Chapter 4 Flashcards
what sparked the creative parenting movement?
parents that decided to raise their kids as they/them and decided to let their kids decide when they were ready, to choose their gender
how do parents engage in gender stereotyping after the birth of their infants?
by saying things like “what a strong grip he has”
biological sense (gendered actions that parents encourage from children can shape childrens brain development)
decorated childrens rooms, picking out gendered clothes
what what age do children recognize the social category of sex?
3 months old
at what age do children make associations between peoples sex and the gender typed activities that they perform?
age 2
major theories of gender development fall into two broad categories, what are they?
social learning theories
cognitive theories
what are social learning theories?
theories proposing that children learn gendered beliefs, behavior and preferences by observing and imitating models and by receiving reinforcement and punishment from others
ex. a boy might observe his father roughhousing with his brother, imitate this rowdy behavior and receive praise from his parents, if a girl were to do this they might be reprimanded
what do the social learning theories and cognitive theories have in common?
both types of theories address a set of common questions about how children acquire gendered beliefs and preferences
ex. both address gender identity, gender stereotypes, gendered self views, gender roles, gender preferences, gender based prejudices
what was freuds psychosexual stage theory?
freud proposed that children identify with and model themselves after their same- sex parent as a means of resolving unconscious anxieties about sexual urges, resentment and jealousy, and punishment concerns
ex. young girls develop penis envy when they discover that they lack a penis, this leads to unconscious anxiety that they must resolve through identification with the mother
what is sex typing?
the process by which individuals acquire gendered behavior patterns
who is the first major source of socialization for children?
parents
what are the ways in which parents teach gender to children?
- parents act as models for expected gender roles and behaviors
- parents are a source of reward and punishment in childrens gender socialization
what is cross sex behavior?
behavior that is strongly associated with a sex group other than ones own (boys generally get less flexibility than girls to pursue this. i.e. playing with dolls)
to not reinforce this fathers might ignore their sons when they play with dolls but play with their sons when they play with trucks
if parents are a source of childrens gender role development does it make a difference what sex they are? i.e. gay parents
gender identities, gender role behaviors and sexual orientations develop in similar ways among children of gay and straight parents
is there a difference in the gender development of children raised in single parent households? in comparison to two parent households?
no
what is the difference between children of lesbian parents and children of heterosexual parents?
children of lesbian parents display less rigid gender stereotyping than children of heterosexual parents this occurs most likely because of their experiences of being socialized within a nontraditional family arrangement
what are parent child interactions?
parent and child both influence one another which contributes to the child’s development
what are the two forms of parent child interactions?
- children’s temperaments can influence how parents treat them (ex. dont raise voice at daughters)
- even when parents treat male and female children similarly, children may respond differently to such treatment
if a child has older brothers or sisters would you expect the child to be exposed to different gender messages?
yes, they tend to have the most traditionally sex typical behaviors compared to those with both brothers and sisters as well as only children
does africa, east asia and the middle east value girls or boys more?
boys, because they carry on the family name (so they will get more nutrition, health care and education)
what is a sex ratio?
the number of men per woman in a given population or locale
why might cultures that value sons over daughters have skewed sex ratios?
because they might abort girls (ex. in china they had a one child limit, so they would abort the girl so they could have a boy)
how can teachers impact childrens gender development?
in many cultures children spend hours a day at school so teachers serve as models of gendered behavior and can influence children’s adoption of gender stereotypes (ex. “good morning boys and girls”)
from what ages are childrens friends only the same sex as them?
age 3 to puberty
what role might sex segregation have in childrens gender socialization?
leads children to adopt more sex typical behavior and reduce cross sex behavior and can produce sex differences in behavior, relationship styles and emotional expressions (ex. girls that only hangout with girls show increases in sadness)
accross 6375 fictional childrens television programs in 24 countries, are women normally the character lead or is it male?
male by a long shot (sex differences are even larger for nonhuman characters than human characters)
what is preferential looking?
consists of showing infants two different things and examining how much time they spend looking at each one (infants as young as 3-8 months of age prefer looking at sex- typical toys of sex atypical ones
how much time do children spend playing with gender neutral toys?
