personality and gender Flashcards
is it okay to talk about gender differences in personality?
Steven Pinker: YES!
Liz Spelke: NO!
maybe slide
why is gender differences such a dengerous topic?
- acceptance of gender differences in ability could promote discrimination
-if young children belive in differences,could inhibit sucess/hard work (self-fulfilling prophecy)
gender difference in math and science
-varies by culture: most preminent in USA, where culture dictates that math is not cool for girls
-in the 80s, American middle school boys outperform girls at the highest ability level by 13 to 1 now it is 3 to 1
-gender difference only emerges after elementary school
but what about the progress of science ?
-do we need to talk about the possibility of gender differences in order to learn the scientific truth ?
or
does this kind of conversation inherently promotes problematic gender differences
the study : does telling women that they are genetically worse at math lower their math performance ?
if so, can it be fixed by saying that
a) no real gender difference
b)there is a difference, but it’s due to environmental causes
how it worked (the study)
- female pp read an essay
- condition 1 : Essays argue for a gender difference in math, due to GENETIC factors(summers conditions)
-condition 2: Essays argue for a gender difference in math, due to EXPERIMENTAL factors(spealk condition )
-condition 3: no essay,but prime gender (standard stereotype threat)-reminder of their gender
-condition 4 : Essay argue for NO GENDER DIFFERENCES
- participants do a math test,performance is assessed
results
1- women who read the essay that said it was due to environment did the best/performed better in the test
2-read essay about no gender difference
3-reminder of their gender
4-essay that it was genetic did the worst of all
why is that?
if is due to genetics their is a lack of control, no matter what they do they will never suppress it
but if due to experience, just because is someone else’s experience doesn’t mean I cant fight against it , I have control and motivation to do better
gender difference in personality
positive effects mean men > women (more then women)
the biggest ones : assertivness,agressivness,
the lesser one / they have less: tender-mindness, anxiety,order,trust gregariousness
gender difference in emotion
women experience more negative emotions
-greater frequency and intensity
women score higher on measures of empathy
is there a gender difference in aggression ?
util age 2, No (some evidence has showed that playgrounds dominated by girls are more aggressive)
by age 4-5 . boys shows higher aggression
by adolacense boy are much more aggressive
- and conduct more problems, higher delenquacy
conduct disorder are 6-10 times more common in boys
men commit more crime across culture
who commits more homicide ?
men are 10 times more likely to commit murder
more likely against other men, and after that against women
women killing another women is very low
boys who were more agressive at 8 years of old were more likely to be convicted as criminals
the frequency of watching tv at age 8 (probably because of violence on the media) correlated with being convicted by 30 years of age
explanation of gender fifference in agression
girls show agression differently than boys:
- girls:relational aggression
-boys:overt aggression
overt agression
more likey in boys
-physical assault and verbal assault
relational agression
more likey in girls
-excluding others,withdrawing acceptance,sprending false humors
-mean girl model
study of age 3 and 6 grade children
-peers nominated agressive kids in those two categories
result:relations - were more girls
overt- were more boys
gender difference in self-esteem
girls have worst self-esteem and they decline much more then boys during adolences (but both DO decline)
why do girls show a greater self-esteem decline than boys
what happens at adolences?
