Sex and Gender

Question 1

Three reasons for focusing a chapter on gender

Answer 1

1. sexual dimorphism in our species provides a natural control group for some interesting cognitive adaptations - examining male and female cognitive differences - better appreciate the design - overcome instinct blindness
   Ex. men rely on cognitive map, women rely on landmarks
2. People who otherwise insist on setting aside the nature vs. nurture issue will fall into old habits when talking about gender development, suggesting that sex differences must be “learned” or “cultural” rather than “biological.”
3. adaptations of men as a group and of women as a group allow us an opportunity to consider the fit between adaptations and the adaptive problems they solve.

Question 2

Sex:

Answer 2

The observable biological markers that are used to categorize males and females, including sex chromosomes and external genitalia

Question 3

Gender:

Answer 3

An individual’s felt gender identity and the ways the gender identity is portrayed, including dress, mannerisms, speech, social roles and occupation.

Question 4

Gender Roles in the EEA - Males

Answer 4

hunting - hunted in coalitions

Projectile weapons- spatial-cognition tasks - had to travel more

Males explore more even in childhood

Spatial navigation over large areas

Coalitional psychology

Use of projectile weapons

Exploration of large range - even in childhood

Question 5

Gender Roles in the EEA - females

Answer 5

foraging, gathering plant matter - up to 60% of calories

Women only source of calories for a newborn baby who was breastfed exclusively - lasting longer in EEA

Make fine perceptual discriminations - color, texture - ripe fruit

Remember the location of plants

Fine discrimination of color

Fine discrimination of texture

Fine motor skills

Question 6

Sex Differences - complex adaptations

Answer 6

In general, we should expect complex adaptations to be universal.

Most variation in human genomes can be accounted for either by genes that have little or no effect on the phenotype or by relatively recent (usually deleterious) mutations.

The sexes are an exception to this rule

Question 7

sex differences - different morphs

Answer 7

Males and females are two different morphs (versions) of the same species just as the caterpillar and the butterfly are

each of which shows a coherent suite of complex adaptations, and the genes that underlie the complex adaptations are universal to every individual in the species

A man has all of the genes that underpin the development of ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a uterus; he got these genes from his mother and his father, and he will pass these genes on to his daughters and his sons

Men and women have a suite of adaptations that all work in tandem to optimally take advantage of their reproductive strategy

Question 8

adaptions to take advantage of their reproductive strategy

Answer 8

adaptations include morphological (internal and external genitalia), physiological, endocrinological, cognitive, and emotional adaptations.

Question 9

Sex is defined, biologically, in terms of

Answer 9

gamete size

In any species that produces two gamete sizes, males produce the smaller gamete (sperm), and females produce the larger gamete (the egg).

Question 10

what happens when fertilization is internal to the female?

Answer 10

If fertilization is internal to the female, as it is in mammals, the female becomes the choosier sex since making the larger gamete means making a larger investment, and internal fertilization leads to a larger investment in offspring

Male makes a small reproductive investment - more offspring than female

Changes his reproductive strategy

Adaptations work together to optimize a given strategy

Question 11

From conception sex differences

Answer 11

Males more likely to be miscarried/ abort

Males more vulnerable to physical and mental abnormalities

Males more likely to die shortly after birth

Boys more active in utero than girls

Question 12

Physical Size and Strength

Answer 12

Early life - similar size

Girls: smaller, lighter, less muscular from birth, healthier and more mature at birth

Childhood: boys and girls - similar growth rates - boys stronger

Question 13

Motor Skills

Answer 13

Girls: more coordinated at birth

Boys: by 5 - jump farther, run faster, throw ball fathers

Girls at 5 - fine motor and balance better, skipping and hopping

Middle childhood:
girls better at fine motor - penmanship and drawing, balance and agility
Boys better at gross motor skills, strength
Gender gap increases through middle childhood and greatly after puberty

Question 14

how does formal training affect motor skills

Answer 14

Exposure to formal training - little development on motor development for typically developing children

Question 15

Verbal Skills

Answer 15

Girls stronger in language development -
girls in infancy:

more speech sounds,
use words earlier,
larger vocabularies,
more grammatical complexity,
superior verbal memories

