Chapter 15 Flashcards
Sex (or biological sex)
applied when making comparisons based on whether one pair of a person’s 46 chromosomes is either XX (genetically female) or XY (genetically male)
what’s between your legs
male, female, intersex
Gender
refers to the categorization of people as girls or boys (or women or men)—or possibly another category
between your ears (brain)
Gender expression
refers to the particular ways that individuals manifest their gender identities through appearance and behaviour.
cisgender
identify with the gender assigned at birth
Gender identity
refers specifically to a person’s self-categorized gender
can include things like personality traits, hobbies, interests
gender roles
what your expectations of what you should do in this world based on your gender are, that’s influencing or that’s part of your gender identity.
transgender
identify with different gender than assigned at birth
nonbinary/ gender queer
do not identify exclusively as one gender
bigender
identify with both feminine and masculine genders
gender-fluid
identify with different genders depending on the context
agender
do not identify with any gender category
gendertyping
The process of gender socialization during development
Gender typed
describes attitudes and behaviours associated with the cultural norms for a given person’s assigned or self-identified gender
when you’re engaging in what is like stereotypical behaviours for your gender.
Cross gender typed
opposite of gender typed
refers to behaviours that are contrary to those cultural norms.
For example, playing with dolls is gender-typed for cisgender girls and cross-gender-typed for cisgender boys.
Gender non-conforming
describes children who are highly cross-gender-typed in relation to their assigned or self-identified gender.
This category includes children with transgender or nonbinary gender identities, but the term is also applied to cisgender children with cross-gender-typed interests,
minoritized
refers to members of marginalized or subordinate groups who are subject to systemic prejudice and discrimination from dominant members in a society.
Gender minoritized
-Women, trans, nonbinary
Sexual minoritized
-Lesbian
-Gay
-Bisexual
-Queer
Stereotypes
generalized beliefs and expectations about individuals based on their group membership, which are often either exaggerated or false
Discrimination
occurs when individuals treat persons unfavourably or favourably based on those persons’ group membership.
Prejudice
occurs when individuals hold biased attitudes towards a person based on their group membership.
Sexism
occurs when individuals treat persons unfavourably or favourably based on those persons’ group membership.
Gender similarities hypothesis
Similarities between girls and boys far outweigh their differences
theoretical approaches
biology
cognitive and motivational influences
cultural
Theoretical Approaches: Biology- Biological influences
genes
hormones
brain structure
Theoretical Approaches: Biology-
Biological influences
Genes
XX chromosomes for females
XY chromosomes for males
Some rare conditions cause people to miss or have an extra sex chromosome
So males and females will have genetic predispositions towards certain behaviours
males for aggression, women for nurturing
Theoretical Approaches: Biology-
Biological influences
hormones
there are fluctuations in sex linked hormone levels that influence the activation of certain brain and behavioural responses. So the hormones are activating something now. So here the body increases androgen production when there are perceived threats.
some researchers see that that that activation of androgen is partially why you would see that gender divide where males are more aggressive than females.
So they have higher androgen levels, higher testosterone levels.
Organizing influences occur when certain sex-linked hormones affect brain differentiation and organization during prenatal development or at puberty.
—So the organizing influences of hormones is when sex linked hormones affect brain differentiation and organization during prenatal development as well as puberty later on. So this could be things like, like sex differences in like a fetus on like androgens, like on those kinds of sex hormones. There are differences in a fetus and also like, like testosterone, things like that. There are obvious differences in levels between males and females, and that’s the organizing kinds of effects.
Activating influences occur when fluctuations in sex-linked hormone levels influence the contemporaneous activation of certain brain and behavioural responses
—creating those gender differences
Theoretical Approaches: Biology-
Biological influences
brain structure
adult male and female brains show some negligible to small average differences in the physical structure of some regions
no brain structures are unique to one sex
Theoretical Approaches: Cognitive and motivational- Cognitive and motivational influences
Self socialization
focus on how children learn gender-typed behaviour
four pertinent cognitive theories of gender development
self-socialization
individuals use their beliefs, expectations, and preferences to guide how they perceive the world, the actions they choose, and the behaviours they practice.
Self-socialization occurs in gender development when children seek to behave in accord with their gender identity as a girl or a boy—or possibly as transgender or nonbinary.
four pertinent cognitive theories of gender development
Cognitive developmental theory
Gender schema theory
Social cognitive theory
Social identity theory
Theoretical Approaches: cultural- cultural influences: opportunity structure
Resources and opportunities provided based on group membership
the resources and opportunities provided are based on your group membership.
this is referring to this concept of opportunity structure.
Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory
Identity→ stability→ constancy
Gender constancy is indicated when children understand that a person’s gender identity does not typically change over time (gender stability) or across different situations (gender consistency).
So with Kohlberg’s theory, he saw that children are actually constructing knowledge about gender just in the same way that like when we talked Piaget he said that a child is actively constructing their knowledge of the physical world. Kohlberg is saying the same thing about gender development.
So he would say that you’re observing and interacting with the world to better understand what your gender is.
So he believed that a child’s understanding of gender is a three stage process.
Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory- identity stage
just past the age of two, a child acquire what he’s referring to as a gender identity.
