Module 11 - Gender Development Flashcards
Sex
Sex refers to biological differences
Sex is typically associated with physical sex characteristics, chromosomes, and hormones.
While sex is often categorized as male or female, there is variation in the biological aspects of sex. For example, intersex is a general term used for people who are born with sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit traditional male or female anatomy
Gender
Gender refers to socially constructed roles, behaviours, and attitudes.
While gender is often categorized as feminine or masculine, gender exists on a continuum and is not binary, and it can change over time.
Gender identity influences how people understand themselves, their relationships with others, and their interactions with society.
Historically, masculine and feminine behaviours were differentiated by
Assertion
Affiliation
Cooperation
Assertion (gendered behaviours)
Tendency to exert influence over the environment via competitive, independent, or aggressive behaviours
For example, standing up for yourself, being assertive, getting your way in a situation.
Stereotypically masculine
Affiliation
Making connections with others via being emotionally open, empathic, or cooperative.
For example, putting effort into relationships, valuing relationships, intimacy, willing to compromise.
Stereotypically feminine
Cooperation
Associated with gender role flexibility, which involves a coordination of assertion and affiliation.
This is sometimes referred to as androgyny.
Gender Typing
The process of gender socialization and development.
Gender-typed behaviour
Those traditionally associated with a given person’s gender (gender stereotyped).
For example, in our current society, a little girl playing with dolls would be a gender-typed behaviour.
Cross gender-typed behaviour
Those traditionally associated with the gender other than that of a given person
For example, in our current society, a little girl who enjoys racing toy trucks would be an example of cross-gender-typed behaviour.
Sex vs Gender
sex refers to the biological basis of being male, female, or somewhere in between.
In contrast, gender is socially constructed by society. Gender exists on a continuum of masculinity and femininity.
Some researcher study sex and gender together, as a view of the whole person.
Key Biological Theories (gender development)
Evolutionary theory
Neuroscience approaches
What are the theoretical models of gender development?
Biological theories of gender development
Cognitive theories of gender development
Evolutionary Theory
Males and females have different evolutionary purposes. For example, males hunt and compete for mates, whereas females play a crucial role in child-rearing. Many societies today still promote these gender stereotypes.
What is The main issue with evolutionary theory ?
its reliance on circular reasoning. We say things evolved this way because that’s what was needed to survive. How do we know that? Well, that’s because that’s what things are like now (see the circularity).
Biosocial Theory (related to evolutionary theory)
argues that while men and women evolved to have such gender differences, these differences are no longer relevant in today’s society.
For example, men evolved to have greater physical strength than women because this was evolutionarily advantageous. However, having greater physical strength does not promote survival today.
Neuroscience approaches
Neuroscience approaches to gender development consider how hormones impact neurodevelopmental differences. In particular, androgens impact brain development. Most of these impacts occur either prenatally (i.e., when the brain is being built) or during puberty (i.e., when the brain is being re-organized).
Specifically, hormones impact development in two key ways:
-Organizing influences
-Activating influences
Activating influences (neuroscience approaches)
Differences in hormones leading to differences in behaviour. While there are no structural changes, different hormone levels lead to differences in brain function and behaviour.
Organizing influences (neuroscience approaches)
Affect brain organization prenatally and in puberty. That is, there are structural differences in the brain.
Neuroscience approaches have found that women….?
tend to be less lateralized in the brain than men.
For example, men tend to process language mainly in the left hemisphere and spatial stimuli in the right hemisphere. But for women, there would be more activation on both sides when processing this information.
Additionally, women also tend to have larger corpus callosum than men (the bundle of fibres that connects the two hemispheres).
Key Cognitive Theories (gender development)
1) Kolhberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
- Gender Schema Theory
- Social Identity Theory
- Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (gender dev)
argues that gender-typed behaviours are modeled and reinforced.
This theory argues that children learn about gender through:
- tuition
- Enactive experience
- Observation
Tuition
learning through direct teaching
This is direct teaching about what it means to be a boy or a girl (not what you pay to take this class…). For example, girls may receive explicit instructions from adults about gender-typed behaviours like “girls don’t play contact sports”. Parents might also be the ones to buy gender-typed toys and dress their children in gender-typed clothes.
