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Chapter 5: Gender
Outline
•
First examine Biological, Social, and Cognitive
Influences on Gender -Gender is how we act as a
female or a male, not our sex.
– Biological Influences on Gender
– Social Influences on Gender
– Cognitive Influences on Gender
•
Gender Stereotypes, Similarities, and Differences
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–
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–
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Gender Stereotyping
Gender Similarities and Differences
Gender Controversy
Gender in Context
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Chapter 5: Gender
Outline
•
(Continued from previous slide)
Gender-Role Classification
–
–
–
–
•
Masculinity, Femininity, and Androgyny
Context, Culture, and Gender Roles
Androgyny and Education
Traditional Masculinity and Problem Behaviors in
Adolescent Males
– Gender-Role Transcendence
Developmental Changes and Junctures
– Early Adolescence and Gender Intensification
– Is Early Adolescence a Critical Juncture for Females?
Think about how you act and your main social
influences on your gender.
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3
Biological Influences on Gender
• Gender development is influenced by biological,
social, and cognitive factors.
• Pubertal change is a biological influence on
gendered behavior in adolescence.
• Freud and Erikson argued that the physical
characteristics of males and females influence
their behavior.
• Evolutionary psychologists emphasize the role
of gender in the survival of the fittest.
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4
Pubertal Change and Sexuality
• Puberty intensifies the sexual aspects of
adolescents’ gender attitudes and behavior
(Basow, 2006, Galambos, Berenbaum, & McHale, 2009).
• Pubertal changes may result in masculinity and
femininity being renegotiated during
adolescence.
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Freud and Erikson—Anatomy Is Destiny
•
Both Freud and Erikson argued that an individual’s
genitals influence his or her gender behavior.
•
One of Freud’s basic assumptions was that human
behavior is directly related to reproductive processes.
•
•
•
Erikson (1968) extended Freud’s argument.
Critics stress that experience is not given enough credit.
Erikson modified his view.
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Evolutionary Psychology and Gender
•
•
Evolutionary psychology emphasizes that adaption
during the evolution of humans produced psychological
differences between males and females (Buss, 2001, 2004,
2008).
Evolutionary psychologists argue that males and
females faced different pressures in primeval
environments (Freeman & Herron, 2007).
– Males evolved dispositions that favor violence, competition, and
risk taking.
– Females developed preferences for successful, ambitious men
who could provide resources (Geher & Miller, 2007).
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Evolutionary Psychology and Gender
(Continued from previous slide)
•
•
Critics of evolutionary psychology argue that its
hypotheses are backed by speculations about
prehistory, not evidence, and that in any event people
are not locked into behavior that was adaptive in the
evolutionary past.
Critics also claim that the evolutionary view pays little
attention to cultural and individual variations in gender
differences (Matlin, 2008; Smith, 2007).
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Social Influences on Gender
• Many social scientists do not locate the
•
•
cause of psychological gender differences in
biological dispositions.
Social scientists argue that gender
differences are due mainly to social
experiences.
Alice Eagly (2009) proposed Social role theory
– which states that gender differences mainly result
from the contrasting roles of females and males.
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Parental Influences
Parents influence their children’s and adolescents’
gender development (Leaper & Friedman, 2007; Maccoby, 2007).
– Parents allow boys more independence than girls.
– Parents may also have different achievement expectations
for their adolescent sons and daughters (Leaper & Friedman,
2007).
– Mothers and fathers often interact differently with sons and
daughters, and these gendered interactions begin in infancy
and continue through childhood and adolescence.
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Social Cognitive Theory of Gender
• The social cognitive theory of gender
– Gender development is influenced by observation
and imitation of others’ gender behavior, as well
as by the rewards and punishments they
experience for gender-appropriate and
inappropriate behavior
• Siblings
– Play a role in gender socialization (Galambos,
Berenbaum & McHale, 2009).
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Social Cognitive Theory of Gender
(Continued from previous slide)
• Peers
– Model masculine and feminine behavior (Leaper &
Friedman, 2007).
– Adolescents spend increasing amounts of time
with peers (Brown & others, 2008).
– Peer approval or disapproval is a powerful
influence on gender attitudes and behavior.