Question 16

Quantitative Skills

Answer 16

Girls: higher grades in math but boys perform better on high-stakes tests on math like SAT

Males stronger in some aspects of visual-spatial processing - emerges at 3-4yrs and more substantial during adolescence

Girls better at computational problems in math and boys better at mathematical reasoning

Question 17

Social Skills

Answer 17

After birth girls: orient towards people more than boys, maintain eye contact longer, 3m- more face to face communication

12-20m girls more empathy

Consistent with sex differences in adulthood - except anger women experience emotions more intensely, have more intimate friendships, more empathetic towards friends, make more eye contact, smile and laugh more

Question 18

Spatial Skills - EEA

Answer 18

Men use different navigation strategies and have specialized spatial reasoning skills
Bc - due to selection pressures resulting from the task of hunting: Hunters who could track animals over long distances and then return home easily and safely could increase their fitness

women’s gathering tasks in the EEA may be associated with better color and texture discrimination, fine motor skills, and memory for landmarks.

Question 19

Spatial Skills - preschool

Answer 19

Preschool boys better at spatial rotation - spatial transformations, 3d spatial reasoning
Continues through adulthood

Question 20

boys are better at navigating what ?

Answer 20

better at navigating real and virtual environments, making maps and interpreting maps

Question 21

recreate town layout

Answer 21

At every age - boys better than girls at a task that required them to re-create a towns layout after a walk through

Question 22

What affects performance in girls on spatial rotation tasks?

Answer 22

GIrls who have abnormally high prenatal androgen levels - superior performance on spatial rotation tasks compared to other girls

Question 23

Girls better at remembering the locations of specific objects among an array of various objects - evident at 8yrs

Answer 23

Shown an array and asked to recall which objects appeared where - girls better at recalling the identity of the objects and their locations

Selection pressures females faced during the EEA - gatherers - fine perceptual discriminations and remember location of plants

Question 24

Women menstruating - spatial skills

Answer 24

When estrogen levels are at their highest - perform better on cognitive tasks associated with superior female performance

Estrogen levels at monthly low - better at tasks associated with male superior performance - spatial rotation

Question 25

Aggression

Answer 25

Boys more physically aggressive - from early childhood on more likely to use physical aggression
Men commit 90.5% of murders and 79% of adults assaults in US

Girls more likely to engage in relational aggression

Question 26

Relational Aggression:

Answer 26

The attempt to harm others by damaging social relationships. This type of aggression may take the form of gossip, spreading rumors, or ostracism.

Question 27

Interests and Free Time
Preschool -

Answer 27

boys interact with other boys - play with more active and constructive toys

Girls - spend time among other girls and play with quieter toys associated with fine motor skills

Boys more likely to engage in rough and tumble play

Girls more like to pretend parent

Question 28

rates of playing with same sex playmates

Answer 28

Age 4, children spend 3 times playing with same-sex playmates compared to opposite-sex playmates

Age 6, spend 11 times more time with same sex

Question 29

Playground play

Answer 29

Boys cover more territory than girls - variety of cultures - boys have larger territories of exploration

Activities boys select - more visual spatial -facilitates the development of spatial cognition in boys

Children who play with manipulative activities score higher on spatial cognition tasks

Question 30

spatial cognitive abilities and practice

Answer 30

Adult females, there is a relationship between spatial-cognitive abilities and the frequency with which an individual engages in activities that demand spatial-cognitive skills

Question 31

why do boys learn more about spatial cognition?

Answer 31

Boys learn more about spatial cognition because boys are attracted to the kinds of activities that lead to its development. This is good engineering, designed by natural selection.

Question 32

Veveret monkeys - similarites in sex-defined preferences for toys

Answer 32

vervet females spent more time playing with the girl-preferred toys, while the males showed the opposite pattern, and there was no sex difference in playing time for the neutral toys

sex differences in toy preferences develop even in the absence of human culture

Question 33

Early sex differences are seen cross-culturally.