Enactive Experience
learning to take into account the reactions one’s past behavior has evoked in others
Children evoke reactions from others and tend to be positively reinforced for gender-typed behaviours. For example, boys are more likely to be punished by adults for cross-gender-typed behaviours like wearing makeup or engaging in cross-gender-typed play.
Observations
learning through watching other people and the consequences others experience as a result of their actions
Children learn indirectly from watching others and the media. Indeed, children are more likely to spend time with adults and peers of the same sex, so there are lots of opportunities for vicarious reinforcement. This also means that there are fewer opportunities for children to observe cross-gendered behaviours (e.g., a Dad who cooks and cleans the house). Interestingly, we find that girls are more willing to imitate men than boys are willing to imitate women.
Kolhberg’s cognitive developmental theory
Kolhberg’s cognitive developmental theory is influenced by Piagetian Theory and the idea that children construct their own knowledge about gender. That is, children form gender schemas by observing the world around them.
This theory consists of three stages:
1) Gender Identity
2) Gender Stability
3) Gender Consistency
Gender identity
self-identifying as a boy or a girl (or possibly as both or possibly neither)
Gender identity: by ~30 months old, children can reliably label their own gender.
Gender Constancy
realization that gender is invariant despite superficial changes in a person’s appearance or behavior
Once children understand gender identity, gender stability, gender consistency, they are said to have gender constancy and are able to then understand gender stereotypes.
We know now that this is not true, however, as children hold gender stereotypes long before they achieve gender constancy.
Gender Schema Filter
initial evaluation of information as relevant for one’s own gender
the key idea in gender schema theory is that children attend to information relevant to our own gender, and ignore, misinterpret, or actively reject any inconsistencies. This is known as a gender schema filter.
Gender Consistency
Gender consistency: by ages 5-6, children understand that gender tends to be stable across situations.
For example, they now understand that a male doll wearing a dress is still a boy. I
n other words, children by this age generally understand that gender does not change (as adults we realize gender is a bit more complicated than this, but this is how a 5-year-old generally would understand things).
Gender Stability
awareness that gender remains the same over time
Gender stability: by ages 3-4 years old, child understand that gender tends to be stable across time.
For example, a girl realizes that she will grow up to be a “mommy”. However, this gender stability does not necessarily apply to other people.
For example, if you put a dress on a male doll and ask a 3-year-old if it’s a boy or a girl, they’ll tell you it’s a girl.
Gender Schema Theory
Gender schema theory combines social learning, information-processing, and cognitive approaches.
This theory argues that gender-typed behaviours occur as soon as children can label their own gender
Social Identity Theory
Social identity theory is based on in-group/out-group ideas from social psychology.
Specifically, according to in-group bias, we prefer our own group and conform to group norms (in-group assimilation).
Thus, once children identify with a gender, they tend to prefer that gender group. This means that gender-typed behaviours become stronger over time.
postulated that the high-status group is more valued.
interest filter ( Gender Schema theory)
initial evaluation of information as being personally interesting
For ambiguous stimuli, however, information is processed using an interest filter. So if you don’t know whether something is “for” your gender or not, you approach it based on your interest.
social identity theory postulated that the high-status group is more valued - what does this mean?
male-dominated societies, masculine-associated behaviours like assertiveness tend to be more valued.
-cross-gender-typed behaviours are more common among girls than boys. This is because masculine behaviours are often more valued by society.
- gender-typing pressures are more strict for boys. This is because feminine behaviours are devalued by society.
-When it comes to children, this means that being a “tom-boy” would be much more acceptable for girls than feminine behaviours would be for a boy.
Biological theories tend to focus on
the nature side of things (e.g., role of hormones).
Cognitive theories tend to focus on
how children nurture side of things (e.g., how children learn about gender).
According to Kolhberg, children categorize themselves as either a boy or a girl around
30 months
Statement supporting Bandura’s social cognitive theory of gender
Boys are more likely to be praised by adults when they engage in masculine-typed activities than when they engage in feminine-typed activities
Gender schema theory
Focuses on attention to gender-relevant information
Social Identity Theory
Focuses on in-group/out-group bias
Kolberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
How children construct their own knowledge about gender
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
How gendered behaviours are modeled and reinforced
Neuroscience approaches
How hormones influence brain development
Evolutionary Theory
Focuses on evolved differences in males and females
Children can distinguish between male and female genders as early as
6-9 months of age.
