Chapter 14

Question 1

Gender typing

Answer 1

Process by which a child becomes aware of his or her gender and acquires motives, values, and behaviours considered appropriate for members of that sex

Question 2

Gender-role standard

Answer 2

Behaviour, value, or motive that members of a society consider more typical or appropriate for members of one sex

Question 3

Expressive role

Answer 3

Social prescription, usually directed toward females, that one should be cooperative, kind, nurturing, and sensitive to the needs of others

Question 4

Instrumental role

Answer 4

Social prescription, usually directed toward males, that one should be dominant, independent, assertive, competitive, and goal oriented.

Question 5

Sex differences in verbal ability

Answer 5

Girls have greater verbal abilities; acquire language and develop verbal skills earlier than boys & display small but consistent verbal advantage on tests of reading comprehension & speech influence

Question 6

Sex differences in visual/ spatial ability

Answer 6

Boys outperform girls; not a large advantage but it is detectable by middle childhood and persists across the lifespan

Question 7

Sex differences in mathematical ability

Answer 7

Beginning in adolescence, boys show small but consistent advantage over girls in tests of arithmetic reasoning

Girls exceed boys in computational skills & earn higher grades in math

Boys feel more confident than girls in math skills; acquire more complex problem-solving strategies that enable them to outperform girls in complex word problems, geometry.

Question 8

Sex differences in aggression

Answer 8

Boys are more physically & verbal aggressive than girls

Girls more likely to display covert forms of hostility

Boys more likely to engage in antisocial & violent behaviours

Question 9

Other sex differences

Answer 9

Activity level: boys more active starting before birth
Fear, timidity, risk-taking: girls more fearful or timid in certain situations than boys; maybe because of parental responses to risk-taking
Developmental vulnerability: boys more physically vulnerable to prenatal and perinatal hazards and to the effects of disease. Boys more likely to display variety of developmental problems
Emotional expressivity/sensitivity: Boys more like to display anger; girls more frequently display other emotions.
Compliance: girls more compliant
Self-esteem: boys show slight advantage over girls in global self esteem

Question 10

Why do cultural myths persist?

Answer 10

Stereotypes are powerful

Selective attention confirms beliefs & results in inconsistent results being unnoticed

Gender-role streatpes can be viewed as well-ingrained cognitive schemas that we use to interpret and often distort the behaviour of males and females

Question 11

Stereotype threat

Answer 11

Situation in which there is a negative stereotype about a persons group, and he or she is concerned about being judged or treated negatively on the basis of this stereotype

Question 12

Self -fulfilling prophecy

Answer 12

Phenomenon whereby people cause others to act in accordance with the expectation they have about those others

Question 13

Gender identity

Answer 13

Our awareness of our gender and its implications

Question 14

When do toddlers begin to acquire gender role stereotypes?

Answer 14

At about the same time they become aware of their basic identities as boys or girls.

Children may go through three phases. Prior to each five they engage in gender stereotyping based on characteristics such as toy preference. By age 5 to 6 this knowledge is consolidated and applied by six – believing that boys only like masculine activities and toys and girls only like feminine ones. By age 7 to 8 children use stereotypical information about masculine and feminine objects & activities to infer others preferences

Question 15

Evidence that boys face stronger pressures than girls to adhere to gender-appropriate codes of conduct:

Answer 15

-fathers of baby girls are generally willing to offer a truck to the 12 month, old daughters, but are likely to withhold dolls from their sons.
-Boys are quicker than girls to adopt gender typed toy preferences

Question 16

Why are girls drawn to male activities & the masculine role during middle childhood?

Answer 16

Because they are becoming increasingly aware that masculine behaviour is more highly valued
Girls are given more leeway than boys to partake in cross-sex activities.
Fast moving masculine games in action toys maybe more interesting than the familiar household play things imposed on girls

Question 17

Some sex difference myths:

Answer 17

Ideas that females are more sociable, suggestible, and illogical and less analytical and achievement oriented than males.

Question 18

What is the harm of cultural myths surrounding sex differences?

Answer 18

The persistence of these cultural myths can create self-fulfilling prophecies that promote sex differences in cognitive performance and steer males and females along different career paths.

Question 19

What is the developmental trend in gender typing ages 5 to 7?

Answer 19

By ages 5 to 7 kids come to realize that gender is an unchanging aspect of self.

Question 20

What is the first step in the development of gender identity?

Answer 20

By ages 2 1/2 to 3 children label themselves as boys or girls. This is the first step.

Question 21

Developmental trend in gender typing age 10 to 11

Answer 21

Children’s stereotyping of male and female personality traits is strong, and these preteens view stereotypes as obligatory prescriptions

Question 22

Evolutionary theory of gender-typing, and gender role development

Answer 22

According to evolutionary theory, males and females, faced different evolutionary pressures over the course of human history & the natural selection process created fundamental differences between males and females.

Question 23

Biosocial theory of gender-typing, and gender role development

Answer 23

Emphasizes biological developments that occur before birth and influence the way a child is socialized. Prenatal hormone differences may contribute to sex differences in play styles and aggression.

Gender role socialization plays a crucial role in determining ones gender identity & role preferences

Question 24

Cognitive developmental theory of gender typing & gender role development

Answer 24

Claims that children are self socializers and must pass through basic gender identity and gender stability before reaching gender consistency, when they selectively attend to same-sex models and become gender typed. However, research suggest a gender typing begins much earlier than Kohlberg thought and measures of gender consistency do not predict the strength of gender typing.