Answer 33

All over the world, girls spend more time doing household chores and contributing to childcare, and boys spend more time unsupervised by adults

Boys’ activities take them farther from home, while girls are more likely to be found close to home

Question 34

Self-Esteem domains for each sex

Answer 34

men had higher: athletics, appearance, self-satisfaction
Women had higher in: morality and ethics, conduct

Question 35

self-esteem and appearance in girls in adolescence

Answer 35

Girl’s satisfaction with their appearance decreases through adolescence, and this negative self-assessment continues into adulthood - doesnt happen to boys

Question 36

self esteem and boys in adolescence

Answer 36

sex difference in self-esteem in the athletic domain increases during adolescence and this increase is driven mostly by a decrease in girls’ estimates of their athletic ability

Boys’ self-esteem in athletics is also higher than girls in a number of sub-domains including coordination and endurance

Question 37

high esteem for girls in conduct

Answer 37

high self-esteem in the behavioral conduct domain believe that their behavior is socially appropriate. This domain is particularly relevant in a school classroom, where one’s behavior is often publicly assessed with respect to its appropriateness

morality and ethics domain includes both adherence to religion and the treatment of others when faced with a moral dilemma. Women value this domain more than men do, and they appraise themselves more favorably in this domain than men do

Question 38

Relative Life Expectancy

Answer 38

males die at a younger age than females - the difference is around five years on average.

Evidence consistent with the idea that men have a much greater variance than women in reproductive success

Question 39

men have a much greater variance than women in reproductive success

Answer 39

mitochondrial DNA studies - DNA in the extra-nuclear organelle of each cell.

This DNA comes to you only from your mother; there is no sexual recombination and no contribution from your father

Men have Y chromosomes that they always get from their fathers only

Greater diversity of DNA in the mitochondrial DNA (mom’s DNA) than in Y chromosome DNA

Consistent with the idea that there is greater variance in reproductive success in males than females

Question 40

A man can increase his reproductive success by having more mates, but men in general run the risk of losing the game completely by having no offspring

Answer 40

competition and related risk-taking are worth it for males but not for females

greater potential payoff for any male strategy that might attract a mate, and therefore males are willing to accept the risk in order to vie for this greater payoff.

Question 41

male displays of physical acumen (think extreme sports) may have been attractive to females in the EEA or may have impressed other males enough to raise an individual’s status, indirectly leading to greater mate value, but it also leads to fatal accidents

Answer 41

Accidents are the leading cause of death in young males aged 1–24 and the second highest cause of death in adult males aged 25–44

Daredevil behavior is a result of psychology awarded to males in the EEA - high risk for reproductive success

Question 42

risks for males may be physiological as well as behavioral:

Answer 42

Males with higher testosterone levels are more attractive to females but testosterone suppresses their immune system, leaving men open to the risk of exposure to pathogens.

Question 43

the greater risk associated with male behavior and male hormones, the sex difference in life expectancy results from pleiotropy - occurs when a single gene has effects on more than one phenotypic trait

Answer 43

good explanation for senescence in general and for the sex difference in senescence. If a single gene affords a great advantage to someone (in terms of reproduction) at the age of 20 but is associated with a deleterious effect at age 80, that gene will be selected for more strongly than it is selected against, regardless of how damaging it is at age 80

Genes that are potentially beneficial early in one’s reproductive years are resistant to “weeding out” despite deleterious effects that occur after the age of reproduction.

Men more vulnerable to the senescent effects of pleiotropic genes

Sex difference in life expectancy in polygamous species even in the zoo

Question 44

The Development of Sex and Gender

Answer 44

Development of one sex or the other is set in motion when the sex chromosome from the father is delivered to the mother’s egg, creating the complete genome.

A fertilized egg (and every subsequent cell in that developing individual except gametes) has 46 chromosomes, comprising 23 pairs. Twenty-two of those pairs are autosomes, the name for chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes.

Autosomal pairs - chromosome from the mother and father correspond and have the same set of loci
23rd pair is sex chromosomes

Question 45

default development of external genitalia is

Answer 45

female:

Without the presence of androgens early in fetal development, the baby will have a female external appearance.

