personality and gender Flashcards
(41 cards)
is it okay to talk about gender differences in personality?
Steven Pinker: YES!
Liz Spelke: NO!
maybe slide
why is gender differences such a dengerous topic?
- acceptance of gender differences in ability could promote discrimination
-if young children belive in differences,could inhibit sucess/hard work (self-fulfilling prophecy)
gender difference in math and science
-varies by culture: most preminent in USA, where culture dictates that math is not cool for girls
-in the 80s, American middle school boys outperform girls at the highest ability level by 13 to 1 now it is 3 to 1
-gender difference only emerges after elementary school
but what about the progress of science ?
-do we need to talk about the possibility of gender differences in order to learn the scientific truth ?
or
does this kind of conversation inherently promotes problematic gender differences
the study : does telling women that they are genetically worse at math lower their math performance ?
if so, can it be fixed by saying that
a) no real gender difference
b)there is a difference, but it’s due to environmental causes
how it worked (the study)
- female pp read an essay
- condition 1 : Essays argue for a gender difference in math, due to GENETIC factors(summers conditions)
-condition 2: Essays argue for a gender difference in math, due to EXPERIMENTAL factors(spealk condition )
-condition 3: no essay,but prime gender (standard stereotype threat)-reminder of their gender
-condition 4 : Essay argue for NO GENDER DIFFERENCES
- participants do a math test,performance is assessed
results
1- women who read the essay that said it was due to environment did the best/performed better in the test
2-read essay about no gender difference
3-reminder of their gender
4-essay that it was genetic did the worst of all
why is that?
if is due to genetics their is a lack of control, no matter what they do they will never suppress it
but if due to experience, just because is someone else’s experience doesn’t mean I cant fight against it , I have control and motivation to do better
gender difference in personality
positive effects mean men > women (more then women)
the biggest ones : assertivness,agressivness,
the lesser one / they have less: tender-mindness, anxiety,order,trust gregariousness
gender difference in emotion
women experience more negative emotions
-greater frequency and intensity
women score higher on measures of empathy
is there a gender difference in aggression ?
util age 2, No (some evidence has showed that playgrounds dominated by girls are more aggressive)
by age 4-5 . boys shows higher aggression
by adolacense boy are much more aggressive
- and conduct more problems, higher delenquacy
conduct disorder are 6-10 times more common in boys
men commit more crime across culture
who commits more homicide ?
men are 10 times more likely to commit murder
more likely against other men, and after that against women
women killing another women is very low
boys who were more agressive at 8 years of old were more likely to be convicted as criminals
the frequency of watching tv at age 8 (probably because of violence on the media) correlated with being convicted by 30 years of age
explanation of gender fifference in agression
girls show agression differently than boys:
- girls:relational aggression
-boys:overt aggression
overt agression
more likey in boys
-physical assault and verbal assault
relational agression
more likey in girls
-excluding others,withdrawing acceptance,sprending false humors
-mean girl model
study of age 3 and 6 grade children
-peers nominated agressive kids in those two categories
result:relations - were more girls
overt- were more boys
gender difference in self-esteem
girls have worst self-esteem and they decline much more then boys during adolences (but both DO decline)
why do girls show a greater self-esteem decline than boys
what happens at adolences?
-girls self-confidence fairly high until age 11 or 12
- assertive about feelings
during adolence
-many girls accept stereotypes notion of how they should be (behaviour and looks)
-repress true feeling
-adopt a nice and women - like self-presentation
adolized standers of beauty may contribute
girls bodies change with puberty,making it much harder to maintain the idealized body type presented by media
gender difference in body image studies
findings:
-men have a more positive body image than women
-gender difference was larger for more recent studies
experimental evidence:
-exposure to media showing thin body ideal linked to lower self-esteem
what was the quasi-experimental ?(evidence)
-introduction of American tv in fiji increased prevalence of eating disorders in adolescence girls,and lead to more negative body image
hypothasis? - another study
girls in countries that begin reciving magazines depicting idealized bodies images will show larger decline in self-esteem during adolescence
method
-internet sample
-34 countries
-measure self-esteem in children (9 -17)
-self esteem level droped overal between these ages
-coded each country for availability of popular women’s magazines (11 countries had access to those magazines)