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