Development of Gender Identification

Question 1

Gender identity

Answer 1

-in cognitive developmental theory, the ability to label oneself as a girl or boy and others as a girl, boy, woman, or man
-more generally “gender identity” refers to a person’s self-representation as male or female
(with the caveat that some individuals may not identify exclusively with either)

Question 2

Gender stability

Answer 2

recognition that gender remains constant over time, the same as a baby, now, and as an adult

Question 3

Gender consistency

Answer 3

– gender is invariant despite changes in appearance, dress, or activity

Question 4

Gender constancy

Answer 4

the belief that one’s own gender is fixed and irreversible

the realization that one’s sex is a permanent attribute tied to underlying biological properties and does not depend on superficial characteristics such as hair length, style of clothing, or choice of play activities

Question 5

Social construction

Answer 5

the cognitive structures that shape our knowledge of the world evolve through the interaction of environment and person;

social structures and conceptualizations are actively created by human beings

Question 6

Gender awareness: 1 yr

Answer 6

In first year of life, infants can distinguish between the two sexes.

• By 7mo: know male vs female voices
• 9 mo: some basic gender knowledge
• 12 mo: look to female faces when hear female voice (male face when hear male voice)

Question 7

Gender awareness: year 2-4

Answer 7

2y
-become conscious of physical differences b/t boys and girls
children engage in gender-linked behavior and prefer activities stereotypically associated with their own gender, even before they develop a sense of their own gender as constant.

-pursue same-gender activities and often shun activities linked to other gender

3y
-can label selves as boy or girl

4y
stable sense of gender identity

Question 8

Which comes first: gender labeling or gender self labeling?

Answer 8

gender labeling

Question 9

Gender categorization

Answer 9

(a socialization influence)

• At birth, infants are categorized by gender
• Parents’ descriptions of their newborns often suggest gendered beliefs (e.g., parents of newborn girls describe them as finer featured, softer, more delicate)
• Names, clothing, and decoration of infants’ rooms are often influenced by their categorization as either female or male.
• different hair styles.
• Children come to use these different physical attributes, clothing, and hair styles to indicate gender.

Question 10

Gender-linked play

Answer 10

(a socialization influence)
-objects provided and encouraged (even non-verbally) for play can influence interests, preferences in gender-traditional ways

Question 11

Gender-linked expectations

Answer 11

(a socialization influence)

• behavioral expectations and the rationale/feedback provided for them are usually culturally-influenced, but also often gender-linked (e.g., “that’s not how little girls act”)
• Historically, fathers are more stereotypic socializers

Question 12

Gender-linked socialization

Answer 12

• learning also occurs through modeling that is observed from parents, caregivers, social situations, peers, educational settings, and media.
• social interaction theory: reflected appraisals from important others (parents, peers, teachers) about oneself and one’s gender become the building blocks for one’s self-conceptualizations
• Gender-based social influences and sanctions become internalized as self-sanctions

Question 13

What are the 5 Theories of Gender Development?

Answer 13

1. psychoanalytic theory
2. cognitive development theory
3. Gender Schema theory
4. Biological theories
5. sociological theories

Question 14

How do Theories of Gender Development differ?

Answer 14

1. primary determinants emphasized for gender development (psychological, biological, sociostructural)
2. nature of the transmission models (e.g., cognitive construction, modeling, genetic, social construction)
3. temporal scope of the theory (early childhood, across the life span)

Question 15

Psychoanalytic theory and criticisms

Answer 15

• Freud
• look at intrapsychic processes driving gender identification and development
• both boys and girls initially attach to mother, then shift toward same-sex parent identification between ages 3 and 5 (occurs as resolution to anxieties from earlier erotic attachments to the opposite-sex parent and fears of retaliation from same-sex parent)

Criticisms:

• Little empirical evidence to support the link between same-sex parent identification and gender-role adoption.
• Children tend to be influenced by models who are nurturant or socially powerful rather than threatening rivals

Question 16

Cognitive development theory and criticisms

Answer 16

• Kohlberg
• Children develop a sense of gender from what they observe and experience around them.
• The interaction between the child’s thoughts (I am a girl) and behaviors (acting like a girl) lead to gender constancy. Cognitive consistency is self-satisfying, so children behave in ways that match their self-conception.
• Gender identity becomes a basic organizer for the child’s gender learning.
• Stages include gender identity, gender stability, gender consistency.