75% of the time i.e. puzzles, crayons (20% of the time with sex typical toys and 5% of the time with sex atypical toys)
what are the arguments for the one side of the debate that toy marketing should be gender neutral?
allows all children to develop important skills (ex. building)
encourages children to play with both male and female typed toys
may encourage brain growth in ways that can increase childrens life opportunities (experiences with different types of toys can strengthen neural circuits while unused neural circuits tend to weaken)
what are the arguments for the one side of the debate that toy marketing should not be gender neutral?
sex differences in toy preferences show up early in life
ex. lego has always been gender neutral, however 91% of their customers were boys, it wasnt until they released “lego friends” (pink lego with cute non boxy characters) that lego was more liked by girls
what are cognitive theories?
theories proposing that children learn gender by progressing through a series of increasingly sophisticated cognitive stages, and that the emergence of sex typed cognitions causes children to learn sex- typed behaviors and preferences
cognitive developmental theory progresses through three stages of increasing maturity, what are the stages?
- children develop gender identity (ability to identify the self as a boy or girl and label others according to sex) age 2 or 3
- gender stability (sex remains invariant across time. ex. a girl who has gender stability understands that she may be a “mommy” when she grows up but not a “daddy”) age 4 or 5
- gender consistency (recognition that sex is largely fixed. before this stage girls might think they can get a short haircut to become a boy) age 6 or 7
what are gender schemas?
mental model about gender, based on prior learning and experience that guides how people interpret, process and remember new gender relevant information
what is gender schema theory?
proposes that gender schemas guide how people interpret, process and remember new gender relevant information
ex. child might see that her mom always does laundry and associate laundry with a female behavior
what are self concepts?
the entire set of an individuals beliefs, feelings and knowledge about the self (helps to explain how people come to develop gendered self views)
what does gender aschematic mean?
lacking the tendency to use gender as an important schema for understanding the world
does the sight of the faces activate gender stereotypes for gender aschematic individuals?
no
what is developmental intergroup theory?
a variant of gender schema theory that emphasizes how groups shape the formation of gender stereotypes and prejudices in children
(assumes that individuals tend to appraise groups positively as soon as they identify with the group)
what is in group bias?
favoritism for ones own sex group over other sex groups
why might children develop gender stereotypes and gender based prejudices in in group bias?
because children watch adults divide the world based on sex (i.e. boys in one line and girls in another when playing games)
in the classroom where teachers made sex most noticeable, how did that affect the children?
children engaged in more gender stereotyping, displayed more in group bias and played less with other sex peers (therefore childrens gender stereotypes and in group bias can be increased or decreased by the amount of labeling that teachers use, even in a short amount of time)
what is the gender self socialization model?
integrates assumptions from other cognitive approaches and focuses on the dynamic links among gender identity, gender stereotypes and gendered self views
the gender self socialization model proposes that children form three sets of cognitive associations about gender, what are they?
those that connect the self to a sex group (gender identity)
those that connect sex groups to traits (gender stereotypes)
those that connect self to traits (gendered self views)
ex. children that identify more strongly with their sex “i am a girl” and endorse gender stereotypes more strongly “girls are friendly” will be especially likely to develop gendered self views “ i am friendly”
do children develop gender because they imitate others and receive reinforcement? or do children develop gender because their beliefs guide their actions and their interpretations of the world?
each process actively reinforces the other so both processes are at work
what is the constructivist ecological perspective?
a model asserting that gender development occurs through a dynamic and reciprocal interaction between children and their surrounding contexts
psychologists tend to study two forms of gender nonconformity in childhood, what are they?