Masculinization relies on the production of relatively high concentrations of male hormones

We know this because if you remove the gonadal tissue of a fetal rabbit, the rabbit develops a visibly female body complete with vagina, uterus, and cervix, regardless of its chromosomes

Question 46

Y chromosome

Answer 46

typically moves the developing fetus off of the default path and onto the path to masculine development, and this is just about the only thing the Y chromosome does

Smallest chromosome - not a lot of room for many genes

Question 47

SRY Gene

Answer 47

The gene on the Y chromosome is usually associated with male development in mammals, SRY is an acronym for sex-determining region Y

Transcribed at 7 weeks of gestation

Question 48

Creation of the Testis Determining Factor:

Answer 48

A protein that will trigger the development of the fetus’s testes in typical male development.

Question 49

masculinization of body and brain

Answer 49

testes then produce and release androgens, including testosterone. These androgens masculinize the body and the brain.
masculinization of the genitals occurs in the middle of the second trimester and is dependent upon a surge in androgens at that point.

masculinization of the brain and the concurrent masculinization of gender identity takes place just prior to and around the time of birth and relies on a new surge of androgens at that time.

Question 50

how do Sex hormones, both androgens and estrogens affect neurons

Answer 50

affect neurons by manipulating the onset and rate of growth of axons and dendrites - affect cognition and behavior

Receptors are in hippocampus, hypothalamus, the amygdala, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex, presumably because all of these areas are optimized differently in each sex

Question 51

does not mean that the Y chromosome “determines” sex or gender

Answer 51

1 - even though the SRY gene starts a series of events that lead to masculinization, lots of genes on lots of chromosomes are involved in the development of the penis, testes, dense musculature, deep voice, facial hair, receding hairline, and the suite of cognitive adaptations that are characteristic of men (just as many genes underlie the suite of female adaptations)

2 - There are conditions, such as androgen insensitivity syndrome, described in more detail later in this chapter, in which a person has an SRY gene but instead develops female morphology and a female psychology.

Question 52

Environmental Estrogens and Sex Development

Answer 52

development of male external genitalia depends on androgens and on the relative concentrations of androgens and estrogens

Increase in male genital malformation over last 4 decades - possibly due to environmental estrogens ex. Micropenis, undescended testicles, hypospadias - failure of the penile shaft to develop completely

Environmental estrogens - herbicides, pesticides and polystyrene

mimic estrogens—estrogen receptors respond to them as if they were estrogens— or they act as androgen antagonists and interfere with the functions of testosterone and other androgens.

. The extent of the maldevelopment depends on the timing, and exposure during the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with the most profound effects.

Question 53

Climate Change and Sex Ratios

Answer 53

chromosome-based mechanism underlying sex development in humans is seen in most mammals as well

But different schemes of sex development in different species

Birds - female has two different sex chromosomes - male has two copies of same chromosome
Worm - embryonic period in another worms mouth - male
Reptiles - chromosomes are not different in the two sexes
Turtles - temp of egg determines sex - some control over gestational temp - climate change can cause sex ratios that cannot be controlled
Warm years - most extreme ratios - lay eggs earlier for cooler incubation - control egg laying date - but cannot control for climate change
Temp at conception effects sex ratio in cows

Question 54

Sex Differences Across Cultures

Answer 54

Greater male variance in reproductive success has implications for child rearing

greater sex differences: males in polygynous species are larger and more aggressive, reflecting the greater payoff available to those who successfully out-compete other males.

More polygyny a culture has the more boys were taught to exhibit aggression, fortitude and industriousness - correlation btw max harem size (greates number of wives a man can have) and the extent to which boys are trained to be competitive

Polygynous societies, girls are more likely than boys to be taught to be industrious and obedient and to show sexual restraint

Question 55

The Trivers-Willard Hypothesis

Answer 55

suggests that in populations where males have greater variance in reproductive success than females do, then mothers who are healthier and better resourced than average should have sons, while mothers who are less resourced than average should have daughters

A mother who is very well resourced might have an opportunity to have a great number of grandchildren if she has a son, but a mother who is poor or unhealthy risks having no grandchildren if she has a son.