Criticisms:

• little evidence to support link b/t gender constancy (hypothesized by Kohlberg around age 6) and gender-linked behavior
• Children tend to exhibit gender-linked behavior earlier than gender constancy
• relationship between children’s understanding of gender constancy has demonstrated little relationship with their preference for gender-linked activities, preference for same-gender peers, or emulation of same-gender models.

Question 17

Gender Schema theory and criticisms

Answer 17

• ability to label oneself as male or female forms the basis for a cognitive schema for gender
• expands to include knowledge of activities, interests, personality attributes, and social scripts related to and connected with each gender.
• Children act according to their gender schema motivated by wanting to match those of their own sex.
• Gender knowledge leads one to do “girl things” and “boy things”.

Criticisms:

• Gender schema theory would predict that the more elaborated the gender-knowledge children possess, the more strongly they should show gender-linked preferences. However, this relationship receives limited empirical support.
• Children and adults vary their gender conduct depending on a variety of circumstances
• There’s also limited explication of the mechanisms for acquiring gender-linked conceptualizations and translating them into gender-linked conduct.

Question 18

Biological Theories

Answer 18

A. Evolutionary psychology
B. Hormonal influences on gender differentiation
C. Behavioral genetics

Question 19

Evolutionary Psychology and Criticisms

Answer 19

(part of Biological Theories)

• Gender differences are viewed as occurring from successful evolutionary adaptation to varying reproductive demands for males and females.
• In order to maximize the potential for passing along their genes, women have become more invested in parenting roles, while men have evolved into aggressors, social dominators, and prolific maters.

Criticisms:

• theories do not adequately address the developmental changes that occur in gender conceptualizations and gender-based conduct, nor the determinants and mechanisms governing developmental changes across the life span.
• overgeneralization
• Evolutionary predictions do not really match current behaviors for either gender.

Question 20

Hormonal influences on gender differentiation and criticism

Answer 20

(a Biological theory)

• The influence of hormones on neuronal organization, particularly brain lateralization, has been put forward to account for some gender differences.
• In short, differences in the degree of brain lateralization between males and females are proposed to produce gender differences in cognitive processing.
• The lateralization leads to girls doing better in verbal skills and boys doing better on mathematical and spatial skills

Criticism:

• actual differences in brain lateralization between genders are small or not found at all.
• gender differences in cognitive processing that were originally being explained have been diminishing at a rate that cannot be accounted for by genetic change.
• The differences between genders in verbal tasks, mathematical tasks, and spatial skills are more likely accounted for by the environments in which boys and girls learn

Question 21

Behavioral genetics and criticism

Answer 21

(a biological theory)

• Behavioral genetics findings from twin studies with children suggest that for some gender-linked personality characteristics, such as masculinity and feminity, heritability estimates range from small to moderate.
• At the same time there is a substantial contribution of non-shared environmental influences that has led researchers to increasingly focus on the impact of peers.

Criticism:

• Shared and non-shared environmental influences are likely not dichotomous and in fact are more interrelated such that parents have a strong influence on the types of peer interactions that occur for their children.
• Self-report and survey methodologies for assessing environmental and personality characteristics are questioned.
• although some attributes are more highly heritable, it does not mean they are inflexible and incapable of being modified by environment.

Question 22

Sociological Theories

Answer 22

A. Sociology

B. Social Cognitive Theory

Question 23

Sociology theory and criticism

Answer 23

• Gender is a social construction rather than a biological given.
• Gender differences are more related to social and institutional practices than to fixed properties of the individual.
• argue that the similarities between how men and women think and behave are much greater than the differences between them
• As social structures and constraints have changed, gender differences have declined.
• Cross-cultural studies highlight the extent to which gender expectations are culturally and socially bound and influenced.