Question 25

Gender schema theory

Answer 25

According to Martin & Halverson’s gender schema theory, children have who established a basic gender identity, construct “in group/out group” and own-sex gender schemas. The schema serves as scripts for processing gender related information and developing gender roles. Schema-consistent information gathered is retained but schema-inconsistent information is ignored or distorted, thus perpetuating gender stereotypes that may have no basis in fact.

Question 26

Psychological androgyny:

Answer 26

Someone who possesses a fair number of masculine and feminine charactestis

Question 27

Gender segregation

Answer 27

Children’s tendency to associate with same-sex playmates and to think of the other sex as an out-group

Question 28

Why does genders segregation occur?

Answer 28

Because it reflects differences between boys and girls playe styles, an incompatibility that may stem from boys high levels of androgen which fosters active rambunctious behavior.

Also, girls are expected to play quietly and gently and are subject to criticism by both girls and boys should they become loud and rough like the boys .

Question 29

Timing-of-puberty effect

Answer 29

People that reach puberty late perform better on some visual spatial tasks than those who mature early

Question 30

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Answer 30

Genetic anomaly that causes the adrenal glands to produce unusually high levels of antigen from the prenatal period onward. Often has masculinizing effects on female fetuses.

Question 31

Androgenized females

Answer 31

Females who develop male like external genitalia, because of exposure to male sex hormones during the prenatal period.

Question 32

Psychobiosocial model

Answer 32

Cording to this model, prenatal exposure to male or female, hormones, influences, the organization of male and female brains in ways that might make boys, for example, somewhat more receptive to spatial activities, and girl someone more susceptible to quiet, verbal exchanges.
These heightened sensitivities, in concert with others beliefs about the kind of experiences most appropriate for boys and for girls, mean that boys are more Kelly to get more spatial experiences & girls verbal play activities.
The different early experiences that boys and girls have influence in neural pathways, lay down in their immature and plastic brains. So boys who receive more frequent special experiences than girls may develop a richer array of neural pathways in the areas of the brain that serves special functions, which make them even more receptive to special activities and truth quiring special skills.
Nature & nurture feed on each other.

Question 33

Social - learning theory re: gender role preference & gender identity

Answer 33

Children acquire through 1) direct tuition 2) observational learning

Question 34

Direct tuition

Answer 34

Teaching young children how to behave by reinforcing “appropriate“ behaviors and punishing or otherwise discouraging inappropriate conduct.

Question 35

Parents who show the clearest patterns of differential reinforcement or direct tuition, have children:

Answer 35

Who are relatively quick to:
label themselves as boys or girls
develop strong gender type toy & activity preferences
acquire an understanding of gender stereotypes

Question 36

Children who watch lots of TV:

Answer 36

Are more likely to preferred gender-typed activities, and hold highly stereotypes views of men and women than their classmates who watch little television

Question 37

Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory

Answer 37

Gender-role development depends on cognitive development; children must acquire certain understandings about gender before they will be influenced by their social experiences.

Children actively socialize themselves; they are not merely passive pawns of social influence.

Question 38

Difference between psychoanalytic theory & social learning theory and Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory:

Answer 38

According to the psychoanalytic theory and social learning theory, children first learn to do “boy “or “girl“ things because their parents encourage these activities, then they come to identify with or habitually imitate same-sex models, thereby acquiring a stable gender identity.
By contrast, Kohlberg suggests that children first establish a stable gender identity, and then actively seek out same-sex models and other information to learn how to act like a boy or a girl.

Question 39

What are the three stages in Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory?

Answer 39

1. Basic gender identity. By age 3 children have labelled themselves boys or girls.
2. Gender stability. Somewhat later gender is perceived as stable over time. Boys invariably become men, and girls grow up to be women.
3. Gender constancy/consistency. The gender concept is complete when the child realizes that one’s sex is also stable across situations. 5 - 7 year olds who have reached this stage are no longer fooled by appearances. For example, they know that one’s gender cannot be altered by cross dressing or taking up cross sex activities.

Question 40

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory

Answer 40

The major problem is that gender typing as well underway before the child, acquires a mature gender identity

Kohlberg states that a mature understanding of gender is necessary for gender typing to begin, but only a rudimentary understanding of gender permits children to acquire gender stereotypes and develop strong gender-typed toy and activity preferences.

Question 41

Own - sex schema:

Answer 41

Detailed knowledge of plans of action that enable a person to perform gender-consistent activities and to enact his or her gender role

Question 42

Masculine gender-typed person

Answer 42

A male or female who has many desirable masculine-stereotyped traits and few feminine ones

Question 43

Feminine gender-typed person

Answer 43

A male or female who has many feminine and few masculine-stereotyped traits

Question 44

Androgynous person

Answer 44

High in both masculine and feminine traits

Question 45

Undifferentiated individual

Answer 45

Lacks both masculine and feminine attributes

Question 46

Bem Sex Role Inventory & Personal Attributes Questionnaire

Answer 46

Both are self-perception inventories that contain a masculinity (or instrumentality) scale & a femininity ( or expressivity) scale

Differ in their approach to measuring androgyny: BSRI focuses on the desirability of possessing masculine or feminine traits; PAQ assesses likelihood of possessing certain traits in men and women.