Infancy and toddlerhood gender milestones
Children can distinguish between male and female genders as early as 6-9 months of age.
Around 24 months old, children have gender expectations, and children can consistently label their own gender by 2.5 years old.
At 12m, both girls and boys tended to look more at the dolls. This is thought to be related to infants’ early preference for human faces.
By 18m, girls demonstrated a preference for dolls, whereas boys demonstrated a preference for vehicles.
At 23m, however, girls were equally likely to look at the doll and the vehicle. Boys, on the other hand, showed a strong preference for looking at the vehicle.
this research highlights that girls’ and boys’ preferences for gender-typed toys emerges early in development (i.e., between 12 and 18 months of age). This result suggests that infants prefer gender-typed toys even before they can reliably label their own gender identity.
Why does gender segregation occur?
One reason gender segregation is thought to occur is differences in preferred types of play. Although stereotypical, boys tend to prefer rough and tumble play whereas girls tend to prefer quieter, cooperative play activities. Over time, as children become more and more segregated, conformity pressures may also play a role.
Childhood gender Milestones
Gender segregation begins in preschool and peaks in middle childhood. This means that boys tend to play with other boys, and girls tend to play with other girls. This is generally universal across cultures.
middle childhood (e.g., ages 9-10) children start to understand that gender is socially constructed.
gender development in transgender children
In contrast to their cisgender (a person whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth) peers, transgender children have spent time living as both genders.
gender development is the result of a complex interweaving of nature and nurture factors. By studying transgender children, however, we can aim to better understand these influences.
For example, a transgender boy may have XX chromosomes, female genitalia, been assigned as a girl at birth, and treated like a girl from others. However, this individual may self-identify as a boy and self-socialize as a boy. Gulgoz et al. (2019) attempted to disentangle some of these effects in their research.
transgender children’s gender development
mirrored their cisgender counterparts on every measure
For example, this means that transgender boys self-identified as boys, preferred masculine toys, and preferred to be friends with other boys to the same extent that cisgender boys do (and vice versa for girls).
transgender children showed a clear pattern of gender development associated with
their current gender and not with their sex assigned at birth
key ingredient in gender development
how children self-socialize their own gender.
In other words, neither sex assigned at birth nor indirect gender socialization (e.g., being treated as a girl) seems to impact gender identity. This does not mean that gender socialization does not impact gender development at all–just that it doesn’t seem to impact gender identity as a boy or a girl.
Adolescence Gender Milestones
two main processes unfold related to gender development:
1)Gender-role intensification
2) Gender-role flexibility
Over adolescence, more opposite-sex friendships occur. This corresponds with puberty and the emergence of romantic relationships.
Gender-role intensification
heightened concerns with adhering to traditional gender roles that may occur during adolescence
gender-role intensification involves an intensification of gendered behaviours. For example, girls that were once “tom boys” may become more “girly” and worry more about how they look. This tends to be associated with increased interest in romantic relationships. Given the changing perspectives of gender roles in today’s society, this may not occur to the same extent as it once did
Gender-role flexibility
recognition of gender roles as social conventions and adoption of more flexible attitudes and interests
increasing cognitive development in adolescence also leads to an understanding of gender-role flexibility. Adolescents have the ability to think abstractly and reason about stereotypes, which can encourage a loosening of gender stereotypes.
Children develop an understanding of gender discrimination (and its unfairness) during which developmental stage?
Middle childhood
During adolescence, gender roles become ____________ depending on individual and contextual factors.
Either more rigid or more flexible
Effect Size
An effect size is an indicator of the magnitude of an effect – how large or how small a difference is
magnitude of difference between two group’s averages and the amount of overlap in their distributions
statistically significant
just because something is “statistically significant” does not necessarily mean it is a meaningful effect.
Statistical significance is impacted by many factors, such as sample size. It is important to consider both statistical significance (is there a true difference, not due to chance?) and effect size (when there is a difference, how big is it?) when interpreting a result.