Her better strategy is to have a daughter, since daughters will likely have some offspring, and the expected value is the population average.

Question 56

The Trivers-Willard Hypothesis evidence

Answer 56

Evidence in red deer, horses and wasps

mothers in better condition have a male-biased sex ratio among their offspring while mothers in poorer condition have a female bias among their offspring

Evidence in humans

children born to people on the Forbes billionaires list are 60% male, which is significantly different from the general population
Venezuala showed that families who didn’t have access to medical care or who were illiterate had more daughters, while higher education levels were associated with male-biased sex ratios in offspring
with a large enough data set, there is evidence of a male-biased sex ratio among higher SES mothers and a female-biases sex ratio among low SES mothers, but the effect size is small

Question 57

Another prediction that comes from the Trivers-Willard hypothesis

Answer 57

in addition to a sex ratio difference between richer and poorer mothers, the wealthiest families would be expected to invest more in their sons than in their daughters, while poor families would be expected to invest more in their daughters

A wealthy family might have an opportunity for tremendous payoff if a son becomes one of the few males who is fathering the next generation. However, if the sons of poorer families are unlikely to have an opportunity to have a family, an investment in daughters is a better bet

Question 58

Kenya and nursing - evidence for trivers

Answer 58

Some supporting evidence in humans

mothers in an agricultural village in Kenya found that low SES nursing mothers produced higher quality milk (based on nutritional content) when nursing daughters compared to sons. The opposite was true for the highest SES nursing mothers in this population

higher SES mothers invested more in sons that daughters, while the opposite was true of lower SES mothers.

effect was significant for a number of measures including whether or not the child was breastfed, duration of breastfeeding, birthweight and inter-birth intervals

sons in high SES families complete more years of education than daughters in those families, while daughters in low SES families complete more years of education than do sons in those families

supports the idea that sex ratios at birth and sex-related differences in parental investment can differ across higher SES and lower SES families

Question 59

Puberty

Answer 59

Puberty is a coordinated set of changes that leads to sexual maturation and entry into the sexually reproductive years. A series of dramatic bodily transformations are associated with puberty in early adolescence

Question 60

Menarche

Answer 60

The point in female puberty at which the first menstrual bleeding occurs.

Question 61

Spermarche

Answer 61

The point in male puberty at which sperm is first ejaculated.

Question 62

when do hormonal increases that underlie puberty start

Answer 62

modern society, the hormonal increases that underlie puberty, such as the increase in growth hormone (GH) and thyroxine, begin as early as 8 or 9 years of age.

Question 63

As puberty begins for boys

Answer 63

testes release testosterone in unprecedented amounts, leading to the development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics: increased muscle mass, facial hair, and a deepened voice, for example
body fat decreases in boys

boys, the first sign of puberty is the growth of the testes. This is followed by the emergence of pubic hair and then, around the age of 12, the growth of the penis.

It is not until the development of these primary sexual characteristics is complete that a boy starts his growth spurt.

The masculinization of the boy’s voice (as the larynx enlarges and the vocal cords lengthen) begins during the growth spurt and is not typically complete until puberty is complete

Question 64

puberty beginning for girls

Answer 64

girl’s ovaries begin to release large amounts of estrogen, leading to the development of breasts, growth and maturation of the uterus, and a feminine pattern of fatty deposits.

Body fat increases in girls, and is increasingly deposited on the arms, legs, and trunk

Androgens released from the adrenal glands (above each kidney) lead to increased height and the growth of pubic and underarm hair.

Menstruation - androgens released from the adrenal glands (above each kidney) lead to increased height and the growth of pubic and underarm hair.

3- to 4-year period is characterized by the beginning of breast growth, a growth spurt, menarche, pubic and underarm hair development and the completion of breast maturation, in that order

Menstruation doesn’t occur until after the growth spurt

readiness to carry a child is further ensured by a 12- to 18-month period of sterility following first menstruation during which the ovaries do not produce eggs with each cycle.

