Chapter 13: Gender and Development Flashcards
what is a persons sex
person’s biological identity
Chromosomes, physical identity and hormones
what is a persons gender
“Socially and culturally constructed roles, relationships, behaviours, relative power and other traits that society ascribes to females, males and people of diverse gender identities”
gender stereotypes
beliefs about how males and females differ in personality traits, interests, and behaviours
how do we view men and women
Most adults associate different traits with men and women
In North America, males are seen as instrumental, women as expressive
what does it mean to be instrumental
acts on world and influence it (action based). Men said to be independent, competitive, aggressive, outgoing, ambitious, self-confident, and dominant
what does it mean to be expressive
emotional functioning, valuing interpersonal relationships. Women said to be emotional, kind, creative, considerate, gentle, excitable, and aware of the others feelings
knowledge of gender-stereotyped activities at what age?
by age 4
- begun to learn about behaviours and traits that are stereotypically masculine/feminine
preschoolers gender-stereotyped activities
Preschoolers believe boys more often aggressive physically, and girls tend to be aggressive verbally
learning gender stereotypes during elementary school
- children learn that traits and occupations associated with males have higher status
older children see stereotypes as
- general guidelines that are not necessarily binding for all boys and girls, older children more willing than younger to ignore stereotypes when judging other children
o older children’s cognitive development allows them to understand that stereotypes are generalizations that do not necessarily apply to all people
girls vs boys and gender stereotypes
girls tend to be more flexible about stereotypes
adolescents from middle-class homes tend to
have more flexible ideas about gender than those from lower-class homes
- better educated middle class parents may impart less rigid views of gender to their children
Differences in physical development and behaviour between boys and girls
boys tend to be bigger, stronger, faster, more active
girls tend to be healthier, and better on tasks requiring fine-motor coordination, female embryos are more likely than male embryos to survive prenatal development
physical development of boys
- infant boys more prone to birth complications, and throughout life
- prone to many diseases and dysfunctions
- more likely to engage in unhealthy, risk-taking behaviours (drinking alcohol, reckless driving, sexual activity)
- bigger, stronger, faster, more active
verbal ability girls vs boys
- girls excel at reading, spelling, and writing, and are less likely to have language-related difficulties, larger vocabularies, more talkative
- boys: more are diagnosed with language-related problems such as reading disability, or specific language impairment
- left hemisphere may develop more quickly, it is central to language, more mature in girls
- mothers tend to talk more to girls than boys
spatial ability boys vs girls
boys tend to surpass girls at mental rotation and determining relations between objects in space
spatial memory boys vs girls
- ability to remember the position of objects in the environment
- females tend to have better memory for spatial locations of objects
math: girls vs boys
- girls tend to perform better on tests than boys in elementary schools, but this reverses in high school and college
- Efforts to encourage girls in math and science have succeeded in reducing gender gaps in these subjects
differences in personality and social behaviour
GIRLS
- Girls tend to use relational aggression rather than physical aggression, they hurt others by damaging their relationship with peers
- Girls tend to be better than boys at expressing emotions and interpreting others emotions
BOYS
- Boys are more likely to be physically aggressive
- Boys are exposed to aggressive male models in the media
- Parents tend to be more tolerant of aggressive behaviour in sons than daughters
aggressive behaviour linked to
to androgens, hormones secreted by testes
Androgens make it more likely that boys will be aggressive by making them more excitable or easily angered and by making boys stronger
why are girls better at expressing emotions and interpreting others emotions
- Regions of the brains temporal loves that play role in processing emotional expression develop more rapidly in girls than in boys
- Parents are more “feeling oriented” with daughters than with sons, more likely to talk about emotions with girls and emphasize the importance of considering others