Gender Development Flashcards
(39 cards)
3 way to approach thinking about gender?
- Behaviour (preferences, normative behaviour, etc.)
- Conceptual understanding (gender identity)
- Biological level of analysis
Gender Differences Across Development, 1 year?
Toy preferences as early as 1 year
- Not only preference for gender typical boys but neutral toys if believed gender appropriate
Latter half of their second year (1-2 years)
- Form gender-related expectations about the kinds of objects and activities that are typically associated with males and females.
Gender Differences Across Development, Toddlerhood (2-3)?
Age 2-3:
Learn which gender group they belong to and by age 3, to use gender terms (e.g., “boy”, “this is a boy toy”) in their speech
- Their behaviour also becomes gender-differentiated, particularly in play:
Rough and tumble play
Competition (I can jump higher than you!”)
Pretend play (heroes vs. families)
Aggression
- Gender Differences Across Development, preschool years?
Preschool period:
Increase in gender differentiation in play and among same-sex peers.
- Avoid peers who violate gender-typical behaviour
- Gender segregation appears to be culturally universal
Gender segregation in play
- Percent of social playtime that preschool and fist-grade children spent with children of their own or the other gender
Gender Differences Across Development, middle childhood? (Communication/Social Interactions Styles) + 9-10 years
Peer groups tend to establish somewhat different gender-role norms for behaviour
- Boys (Agency), value self assertion and peer groups are more likely to reflect norms of dominance, self reliance and hiding vulnerability.
- Girls (Communion), value affiliation or a balance of self assertion and affiliation; peer groups are more likely to reflect norms of intimacy, collaboration and emotional sharing.
Communication/Social Interactions Styles
- Shared emotion (girls) vs. shared activities/interests (boys)
- Social problem solving: Compromises vs. physical force
9-10 years:
Start to show understanding that gender is a social category and that gender roles are social conventions not biological outcomes.
- Realise that gender discrimination is unfair and noticing when it occurs.
Gender Differences Across Development, Adolescence?
Adolescence can be a period of either increased gender-role intensification or increased gender-role flexibility
- Gender-role intensification:
Heightened concerns with adhering to traditional gender roles
- Gender-role flexibility:
Allows adolescents (girls more than boys) to transcend traditional conventions and pursue a more flexible range of interests
Key question when observing gender differences?
what sources accounts for gender differences??
“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.” – Plato, The Republic
What source for gender difference is Plato stating?
Gender is something we socialise
“It does appear that on many, many different human attributes – height, weight, propensity for criminality, overall IQ, mathematical ability, scientific ability – there is relatively clear evidence that whatever the difference in means – which can be debated – there is a difference in the standard deviation, and variability of a male and a female population. And that is true with respect to attributes that are and are not plausibly, culturally determined…there is reasonably strong evidence of taste differences between little girls and little boys that are not easy to attribute to socialization.” – Summers, President of Harvard University, 2005
What source for gender difference is Summer stating?
Biological differences
Gender (and gender differences) has been explained in terms of….??
socialisation and biology -> Learn this well!
What is Gender socialization?
Focus on how children learn gender-typed attitudes and behaviours though observation, inference, and practice
Observational Learning? (gender segregation & gender-typed activities)
- Because of gender segregation they witness same gender activities more
- Children see and experience the roles of men and women in society, resulting in gender-typed activities
- Attend mote to, and remember better, info about same gender activities/toys
4 key processes for social leaning theories?
- Attention (to gender info)
- Memory (for that info)
- Motivation (to repeat gender typed behaviour)
- Production (of gender behaviour)
Gender Schema Theory?
Gender schemas:
Organised mental representations (concepts, beliefs, memories) about gender, including gender stereotypes. Ex, ways to talk, look, play, etc. in-group/out-group distinction
Gender self-socialisation? Part of which theory?
Part of Gender Schema Theory
- Child detainees what other info they learn about gender
- E.g. initial prefs for trucks leads them to learn more about trucks and little about dolls.
Confirmation bias in gender schema theory?
Tendency to retain schema-consistent and ignore or distort schema-inconsistent information.
Gender schema theory holds that the motivation to enact
gender-typed behavior begins …..??
soon after children can
label other people’s and their own gender during
toddlerhood. AKA around 3
Social Cognitive Theory
Learning about gender occurs via 3 processes?
Tuition:
Learning though direct teaching.
Enactive experience:
Learning to take account the reactions one’s past behaviour has evoked in others. “Oh.. you are going to wear that..” “Is she pretty?”
Modeling / Observational learning:
Learning though watching other people and the consequences other experience as a results of their actions.
Parents DO to reinforce gender (4)
- Reward gender stereotypical behaviour
- Buy gender stereotypical toys
- Are supportive of gender stereotypical play
- Talk differently to children (e.g. emotions)
Parents DO NOT to reinforce gender (3)
- Display a difference in warmth
- Differ in interactions or responsiveness
- Restrict activities
Conversational differences parents do to reinforce gender? (3)
- Parents often convey messages about gender though gender-essentialist statements
- Fathers tend to use more instructional talk with sons than with daughter
- Parents and other adults are more likely to comment on girl’s physical appearance and attire than on boys’
Father play a particularly active role in instilling male behaviours in their sons and in enforcing the avoidance of feminine behaviours. How?
What matter the most is if the father does any non stereotypical chores around the house, e.g. domestic duties
Social Role Theory?
- Emphasise how cultural practices both reflect and perpetuate gender divisions.
- According to social role theory, different expectations for each gender stem from the division of labor between men and women in a given society.
Social Role Theory: Parents frequently assign different chores to boys and girls?
- Boys, tasks performed outside the home that involve tolls and machines
- Girls, tasks inside the home, particularly helping to care for younger siblings