Question 65

The age of first menstruation

Answer 65

varies from society to society and has changed over historical periods. In North America, the average age at menarche is about 12½.

growth spurt, leading to a dramatic increase in height, is underway at age 10 for girls and age 12½ for boys in a North American sample
average girl is taller than the average boy between the ages of 10 and 14.

Girls are typically finished growing in height at age 16 and boys at age 17½

During this growth spurt, body proportions change in the two sexes: boys’ shoulders grow wider than their hips, while girls’ hips grow wider than their shoulders

Question 66

growth spurt

Answer 66

underway at age 10 for girls and age 12½ for boys in a North American sample

average girl is taller than the average boy between the ages of 10 and 14.

Question 67

when do boys and girls finish growing

Answer 67

Girls are typically finished growing in height at age 16 and boys at age 17½

Question 68

change in proportion during growth spurt

Answer 68

During this growth spurt, body proportions change in the two sexes: boys’ shoulders grow wider than their hips, while girls’ hips grow wider than their shoulders

Question 69

when do children know their gender

Answer 69

Between their second and third birthdays, most children come to know which gender group they belong to.

Question 70

gender characteristics at 2-3

Answer 70

Even at this age, girls are more compliant, sensitive, relationally aggressive, fearful, and dependent,

whereas boys are more active and physically aggressive

Question 71

traditional gender-schema theory

Answer 71

gender schemas and accompanying expectations about male and female behavior does not develop in children until their own gender identity has developed.

That is, until a child could label themselves as “girl” or “boy” at around the age of 3, they were not expected to know anything about gender-specific interests, roles, or activities

Question 72

clear evidence that very young children categorize male and female.

Answer 72

Infants appear to be able to tell the difference between the sexes using multiple perceptual cues although the capacity to make this distinction does not reveal what they understand about what it means to be male or female.

Infants discriminate between male and female voices as early as 6 months

between male and female faces before the first birthday

Question 73

3- to 4-month-olds can discriminate between male and female faces using a habituation paradigm

Answer 73

habituated to a male face, they dishabituated to a female face, showing a looking-time preference for females. However, if they were habituated to a female face, they did not dishabituate to a male face - preferred to look at female faces

opposite pattern was true for babies whose primary care-giver was male.

Opposite was true if primary caregiver eas male

Question 74

Poulin-Dubois - evidence of very early gender-defined expectations.

Answer 74

Toddlers as young as 2 years old were asked which of three dolls would act out various activities.

One of the dolls was male, one was female, and one was a toy monkey, meant to be a gender-neutral option.

The activities were typically male activities, typically female activities, or activities that both men and women are likely to do. Examples were shaving, fixing a car, holding a baby, vacuuming, and sleeping.

Two-year-old girls, but not 2-year-old boys, preferred the male doll to perform masculine activities and the female doll to perform the feminine activities. In other words, 2-year-old girls revealed an understanding of gender stereotypes

Question 75

Looking time measure - test for understanding of gender-typed behavior

Answer 75

18m - saw feminine items and masculine items, male and female faces

Herd a gender neutral voice asking to look then the two faces appeared

Looked longer at female face when they had seen a feminine object on that trial and same with male faces

Question 76

Serbin - 2yr olds looking toward 2 computer screens

Answer 76

One a man performed an activity while a woman on the other screen performed the same activity

Masculine or feminine or neutral activities

Looked longer when a man performing feminine activities - expectations had been violated

Question 77

By 3 gender

Answer 77

• use gender terms in speech, categorize and label their own and others sex - increases with accuracy and determination until around 4

Question 78

Four-year-olds - gender enforcers

Answer 78

are adept at categorizing the gender cues of their local culture, associating toys, tools, activities, occupations, and colors with one sex or the other

telling children and adults what they can and cannot wear, and what occupations they can and cannot hold, based on gender
demonstrate the gender-appropriate response to peers

Question 79

Gender Typing:

Answer 79

The developmental process by which children come to adopt their culture’s markers of gender, including style of clothing, choice of activities, manner of speech, and values.