So self categorizing themselves as a girl or a boy or both or other.
don’t realize that gender is permanent. (doesn’t realize that a little boy grow up to be a bigger boy, not a big girl)
Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory- gender stability
around the ages of three and four, a child will now believe that gender remains the same over time.
So I’m a girl today, I’m going to be a girl tomorrow, there’s that stability.
But at this stage, they don’t understand that gender is independent of the parents.
Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory- constancy
gender becoming more consistent with children
gender development is done
gender is constant regardless of changes in their appearance or behaviour
Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory issues
didn’t take nonbinary and transgender kids into account
Gender schema theory
Gender schema→ ingroups/ outgroups→ own-gender schema
child seeks out gender typed behaviour
earlier than kohlberg said (within 3 years instead of 6)
A child’s understanding of their gender will develop through the construction of gender schemas.
So this is like memories of interacting with males and females, stereotypes that were like, transmitted to you by your parents or media.
Another piece of gender schema theory is ingroups and outgroups.
So children, they’ll pay more attention to people of their own gender, own gender is ingroup and other gender is outgroup. causes child to develop gender schema
gender schema is detailed knowledge about how to be whatever your own gender is.
2 filters when processing info about gender
gender schema filter
interest filter
type of information-processing theory, whereby individuals’ gender schemas guide what they notice, how they interpret information, and what they remember
Gender schema filter
is this info relevant for my gender?”
Interest filter
“is this info interesting to me?”
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
theory distinguishes amongst three different modes of learning—with an emphasis on observational learning.
learning occurs through tuition, enactive experience, and observation.
tuition
direct teaching
refers to direct teaching during gender socialization, such as a father showing his son how to throw a baseball, or a mother teaching her daughter how to change a baby’s diaper
Enactive experience
occurs when children learn to guide their behaviour based on the feedback that their past behaviour has evoked in others.
For instance, girls and boys usually receive positive reactions for behaviours that are gender-typed and negative reactions for behaviours that are cross-gender-typed; in turn, they are likely to use this feedback to regulate their behaviour in relevant situations.
Observational learning
the most common form of learning—occurs through seeing and encoding other people’s behaviour and noticing the positive or negative consequences they experience for their actions.
Observational learning of gender-role info, four key processes
Observational learning of gender-role info, four key processes
Attention→ memory→ production→ motivation (self regulation)
- To learn new information, the child first must pay attention when it occurs
- store their experience in memory.
- The next step is known as production, whereby children need to practice (i.e., produce) the behaviour that they observed (assuming that the behaviour is within their capabilities).
- So with this last piece for motivation, so child is motivated to repeat gender-typed behaviour and this is all dependent on the rewards and punishments that they get.
Over time, external sanctions are usually internalized as personal standards and become self-sanctions that motivate and regulate behaviour.
Social Identity theory
the whole premise behind social identity theory is it focuses on group memberships and how it impacts our social identities.
So like how we’re presenting ourselves to people, to everybody else.
addresses the influence of group membership on people’s self-concepts and behaviour with others.
In-group bias
in-group assimilation
In-group bias
So here people will have a tendency to view people of their own in-group and those characteristics that they possess to be positive, superior or better than the outgroups.
refers to the tendency to evaluate individuals and characteristics associated with the ingroup more positively than (or superior to) those associated with the outgroup.
in-group assimilation
here we’re being socialized to conform to those group norms that are valued, and that’s what helps define our belonging to that in-group and helps keep us in that in-group because we’re following those social norms that whoever has said we need to follow.
individuals increasingly conform to the group’s norms.
children tend to become more gender-typed in their preferences as they assimilate into their same-gender peer groups
Belonging to a group often leads members to view that group as distinct.
—This tendency leads to a process of between-group contrast whereby the differences between one’s ingroup and other groups are exaggerated
In combination, ingroup bias and between-group contrast may lead to prejudiced attitudes towards outgroup members.
high-status groups
— groups that are valued more and seen as more powerful
intersectionality
different factors are making up our social identity. This is all part of how we present ourselves to the people around us. And it all affects how we behave in our own little pockets of the world.
intersection of multiple identities that affect a person’s experiences—particularly in the contexts of overlapping systems of discrimination or disadvantage related to these identities
Sets more nuanced expectations
Compounding negative effects
Key milestones- infancy and toddlerhood
Gender cues to identify others
Gender stereotypes (objects/ activities)
Gender self-labelling
Key milestones- Preschool years
Gender stereotypes (characteristics)
Toy and play preferences
Gender segregations
—“Ewww cooties!”
Key milestones- Middle childhood
Flexibility in gender stereotypes
gender= social construct
—start to show a clearer understanding that gender roles are social conventions as opposed to being fixed to the person’s gender
Gender discrimination
Key milestones- adolescence
Intensification (internalize gender roles as personal values) OR flexibility (reject traditional gender roles)
—–Intensification commonly occurs in the context of heterosexual dating when adolescents usually adhere to traditional heterosexual scripts.
Increases in harassment/ bullying
Increased intimacy in same-gender friendships and self-disclosure (mostly girls do self-disclosure)
Gender centrality
refers to the personal importance that individuals place on their own-gender identity.