– Peer groups in adolescence are more likely to be a
mix of boys and girls than in childhood.
– Peers can socialize gender behavior partly by
accepting or rejecting others on the basis of their
gender-related attributes.
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Social Influences on Gender
(Continued from previous slide)
• Schools and Teachers
– Compliance, following rules, and being neat and
orderly are valued and reinforced in many
classrooms.
– A large majority of teachers are females
– Boys are more likely than girls to have learning
problems.
– Boys are more likely than girls to be criticized.
– School personnel tend to stereotype boys’
behavior as problematic.
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Social Influences on Gender
(Continued from previous slide)
• Schools and Teacher (Continued)
– In a typical classroom, girls are more compliant,
boys more rambunctious.
– Boys get more instruction than girls and more
help when they have trouble with a question.
– Boys are more likely than girls to get lower grades
and to be grade repeaters.
– When elementary school children are asked to list
what they want to do when they grow up, boys
describe more career options than girls do.
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Social Influences on Gender
(Continued from previous slide)
•
Mass Media Influences
– Television shows directed at adolescents are extremely
stereotyped in their portrayal of the sexes, especially teenage
girls (Comstock & Scharrer, 2006).
– Another highly stereotyped form of programming that
specifically targets teenage viewers is music videos (Roberts
& Foehr, 2008).
– The world of television is highly gender-stereotyped and
conveys clear messages about the relative power and
importance of women and men (Calvert, 2008).
– The media influence adolescents’ body images, and some
studies reveal gender differences in this area (Grabe & Hyde,
2008; Grabe, Monique, & Hyde, 2008).
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Cognitive Influences on Gender
• Cognitive Developmental Theory of Gender
– Children’s gender-typing occurs after they have
developed a concept of gender.
– Once children think of themselves as male or
female, they organize their world on the basis of
gender.
• Gender Schema Theory
– Gender-typing emerges as individuals gradually
develop gender schemas of what is genderappropriate and gender-inappropriate in their
culture (Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009; Zozuls, Lurye,
Ruble, 2008).
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Cognitive Influences on Gender
• Gender Schema Theory
– A schema is a cognitive structure, a network of
associations that guide an individual’s
perceptions.
– A gender schema organizes the world in terms of
female and male.
• Children and adolescents are internally motivated to
perceive the world and to act in accordance with their
developing schemas.
– Cognitive factors contribute to the way
adolescents think and act as males and females
(Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009).
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Gender Stereotypes, Similarities, and Differences
• Gender stereotypes
– Are general impressions and beliefs
about females and males.
• Sexism
– Is prejudice and discrimination against
an individual because of his or her sex.
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Gender Stereotyping
Types of Items Developed to Measure Old-Fashion and Modern Sexism
Fig. 5.1
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Gender Similarities & Differences
• Physical Similarities and
Differences
• Cognitive Similarities and
Differences
• Socioemotional Similarities
and Differences
“There is more difference within the sexes than between them.”
- Ivy Compton-Burnett
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Gender Similarities & Differences
Visiospatial Skills of Males and Females
Fig. 5.2
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Gender Similarities & Differences
Gender Differences in U.S. 8th Grade Students’ Writing Skills
Fig. 5.3
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Socioemotional Similarities and Differences
• Aggression
– One of the most consistent gender differences
is that boys are more physically aggressive
than girls.
– The difference occurs in all cultures and
appears very early in children’s development
(Baillargeon & others, 2007).
– Relational aggression
• Involves harming someone by manipulating a
relationship (Keenan, Coyne, & Lahey, 2008).
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Communication in Relationships
• Rapport talk
– Is the language of conversation and a way of
establishing connections and negotiating
relationships.
– Females enjoy rapport talk and conversation
that is relationship-oriented more than boys do.
• Report talk
– Talk that gives information.
– Males tend to hold center stage through such
verbal performances as storytelling, joking, and
lecturing with information.
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Communication in Relationships
•
Prosocial Behavior
– Females view themselves as more prosocial and
empathic (Eisenberg & others, 2009).
– Across childhood and adolescence, females engage in
more prosocial behavior than do males (Hastings, Utendale, &
•
Sullivan, 2007).
