMS symptoms?
Symptoms can include headaches soreness swelling nausea increased sensitivity to pain acne depression anxiety low energy but no one can really agree on a definition. Mood swings commonly reported
76
What are the issues surrounding the extremes of “all women have PMS” and “no women have PMS.”
Some researchers claim all women experience PMS which isnt true and isnt fair to those who dont suffer from it
- Others claim that PMS is a cultural myth which isnt true and isnt fiar to those who do suffer from it
77
Rate of PMS
About 5-10% of women suffer from significant PMS
78
Regarding the symptoms of mood swings, what are the research biases in diagnosing PMS, including Hardie’s (1997) study?
Research biases whithin the investigation of mood swings in PMS because it involves recalling past. For example, the popular media often discuss PMS and negative moods. As a result, women may recall their moods as being more negative premenstrually
than they actually were
- Current research has gotten rid of other methods. Hardie, 1997 uses a more rigorious method
- Had 83 women keep a daily diary where they recorded emotional state, stress level, general health, exercise, laughter, crying, and menstraul bleeding. At the end of ten weeks the women completed health survey which included "I think I have PMS". Harde found that
not one of the women fit the criterian for PMS. For those who thought they had PMS they did not have more negative emotions than the
non PMS women
79
What is pre menstrual joy?
-Joan Chrisler and her colleagues noticed that the menstruation questionnaires
focused only on negative aspects of menstruation. press
had generated hundreds of articles on the negative aspects associated with the menstrual cycle
- Therefore, Chrisler and her colleagues (1994) decided to administer the Menstrual Joy Questionnaire
-They typically rated their level of arousal relatively positively when they later completed a different questionnaire about menstrual symptoms.Compared to women who had not been initially encouraged to think about the positive side of menstruation, these women were more likely to report feelings of well-being and excitement, as well as bursts of energy
- research shows some positive responses to menstruation, such as increased energy, creativity,
and psychological strength also means not preganant
80
What are the various psychological factors and cultural attitudes surrounding PMS?
- Women who report anxiety/depression more likely to report PMS. strong endorsement of traditionally
feminine gender roles
- Cultural Attitudes: soceity tells women that PMS is normal and women therfore blame emotions on PMS. This encourages women to view themselves as having a cyclinical illness. People tend to rate "menstruating women" as more irritable, sad, angry compared to the
avergae women.
- Menstruation is taboo
- Negative messages about menstruation: advertisments, magazine articles
81
issues surrounding self-esteem in adolescence.
| - metanalysis
Both studies concluded
that the average male scores are slightly—but significantly—higher in self-esteem than the average female scores. However,the gender differences are
minimal in childhood, early adolescence, and later adulthood. In contrast, the gender differences are somewhat larger during late adolescence.
Furthermore, the gender differences in self-esteem are relatively large for European Americans lower class and middle class, but they are relatively small for Black
**Gender comparisons in self-esteem are inconsistent.
The results of the gender comparison depend on several personal characteristics such as age, ethnicity, and social class
82
issues surrounding body image and physical attractiveness
-This emphasis on female attractiveness is exaggerated during adolescence. A young woman learns to view herself as an object that can be looked at and
judged by other people. Young women constantly receive the message that good looks
and physical beauty are the most important dimension for females
-young women’s general self-concepts are often shaped by whether they believe they are attractive. Researchers have found that physical appearance is the strongest predictor of self-worth in adolescent females. For
males, however, athletic competence is a stronger predictor of self-worth
83
issues surrounding cultural identity in adolescence
- cultural identity is the ideas and customs associated with a social grouping such as country of origin, ethnic group, or religion. Some evidence suggests that young women of color are more likely than young men of color to be interested in maintaining their cultural traditions,
but the results are not consistent. Whites not concerned.
- Some young women of color may initially try to reject their ethnicity
84
young women’s experiences: in middle school and high school,
- Young women often feel invisible in the classroom
- often target of sexual harassment, leading them to be less likely to choose rigorous courses and select less challenging careers.
- Many schools do not emphazise ethnic equality or social class equality
- parent encouragement also has a strong impact
85
Young women's experiences with math and science
- 2
- 3 factors that contribute to pursing careers in math and science
- most current females don't face such overt sexism bc most high school females are now eaually likely to enroll in upper level math courses. -Subtle biases may be present (math and science teachers may convey higher expectations to males and give them more encouragement)
1. Males may react negatively toward them if the are interested in these fields
2. females fell less competent and effective in these courses and seek more female typed courses
3. Parents often believe that boys are more skilled in science than girls
86
Gender issues in higher education
| - women of color
- In north America women are more likely to pursue higher edu than men
- few college professors are women
- chilly classroom climate is when faculty members treate men and women differently in the classroom
- Black women more likely than black men to attend college. (theorists suggest due to athletes high salaries)
87
issues surrounding career aspirations in adolescence
- 4 findings
- Characteristic typical of females who aspire for nontraditional carrerrs?