Cohen’s d
a statistic often used to measure overlapping distributions at different effect sizes.
(0.2 = small effect, 0.5 = medium, 0.8 = large).
negligible (trivial) if the two distributions overlap more than 85%;
small but meaningful if the distributions overlap between 67% and 85% (Figure 15.1a);
medium if the distributions overlap between 53% and 66% (Figure 15.1b);
and large if the overlap is less than 53%
Gender Differences - Physical Growth
most babies do not “look” male or female – it’s really just how adults present them to the world that provides other people with cues about their gender.
While there are no observable differences between male and female infants (other than genitalia), they tend to be treated quite differently from a very young age.
When children play spatial games frequently…
Their brains changes physically within just 3 months
Gender Differences in Physical Growth in ADOLESCENCE
Although girls tend to experience their “growth spurt” first, boys become much stronger, heavier, and taller than girls after puberty (very large effect).
Gender Differences in Physical Growth in CHILDHOOD
Boys and girls tend to grow at the same rate in terms of weight and height.
But, boys start to gain more strength (medium effect).
Gender Development - Cognitive Abilities and Academics
Overall, there are very few differences in IQ between boys and girls. In other words, boys and girls are equal in most aspects of intelligence and cognitive functioning
However, slightly more boys are classified as being intellectually gifted and as having an intellectual disability.
Academics - Girls
Higher levels of overall school achievement. We see this trend start as early as elementary school, with girls being more likely to graduate high school and continue to post-secondary education (at Queen’s, 60% of all undergrads are female!). Women are more likely than men to receive a Master’s degree, but men are still more likely to receive a PhD. Nonetheless, this is a massive societal shift over the last several decades.
Better in reading (small effect) and writing (medium effect)
Academics - Boys
Better visual-spatial skills (small effect)
Better math skills (small effect, but difference decreasing). Interestingly, this gender difference does not emerge until high school. There are no differences in math skills in elementary school. More STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers (but difference decreasing)
Why do we see these gender differences in academic achievement?
While there may be some underlying biological mechanisms to explain these gender differences (e.g., brain lateralization), they are generally thought to be primarily due to environmental influences in several domains;
-Parents
-Teachers
-Peers
-Culture
gender differences in academic achievement - Parent domain
learning opportunities are often gender-typed. For example, research finds that mothers spend more time talking to their daughters, which may help develop their language abilities.
When parents hold gender stereotypes about children’s strengths and interests, this can impact child development. Often times, stereotypical beliefs are formed well before actual gender differences emerge.
For example, parents of girls tend to rate their math abilities lower than do parents of boys, even when there are no actual differences between them.
gender differences in academic achievement - Teachers domain
teachers are role models that model and reinforce children’s gender development. When male teachers tend to teach math and science, and female teachers tend to teach French and English, this can reinforce gender stereotypes for these subjects.
Additionally, teachers can also hold gender stereotypes about children’s abilities. They may offer differential encouragement or have different expectations about the boys and girls that they teach.
gender differences in academic achievement - Peers domain
peers influence children’s play activities and establish social norms for behaviour.
For example, if all of your friends are playing video games or playing with Legos, you are also likely to be doing these things. Given that boys spend more time playing video games than girls, this may be related to improvement in their visual-spatial skills.
gender differences in academic achievement - Culture domain
gender differences vary depending on one’s culture. In cultures where there are more women in STEM careers, the magnitude of these gender differences are less pronounced. In cultures where girls are not encouraged to attend school, these gender differences are more pronounced.
Interpersonal Goals and Communication (girls)
Emphasize intimacy and support as goals (small to medium effect)
More self-disclosure of personal thoughts and feelings (small to medium effect)
Interpersonal Goals and Communication (boys)
Emphasize dominance and power as goals (small to medium effect)
When it comes to communication, it can be either high or low on what domains?
assertion and affiliation
High Assertion + High Affiliation = Collaborative (“Let’s play tag!”)