-girls self-confidence fairly high until age 11 or 12
- assertive about feelings
during adolence
-many girls accept stereotypes notion of how they should be (behaviour and looks)
-repress true feeling
-adopt a nice and women - like self-presentation
adolized standers of beauty may contribute
girls bodies change with puberty,making it much harder to maintain the idealized body type presented by media
gender difference in body image studies
findings:
-men have a more positive body image than women
-gender difference was larger for more recent studies
experimental evidence:
-exposure to media showing thin body ideal linked to lower self-esteem
what was the quasi-experimental ?(evidence)
-introduction of American tv in fiji increased prevalence of eating disorders in adolescence girls,and lead to more negative body image
hypothasis? - another study
girls in countries that begin reciving magazines depicting idealized bodies images will show larger decline in self-esteem during adolescence
method
-internet sample
-34 countries
-measure self-esteem in children (9 -17)
-self esteem level droped overal between these ages
-coded each country for availability of popular women’s magazines (11 countries had access to those magazines)
result
boy and girls(girls more) self-esteem was worst in contries with exposure to those magazines than the ones that didn’t
gender roles
popular conceptions of gender,which may influence behaviour
sex differences
actual differences between male and female in personality traits,self-esteem,aggression,achievements etc
gender-roles
stereotypes or belifs about what it means to be a man or a women
socialization of boys and girls to act in gender appropriate ways
development of gender identity
reserch on gender role
- (the study of androgyny)
in the 70’s politically motivated search to separate sex roles and biological sex
-masculinity and feminity
personality dimensions
men and women can be high or low on both or either
masculinity:instrumentality,assertivness,dominance
femininity; nurtuce,emotional expression , empathy
are masulinity and feminity sex-related deimensions ?
now typically studied as instrumentality and expressivness
gender schemata
cognitive orientations that lead people to process information through a sex-linked perspective
one study found that variation in gender-typical behaviours is partly due t genetic variance
- in women, 38% of the variance in gender-typical behaviours is due to genes (,naturing,organize)
-genes for sex-typical behaviour, these genes are not necessarily linked to biological sex
sterorypes about gender
highly consistent across cultures
men : agressive,autonimus,achivment-oriented,dominant ,exhibitionist,persevering
- instrumental/agentic
women :affiliative,different,nurturant,self-abasing
-communal
stereotypes convarage with actual sex difference,but are larger(exaggerated)
gender steryorypes
Cognitive component(stereotypes)
-social categories(dads,soccer mom,house wife)
Affective Components (prejudice)
-positive or negative feelings that result from categorization
-ex:preference over on gender than the other, dads are good (even if they almost don’t spend time withe their kid), moms are bad (if they don’t spend time with their kids )
behavioral component(discrimination)
-treating people differently because of their social category
ex:job descrimination
Prejudice Against Women As Leaders
gender of stereotype of men as being assertive,dominent and take charge match more with leader role stereotypes : self-cofident,assertive,solve problems
while women don’t as their gender stereotype is about being nice,friendly,socially skilled, sensitive
this causes prejudice : lower evaluations of women as actual or potential leaders
theories of gender differences in personality
-socialization theory
-gender gate
-Hormon theories
socialization theory
-boys and girls are raised differently
-fits with bandura’s social learning theory(children observe and learn from same- sex parent)
-evidence supports this theory:
-parents encourage dependacy in girls more than
boys
- more physical play with boys
limitations with this theory
-why do parents raise boys and girls differently ?
-why does it replicate across cultures?
-cant account for cases of gender dysphoria due to incorrectly assigned gender
(case of bruce reimer and dr.money)
theory of gender gate(Dr.Money and Bruce)
argued that before 2 years of age , children are gender fluid
Money convinced Bruce’s parents to reasign his birth , after surgery , dr.Money became famous , supported idea that gender is a social construction
the lives of brenda and brian reimar
but Brenda(Bruce) was not happy as a girl
-had few friends
-hated dolls,liked running and fighting
at age 13,both twins were told the truth
-Brenda became David and eventually married
-Brian became schizophrenic,drug problems
-both twins committed sucide
hormonal theories
sex diferences due to diffrent hormones
-man have hiegher testosterone than women
hormone influences on sex difference begins in the utero
-Congenital adrenal hyperlasi(CAH)
-female fetus has overactive adrenal gland,harmonally masculinized
-prefer male toys (but which toys are considered male ?)
in women,higher testosterone is linked with
- persuing more masculine careers
-greater career success
- greater dominance and agressivness
female prison inmates with more disciplinary infractions have higher testosterone
men with higher testosterone have higher sex drive and women have higher drive when Testosterone peak
conclusion
-there are major biological differences between male and female (influence personality)
-cultural stereotypes about gender also shape personality and behaviour(gender roles)
-it is often difficult to know whether a particular gender difference is biological or socially