1. In general adolescent males and females have similar aspirations about entering prestigious careers. However more females want to go to grad school
2. Adolescent females more likely to choose carerrs that are considered non traditional for gender. (doctors)
3. Adolsecent females more likely than males to report that they have been effective in gathering future carrer info
4. Adolsecent females more likely to emphasize importance of marriage in children in future careers.
- Get high grades, independent, self confident,. assertive, stable and satisfied
88
heterosexual relationships
- young boys and girls practice gender segregation and as a result reach early adolescence with little experience
- importance source is media
- hetero romances typically last avg of 4 months but relationships last longer in late adolescence
- when a women has a boy who repsects her values the relationship can encourage her to explore important questions about her identity and self-worth
89
Lesbian Relationships
- Adolescent women who are just beginning to discover their lesbian identity rarely see positive lesbian images in the movies or on television
-Psychology researchers also pay more attention to
adolescent gay males than to adolescent lesbians
- young lesbians more likely to hear negative messages about gays and are more likely than hetoeros to be threatened or attacked
- young lesbians report that they were about 11 when they were first aware and have first real relationship at 18
90
Meta analysis
provides a statistical method for combining numerous studies on a single topic.
1. Researchers first try to locate all appropriate studies on the topic. 2. Then they perform a statistical analysis that combines the results from all these studies, taking into account the variability of the scores for both females and males.
3. This analysis calculates the size of the overall differ- ence between two groups of people, such as females and males.
91
What did Hyde find in her 2005 meta-analysis of gender differences in cognitive skills?
- 4 findings
Found:
1. 30% of comparisons were close to zero
2. 48% were small
3. 15% were moderate
4. 8% were large
- clear majority of these comparisons of cognitive abili- ties showed either no gender difference or a small gender difference
92
What are the cognitive abilities that show no consistent gender differences? (2)
1. General intelligence
| 2. Complex cognitive tasks
93
What are the gender comparisons for memory?
```
- People generally better at remembering things in which they have expertise
Women better at:
1. Remembering faces
2. Objects seen previously
3. Where they saw them
```
94
What are the gender comparisons for general verbal ability?
| 4
Genderal Verbal Ability- vocab, word association, reading comprhension shows gender similiarities
- Verbal fluencey, writing ability - women better
- Meta analysis shows gender differences doent exist amongst all general verbal abilities together
- Verbal SAT shows men slightly higher
95
What are the gender comparisons for reading disabilities?
| -2
Subjective Classification- 4x more boys
| Objective Classification shows boys and girls the same
96
What are the gender comparisons for mathematics ability?
| - 3
- General mathematics ability shows gender similarities
- Grades in mathemathtics courses show women doing better (taking less highschool math courses)
- The Math SAT- men higher; which calls into question the validity of math portion of SAT
97
what are the gender comparisons for spatial ability (including spatial visualization, spatial perception, and mental rotation)?
- Spatial Visualization show findings inconsistent ( an embedded image task) Ex: learning map info
- Spatial Perception show findings inconsitent Ex: water level test
- Mental Rotation show men are better; however task insturctions emphasizing how this ability could help in traditional female occupations causes gender diffs to disappear
98
what are the various biological explanations for the gender comparisons?
1. Gender explanations- not supported in gene evidence because if in Y chormosome then women would not be able to do it at all
2. Hormonal explanations- contradictory results; men actually do better on spatial tasks with low hormone levels
3. Brain organzation explanations- lateralization ( 2 halves of the brain operate somewhat differently) however evidence isnt complete
99
what are the various social explanations for the gender comparisons?
1.
2.
1. Expeirience - maybe men have had certain experiences that have allowed their skills to develop
a. ) lack of postiitve female images and role models in science ect.
b. ) Parents/teachers may provide different experences for males vs females c.) different expereiences with math/spatial activities outside school
2. Attitudes
a.) Parent/teachers stereotypes may affect childrens self-confidence
b.) Boys perceive themselves as more competent in math than do girls even though boys may actually receive lower grades
c.) Students tend to believe that math computers and science are assocaited with males
d.) Stereotype threat- when ones group is hampered by a negative stereotype and when reminded of ones group membership this
may cuase anxiety perfromance to suffer
100
What are the gender comparisons for self-confidence level? (2)
- Factors that influence gender differences in self confidence? (3)
1. Men often report more self confidence
2. Men's self confidence may be less influenced by evaluations by others
1. The type of setting - gender diffs are larger when ppl make public rather than private estimates
2. The type of task- Gender diffs larger on a task thats traditionally masculine
3. Personal characteristics of the individual - self efficacy
101
How did Roberts and Nolen-Hoeksema (1989) demonstrate gender differences in self-confidence stability?
- demonstrated that comments from others can influence women's self confidence.
1. asked students to work on a series of challenging cognitive tasks.
2. After several minutes, the participants rated their self-confidence in terms of the likelihood that they could do well on the task.
3. A few minutes later, half of the participants chosen at random received positive comments from the researcher other half got negative ones
4. Then rated self confidence a second time
5. Mens' self confidence ratings not significantly changed by the comments made while women's rose and fell dramatically
102
Attributions
are explanations about the causes of your behavior.
103
Difference of attributions between males and females - 3
1. The type of setting- when others around, men more likely than women to credit their own ability. When they provide attributions in private, gender responses similar
2. The type of task- Men more likely to use the ability explanation on a masculine activity and women more on feminine one
3. The age of the individual- between 13 and 25, females and males tend to have similar attribution patterns
104
gender as a subject variable
Theme 1 focuses on gender as a subject variable, or a characteristic within a person that influences the way she or he acts.
105
gender as a stimulus variable
a characteristic of a person to which other people react.