High Assertion + Low Affiliation = Controlling (“Pick up the ball”)
Low Assertion + High Affiliation = Obliging (“Sure, that’s fine”)
Low Assertion + Low Affiliation = Withdrawing (no response)
Crossing Assertion and Affiliation domains results in four communication styles
Collaborative: involves a mutual goal, making a connection, but also guiding and directing the action
Controlling: essentially an order, there is direction without connection
Obliging: agreeing, going along with the direction from another person
Withdrawing: ignoring, not responding to the interaction
What is the most common communication style for boys and girls?
Collaboration is the most common communication style for boys and girls. However, we also see that girls use collaboration more than boys. In contrast, boys use controlling communication more than girls.
Gender communication - Motivational Influences
Remember that males and females tend to have different underlying goals in relationships, which in turn influence communication styles. Because males tend to have dominant goals in relationships, it makes sense that their communication style would be more controlling.
Why do we see these gender differences in communication?
- Motivational Influences
- Parental Influences
- Peer Influences
Gender communication - Parental Influences
If children observe gender-typed communication patterns among adults, this influences their own communication. Indeed, we see that mothers tend to use collaborative speech more often, whereas fathers tend to use controlling speech more often.
The biggest gender difference when it comes to children’s development is
physical size: boys are larger and stronger than girls on average. Differences in academic achievement and communication are largely related to environmental influences.
Gender communication - Peer Influences
As we learned already, children tend to spend most of their time in gender-segregated peer groups.
Biological theories tend to focus on ___________________. Cognitive theories tend to focus on ___________________
evolved sex differences, how children learn about gender from the world around them
When does Gender segregation tend to peak ?
During middle school
What theory provides a framework for answering this question: if children only approach toys that are “for them”, they limit the learning opportunities that come from playing with a wider variety of toys?
Gender Schema Theory
Pink gives permission research study
Boys preferred the masculine toys, regardless of their colours. In other words, colour did not impact boys’ toy preferences.
Girls disliked the masculine toys that were painted in masculine colours. In other words, when "boys' toys" were painted pink and purple, girls showed as much interest in them as they did for gender-stereotyped toys.
This suggests that children often use colour (not toy type) to determine whether it is “for boys” or “for girls”.
To understand gender development, it is important to keep in mind three points:
1) girls and boys generally are not opposites; similarities are more common than differences (Hyde, 2005).
2) not all girls are alike, and not all boys are alike. There is considerable variability within each gender in abilities and behavior.
3) gender is more than simply the dichotomy of being raised as a girl or a boy
Why do many children have different gender-related preferences?
the combined influences of physiological, psychological, and cultural processes on gender development (Leaper, 2015a), but they differ among themselves in how much they stress particular factors in their explanations for observed gender differences
Some researchers argue that certain differences in females’ and males’ behavior reflect underlying physiological differences that emerged over the course of human evolution
What do psychologists place more emphasis on when it comes to gender-related preferences?
social and cognitive influences (Bigler & Liben, 2007; Bussey & Bandura, 1999; Martin, Ruble, & Szkrybalo, 2002; Tobin et al., 2010).
They focus on the social influences of family, peers, teachers, and the culture at large, as well as on the impact of cognitive processes such as gender-related beliefs and gender identity.
Sex
distinction between genetic females (XX) and genetic males (XY) as well as other genetic sex compositions (e. g., XO, XXY, XYY)
Gender
social assignment or self-categorization as “a girl” or “a boy” (or possibly both, neither, or a different category)
Cisgender
individuals who identify with their gender assigned at birth (or their biological sex)
Transgender
individuals who do not identify with the gender assigned at birth (which is typically based on their external genitalia)
Bigender
individuals who identify with two genders
agender
individuals who do not identify with any gender category
nonbinary
individuals who do not identify exclusively as one gender; also referred to as
genderqueer
gender-fluid
individuals who self-identify with different gender categories depending on the context
dimorphic system
meaning that the biological system can only take one of two forms and that its effects on the brain, gender identity, or other outcomes can only take one of two forms.
If sex is dimorphic, then all parts of the system must be typical of either females or males. However, neuroscience research suggests a different conclusion.
Challenges to gender binary
1) Neuorscience:
note the fallacies of thinking of sex as a dimorphic system (there is no binary between having a “female brain” or a “male brain.”)
