General
Psychology
Gender Roles Assignment
• What makes a person Male/Female – Social
Learning?
• What does is mean to be Male/Female in your
family. Man of the house/Woman of the
house?
• Is there a certain way to raise a child to make
them more masculine or feminine?
• Who is better communicator, friend, etc…
• Can men and women be friends?
Gender and Social Communication
Women communicate
more than men:
 more time with friends
 more text messages
 longer phone calls
However, men and
women speak about the
same number of words
per day. What fills in the
extra time on those
longer phone calls?
Maybe….
listening?
Men and women use communication differently.
 Women seek input and
 Men state their opinions
explore relationships.
and solutions .
 Men speak about things and  Women speak about people
and feelings.
actions.
Gender and Social Connectedness
 Both men and women
turn to women when
they want someone
to talk to, seeking the
“tend and befriend”
response or better
listening.
 In general, women
change roommates
more often.
 Women tend to have
stronger ties to
friends and family.
 Women are often
more involved with
religion.
The Biology of Gender
What biologically makes us
male or female?
 It begins with whether our
23rd pair of chromosomes
looks like XX (female) or
Xy (male).
 Testes develop, and at
seven weeks, the testes
produce a flood of
testosterone.
 Hormones then guide the
development of external
sex organs.
Brain Differences
 During the fourth and
fifth month of
pregnancy, sex
hormones bathe the
fetal brain.
 In adulthood, women
have thicker areas in a
part of the frontal lobes
that help with verbal
fluency.
 There are also
differences in the
amygdala,
hippocampus, and ratio
of cell bodies to axons.
The Nurture side of Gender Roles:
The Influence of Culture
Gender role: the behaviors
expected of people related to
their identity as men and
women
Gender identity: one’s sense of
whether one is male and female,
including a sense of what it means
to be that gender
Does culture define which behaviors fill a gender role?
Or do the roles affect culture?
Gender roles and culture: is differentiation a good thing?
If it’s man’s job to get
the high paying
employment,
If it’s women’s work
to take care of the
kids and home,
 does that prevent conflict, and help culture stay stable,
because roles are clear?
 or is equality worth having some conflict and uncertainty?
Culture Influence
on Gender Role Development
Or is it instinct?
 Social learning theory: we learn gender role
behavior by imitation, and by rewards and
punishments that shape our behavior
 Gender schemas: the cognitive frameworks for
developing concepts of “male” and “female”;
these frameworks guide our observations
 Gender typing: the instinct which drives some
children to fit into traditional gender roles
Influences on Who You’ve
Become
Beyond Biopsychosocial Influences:
CHOICE
 Is our behavior and identity rigidly
determined by our combination of
nature/genes and nurture/experience?
Even if free will is an illusion, it would seem
that we can make choices that override our
genetic influences, that differ from cultural
norms, and that do not fit our environment.
We can even choose to directly alter
culture, environment, and even genes.