Question 80

more tolerant of violations of gender expectations when

Answer 80

between 5 and 9 years of age. This gender enforcement can differ cross-culturally and is more flexibly in more politically liberal communities

Question 81

school years, children have a set of expectations regarding the characteristics of each sex

Answer 81

They think girls are “gentle,” “sympathetic,” and “dependent,” and boys are “tough,” “aggressive,” and “rational”

mathematics, athletics, and mechanics as masculine academic areas and reading, art, and music as feminine

Question 82

middle childhood, children can be fairly tolerant of a girl who crosses gender lines

Answer 82

crosses gender lines by, say, playing sports or excelling at math but are harsh critics of a boy who crosses gender lines by playing with dolls or wearing feminine clothing, often responding with moral outrage as if a moral rule has been violated

Question 83

9 and 12, boys - gender expectations

Answer 83

Between the ages of about 9 and 12, boys increasingly adhere to gender expectations during a time when girls relax their adherence to feminine expectations

Question 84

period of relative gender freedom is not universal:

Answer 84

girls do not experiment with masculine sex roles in cultures where the division of sex roles is greater than in North America. This period of gender freedom for girls ends in early adolescence, a period of intensifying attitudes toward gender norms

Question 85

Gender Socialization Theory

Answer 85

gender roles, norms, and behaviors are learned via the same general learning principles that underlie other types of social learning: reinforcement, observation and imitation

gender develops when children are socialized by parents, peers, and the culture at large

Children are said to be socialized by observing and imitating role models of one sex or the other and having gender-conforming behaviors enforced.

One mechanism of gender socialization, according to this view, is the way parents convey their expectations regarding gender-appropriate behavior either explicitly or implicitly.

Question 86

North American parents tend to provide gender-specific…

Answer 86

(trucks and tools for boys, dolls and kitchen sets for girls) even before their children are old enough to verbally request these toys

Parents assign different household chores to boys and girls, consistent with gender expectations

One naturalistic observation study conducted in a science museum showed that parents were three times more likely to explain the science exhibits to their sons than to their daughters

Question 87

test how adults treat infant boys and girls - lots of evidence for this theory is actually based on adults

Answer 87

adult participants were introduced to an infant who was either dressed as a boy and introduced as a boy, dressed as a girl and introduced as a girl, or dressed in neutral clothing and introduced without reference to the infant’s sex

adult who was not a parent

Both men and women were more likely to give the alleged girl the doll rather than the football and were less likely to give the boy the doll compared to the girl.

supports a socialization view of gender development

Question 88

same blank-slate underpinnings as John Watson’s behaviorism - Fausto-Sterling (1985)

Answer 88

Fausto-Sterling (1985) contends that “the key biological fact is that boys and girls have different genitalia”

she argues, parents label the child pink or blue so that they can be socialized appropriately
emphasizes the complete gender plasticity of each infant, viewing newborn infants as “bi-sexual,” which is to say equipotent, with respect to gender.

According to this view, infants are then socialized to be male and female by those around them

Question 89

Evidence in favor of gender socialization theory

Answer 89

Children observe same sex models more

Imitate same-sex models more

Gender is learned

Domain General learning - observation, imitation, reinforcement

Question 90

The Reimer Twins : A Natural Test of Gender Socialization Theory

Answer 90

experiment to test the hypothesis that, at birth, babies are perfectly malleable blank slates with respect to gender

Bruce Reimer - typical boy
At the age of 8 months, Bruce’s penis was destroyed by a doctor during an attempted circumcision

Born with identical twin Brian

Money convinced the Reimer parents to raise Bruce, now called Brenda, as a girl.

When the twins were 13, their parents explained their history to them. Brenda almost immediately decided to live as a male and chose the name David

Separately, David and Brian both died by suicide as adults

Question 91

Intersex

Answer 91

An umbrella term describing conditions in which an individual has some combination of chromosomal, genital, and brain development that is not typically male or female.

Question 92

5-alpha-reductase deficiency:

Answer 92

A developmental condition caused by the failure of the body to produce sufficient levels of 5-alpha-reductase. Babies with male genotypes, or an XY chromosome configuration, will be born with typical internal male reproductive organs but female-appearing external genitalia.