2) Neuroendicrinology:
address the common belief that there are “male hormones” (such as androgens, including testosterone) and “female hormones” (such as estrogens). However, both sets of hormones are present in all humans, though there are some average sex differences in the levels of some hormones.
3) Psychology:
As in the case of brains, behavior is a mosaic— individuals usually exhibit a mixture of feminine-typed (i.e., more common among women) and masculine-typed (i.e., more common among men) behaviors.
4) research with transgender and nonbinary individuals:
Persons with transgender or nonbinary identities are found in cultures across the world, both currently and throughout history.
5) psychology research documenting how cultural practices establish gender (or sex) as a binary category:
explain how environmental conditions can increase the salience of the gender binary. This process commonly occurs through cultural norms of appearance (e.g., blue for boys, pink for girls), verbal labeling (e.g., “Good morning, girls and boys”), and the use of gender categories to organize activities (e.g., gender-segregated bathrooms, toy departments, sports teams, and so on).
Gender typing
the process of gender socialization
Gender typed
behaviors stereotyped or expected for a given person’s assigned gender
cross-gender typed
behaviors stereotyped or expected for the gender other than that of a given person
gender non-confirming
individuals who are highly cross-gender-typed in relation to their assigned gender
meta- analysis
statistical method used to summarize average effect size and statistical significance across several research studies
Neuroscience approaches
- Genes
- Hormones and Brain functioning
- Brain structure and functioning
Researchers who take a neuroscience approach focus on testing whether and how genes, hormones, and brain functioning relate to variations in gender development
Androgens
class of steroid hormones that normally occur at slightly higher levels in males than in females and that affect physical development and functioning from the prenatal period onward
Androgens and other hormones can also have ……… on the nervous system?
organizing or activating influences on the nervous system.
Organizing influences occur when certain sex-linked hormones affect brain differentiation and organization during prenatal development or at puberty.
Activating influences occur when fluctuations in sex-linked hormone levels influence the contemporaneous activation of certain brain and behavioral responses
organizing influences
potential result of certain sex-linked hormones affecting brain differentiation and organization during prenatal development or at puberty.
For example, sex-related differences in prenatal androgens may influence the organization and functioning of the nervous system; in turn, this may be related to later average gender differences in certain play preferences
Activating influences
potential result of certain fluctuations in sex-linked hormone levels affecting the contemporaneous activation of the nervous system and corresponding behavioral responses
For instance, the body increases androgen production in response to perceived threats, with possible implications for gender differences in aggression
Self socialization
active process during development whereby children’s cognitions lead them to perceive the world and to act in accord with their expectations and beliefs
own-gender schema
consisting of detailed knowledge about how to do things that are consistent with one’s own gender.
What is own-gender schema a consequence of?
Children use an ingroup/outgroup gender schema to classify other people as being either “the same as me” or not.
The motivation for cognitive consistency leads them to prefer, pay attention to, and remember more about others of their own gender.
Gender Schema
organized mental representations (concepts, beliefs, memories) about gender, including gender stereotypes
Gender schemas are also responsible for…
biased processing and remembering of information about gender.
What are the two kinds of filters when processing information that Liben and Bigler (2002) proposed children use about the world?
1) gender schema filter
2) interest filter
Although gender schemas are resistant to change…
they can be modified in many children through explicit instruction and encouragement.
However, Given the pervasiveness of gender stereotyping in children’s everyday lives, cognitive interventions need to be sustained to have a longer-lasting effect.
Observational learning of gender-role information involves four key processes:
attention, memory, production, and motivation.
To learn new information, it must, of course, be attended to (noticed) and then stored in memory.
Self efficacy
When individuals experience positive self-reactions for their behavior, they gain the sense of personal agency referred to as self-efficacy
Ingroup Bias
tendency to evaluate individuals and characteristics of the ingroup more positively than or as superior to those of the outgroup
One way to increase the salience of gender is to? (Salience refers to how readily we notice something.)
make it a perceptually distinctive attribute about persons. Familiar examples include the uses of gender-differentiated colors (pink versus blue), as well as hair and clothing styles.