Criticism:
-People are not merely influenced by and victim to their socio-cultural environment, they also contribute to the creation and maintenance of it

Question 24

Social Cognitive Theory and criticism

Answer 24

• Gender development occurs within the context of bi-directional influences; (1) Evolutionary forces encourage adaptation and change, but at the same time (2) social and environmental innovations create a level of complexity that sets up new selection pressures for more specialized biological systems and require an evolutionary response.
• Social changes in child-rearing constraints, contraception, educational and occupational opportunities have led to more rapid changes in gender development than could be accounted for by the pace of evolutionary biology alone.
• Gender development is explained in terms of a triadic reciprocal causation between (1) cognitive, affective, biological events; (2) behavior patterns; and (3) environmental events.

-through cognitive processing of direct and vicarious
experiences, children come to categorize themselves as girls or boys, gain substantial knowledge of
gender attributes and roles, and extract rules as to what types of behavior are considered appropriate for
their gender. Through social interactions, children and adults develop internal self-conceptualizations about their gender that can have a huge impact on behavior, perspective, aspirations and subsequently self-satisfaction, self-esteem, and mental well-being.

Criticism:
-the multifactorial and interactive nature of the theory is a strength, but also a challenge in terms of study design and methodology

Question 25

Sex vs gender

Answer 25

sex: biological and physical characteristic; defined by genetic and anatomic features
gender: social characterisitc; determined by culturally defined roles and behaviors

Question 26

Gender segregation

Answer 26

• across cultural groups, kids tend to segregate into same gender groups
• choose same sex playmates spontaneously

Question 27

Gender development transitions

Answer 27

-older childhood to adolescence:
chronologic age vs pubertal status

Early maturing and late maturing risks:
-increased risk for depression, panic, substance abuse, disruptive behaviors, eating disorders

Career and relationships
Marriage and first child
Aging self/aging parents

Question 28

Body dissatisfaction

Answer 28

80% of adolescent girls resported feeling dissatisfied with their bodies
40% of boys

Question 29

Depression rates

Answer 29

-during adolescence, rates for depression in girls are double that for boys across numerous cultures and countries.
Girls: sad, ruminative
Boys: angry, hostile, behavioral rxn

Anxiety disorders are more frequent and earlier in girls
Eating disorder are more prevalent in girls
Boys develop more overt aggression
Girls demonstrate more relational aggression

Question 30

Children and sexual behavior, factors to consider

Answer 30

more than 50% of kids will engage in some type of sexual behavior before their 13th birthday

Factors to consider:
age and developmental status
situational factors
environments in which sexuality is more open
family dysfunction and stress
abuse and neglect
comorbid diagnoses

Question 31

Normal, common behaviors (age 2-6)

Answer 31

touching/masturbating genitals in public/private
viewing/touching peer or new sibling genitals
showing genitals to peers
standing/sitting too close
tries to view peer/adult nudity

-behaviors transient, few, distractible

Question 32

Less common normal behaviors (2-6)

Answer 32

rubbing body against others
trying to insert tongue in mouth while kissing
touching peer/adult genitals
crude mimic of movements associated with sexual acts
sexual behaviors that are occasionally but persistently disruptive to others

transient/moderately responsive to distraction

Question 33

uncommon behaviors in normal children (2-6)

Answer 33

• asking peer/adult to engage in specific sexual acts
• inserting objects into genitals
• explicit imitation of sexual intercourse
• touching animal genitals
• sexual behaviors that are frequently disruptive to others

Question 34

rarely normal behaviors

Answer 34

• any sexual behaviors involving kids who are 4 or more years apart
• variety of sexual behaviors on a daily basis
• sexual behavior that results in emotional distress or physical pain
• sexual behaviors associated with other physically aggressive behavior
• sexual behaviors that involve coercion