- some children display cross sex behavior (play preferences that deviate from traditional expectations)
- some children display a gender identity that is at odds with the sex they are assigned at birth (these children might be nonbinary or trans)
powerful social and cognitive factors encourage children to adopt gender typical roles, traits and interests, if gender nonconformity goes against the normative messages that children receive, why does it occur?
genes and biology (genes that code for childhood play preferences may code for sexual orientation)
biological factors only account for some of the variance in gender nonconformity, indicating that social factors must play a role. what might these social factors be?
parents
what is the biased interaction theory?
theory that addresses the broad question of how people come to think of themselves as male female or outside the binary. assumes that biological factors (chromosomes and prenatal hormones) predispose individuals to display temperaments and tendencies that are classified by societies as masculine or feminine
what is the implicit association test?
a reaction time test that measuress how strongly different concepts are associated in memory
do transgender children and cisgender peers differ on self report measures?
not significantly
what did the implicit association test reveal about transgender children?
that they associate themselves just as strongly as cisgender children do with concepts that match their gender identity and distance equally strongly from concepts that do not match their gender identity
what is the milestone model of transgender identity development?
the model captures several of the major turning points reported by transwomen and transmen in their gender identity development
what are the best ways for sexual minority adolescents to cope with the stresses of bullying, rejection and stigma?
seeking social support from LGB specific groups or services
looking for alternative friends and living situations
using cognitive strategies such as imagining a better future or trying not to think about it
what are side effects for girls that enter puberty earlier than others?
negative body image
increased risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and risky behavior (drinking, drugs, sexual activity)
what are side effects for boys that enter puberty earlier than others?
more popular
higher self esteem
positive body image (more muscular, taller..)
what is the gender intensification hypothesis?
the hypothesis that gender role socialization pressures increase during adolescence resulting in increases in adolescents gendered self views
ex. young women approaching puberty face increasing pressure to adopt caregiving traits of emotionality and self sacrifice
what is emerging adulthood?
in western industrialized nations, the period of life between ages 18 to 25 when people transition to more adult roles and responsibilities
what is familism?
a set of collectivistic social values that promote loyalty, support and interdependence among family members
what are cross sex friendships?
friendships with the opposite sex
at what age does western involvement in dating increase?
ages 12-13
in emerging adulthood who scores higher on measures of communal self views?
women
did womens self concepts grow more agentic or more communal in the mid 1970s to 1990s? what about from 1990s to 2012?
agentic
self concepts grew slightly less communal
did mens self concepts grow more agentic or more communal in the mid 1970s to 1990s? what about from 1990s to 2012?
changed relatively little
looking at gendered self views across cultures, a counterintuitive pattern emerges, what is it?
sex differences in young adults gendered self views are larger in cultures that have more gender equality
ex. women score higher than men on warmth and men score higher on competitiveness, these sex differences are larger in european and north american cultures than in african and asian cultures
what is the motherhood mandate?
the societal expectation that women should have children and invest significant time and energy in raising them
how are women who are child free by choice stereotyped?
lacking warmth and elicit feelings of envy and moral outrage
what is hegemonic masculinity?
culturally idealized version of manhood that legitimizes mens dominant position in societies
what is the precarious manhood hypothesis?
hypothesis that manhood (relative to womanhood) is a social status that is hard to earn and easy to lose and that requires continual validation in the form of public action
what is womanhood conceptualized as?
stable social status that emerges from biological changes
what does “ideal” manhood require? what if a man fails to reach this ideal?
social achievements (success)
if men fail to achieve ideal manhood standards they risk losing their gender status in other peoples eyes
what is degendering theory?
proposes that gender becomes a less central aspect of the self as people grow older (starting to get proven not true)
what does it mean that women tend to have richer social networks than men?
women have larger sets of people they can rely on for emotional support and practical assistance as they age
who has a larger chance of depression, heterosexual women when their husband dies or heterosexual men when their wife dies?
men, because they rely more heavily on their wives
what is the double standard of aging?
idea that womens social value tends to decline with age as their beauty and sexual appeal fade, while mens value increases with age as their life experience and social status increase