Ingroup assimilation
process whereby individuals are socialized to conform to the group’s norms, demonstrating the characteristics that define the ingroup
Intersectionality
the interconnection of social identities such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class, especially in relation to overlapping experiences of discrimination and disadvantage
highlighted by the intersectionality approach, individuals can experience biases from multiple group identities (e.g., gender, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, class, religion, and so on).
felt gender typicality
a sense of belonging to one’s gender ingroup.
gender self-socialization model (GSSM)
bridges gender schema theory, social cognitive theory, social identity, and other theoretical approaches.
the GSSM emphasizes how much of gender development is a process of self-socialization (Tobin et al., 2010).
That is, children seek to discover their identities in relation to their understandings of the world around them.
In turn, they often adapt their behavior to match these understandings, as when they try to conform to expected norms for their gender.
GSSM may help us understand why some children do not identify with their assigned gender at birth
stereotype emulation hypothesis
proposes that the more children identify with their gender ingroup, the more motivated they will be to adhere to the stereotypes for their gender ingroup.
Opportunity structure (Cultural influence on gender development)
the economic and social resources offered by the macrosystem in the bioecological model, and people’s understanding of those resources.
Assertion
tendency to take action on behalf of the self through competitive, independent, or aggressive behaviors
Affiliation
tendency to affirm connection with others through being emotionally open, empathetic, or supportive
Collaboration
coordination of assertion and affiliation in behavior, such as making initiatives for joint activity
Two intersex conditions
1) congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)
2) androgen insensitivity syndrome
Cases of children with CAH and AIS offer evidence to support the premise that prenatal androgens may partly contribute to boys’ and girls’ gender identities and to gender-typed play preferences.
Intersex conditions
rare conditions in which an individual of one genetic sex can develop genitalia associated with the other genetic sex, both genetic sexes, or undergo only partial development of genitalia associated with their genetic sex
Ambivalent Sexism
model of sexism that includes two components, hostile sexism (endorsement of men’s dominance with negative views of women seeking equality) and benevolent sexism (the belief that men need to protect women, and that women and men have complementary traits)
congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)
condition during prenatal development in which the adrenal glands produce high levels of androgens; sometimes associated with masculinization of external genitalia in genetic females and sometimes associated with higher rates of masculine-stereotyped play in genetic females
associated with a recessive gene that leads to the production of high levels of androgen hormones during prenatal development.
androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)
condition during prenatal development in which androgen receptors malfunction in genetic males, impeding the formation of male external genitalia; in these cases, the child may be born with female external genitalia
Puberty
developmental period marked by the ability to reproduce and other dramatic bodily changes
menarche
onset of menstruation
Menarche is triggered in part by the increase in body fat that typically occurs in adolescence.
spermarche
onset of capacity for ejaculation
adrenarche
The onset of sexual attraction correlates with the maturation of the adrenal glands stage, which are the major source of sex steroids other than the testes and ovaries.
period prior to the emergence of visible signs of puberty during which the adrenal glands mature, providing a major source of sex steroid hormones; correlates with the onset of sexual attraction
Cognitive Abilities and Academic Achievement
- General Intelligence and Overall Academic Achievement
- Verbal Skills
- Spatial Skills
-STEM related skills
Explanations for Gender Differences in Cognitive Abilities and Achievement
- Brain and hormonal influences
-Cognitive and motivational influences - Parental Influences
-Teacher influences - Peer Influences
- Cultural influences
Expectancy-value model of achievement
children are most motivated to achieve in areas in which they expect to succeed
indirect aggression (also known as relational or social aggression)
involves attempts to damage a person’s social standing or group acceptance through covert means such as negative gossip and social exclusion.
girls slightly more likely than boys to use indirect aggression. The trivial effect size may seem surprising given the popular notion of “mean girls”
Direct Aggression
Direct aggression involves overt physical or verbal acts openly intended to cause harm
direct aggression is less likely among girls than boys
When do children develop gender constancy?
About age 6.
In addition, during middle childhood, they come to understand that gender roles are social conventions. They also may understand that gender discrimination is unfair and notice when it occurs. Average gender differences in social behavior begin to emerge, with boys more likely than girls to stress assertion over affiliation, and girls more apt to emphasize affiliation or a combination of affiliation and assertion.