Emotion and Its Regulation
– Beginning in the elementary school years, boys are more
likely to hide their negative emotions.
– Girls are less likely to express emotions such as
disappointment that might hurt others’ feelings (Eisenberg,
Martin, & Fabes, 1996).
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Communication in Relationships
• Emotion and Its Regulation (Continued)
– Beginning in early adolescence, girls say they
experience more sadness, shame, and guilt, and
report more intense emotions.
– Boys are more likely to deny that they experience
sadness, shame, and guilt (Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum,
2006).
– An important skill is to be able to regulate and
control one’s emotions and behavior (Thompson,
2009; Thompson & Goodman, 2009).
– Boys usually show less self-regulation than girls
(Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Smith, 2004).
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26
Gender Controversy
•
•
•
David Buss (2008) argues that gender differences are
extensive and caused by the adaptive problems they
have faced across their evolutionary history.
Alice Eagly (2008, 2009) emphasizes that gender
differences are due to social conditions that have
resulted in women having less power and controlling
fewer resources than men.
Janet Shibley Hyde (2005, 2007; Hyde & others, 2008)
concludes that gender differences have been greatly
exaggerated.
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27
Gender in Context
•
•
•
Gender behavior often varies across contexts
(Eagly, 2009; Leszcynski & Strough, 2008; Watt & Eccles, 2008).
Context is also relevant to gender differences in
the display of emotions (Shields, 1991).
Contextual variations regarding gender in specific
situations have not only been found within a
particular culture but also across cultures
(Matsumoto & Juang, 2008).
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Masculinity, Femininity, and Androgyny
•
In the past,
– A well-adjusted boy was supposed to be independent,
aggressive, and powerful.
– A well-adjusted girl was supposed to be dependent, a
nurturant, and uninterested in power.
– The masculine characteristics were considered to be
healthy and good by society; the feminine characteristics
were considered undesirable.
•
In the 1970s
– Both males and females became dissatisfied with the
burdens imposed by their stereotyped roles, alternatives
to “masculinity” and “femininity” were explored.
– This thinking led to the development of the concept of
androgyny.
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Gender-Role Classification
The Bem Sex-Role Inventory
Fig. 5.4
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Gender-Role Classification
Gender-Role Classification
Fig. 5.5
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Context, Culture, and Gender Roles
•
The importance of considering gender in context
is nowhere more apparent than when examining
what is culturally prescribed behavior for females
and males in different countries around the world
(Gibbons, 2000).
•
Increasing numbers of children and adolescents
in the United States and other modernized
countries, such as Sweden, are being raised to
behave in androgynous ways.
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Context, Culture, and Gender Roles
•
Traditional gender roles continue to dominate the
cultures of many countries around the world
today.
– In such cultures:
• The man’s duty is to provide for his family,
• The woman’s duty to care for her family and
household.
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Gender-Role Classification
Changing Attitudes about Gender Roles
Fig. 5.6
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Androgyny and Education
• Advocates of androgyny programs
argue that traditional sex-typing is
harmful for all students and especially
has prevented many girls from
experiencing equal opportunity.
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35
Traditional Masculinity and Problem Behaviors in
Adolescent Males
• Boy code
– Boys are socialized to not show feelings and to act
tough.
– Boys learn the boy code in many different contexts
– sandbox, playground, school, camps, hangouts –
and are taught the code by parents, peers, coaches,
teachers, and other adults.
• Boys could benefit from being socialized to
express anxieties and concerns.
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Traditional Masculinity and Problem Behaviors in
Adolescent Males
(Continued from previous slide)
•
Joseph Pleck (1995) concludes that what defines
traditional masculinity in many Western cultures
includes behaviors that do not have social approval
but nonetheless validate the adolescent boy’s
masculinity:
– Premarital sex
– Alcohol and drugs
– Delinquent activities
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Gender Role Transcendence
• The view that when an individual’s
competence is at issue, it should be
conceptualized on a person basis rather
than on the basis of masculinity,
femininity, or androgyny (Pleck, 1983).
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Developmental Changes and Junctures
• Gender intensification hypothesis:
– Psychological and behavioral
differences between boys and girls
become greater during early
adolescence.
– This is due to increased socialization
pressures to conform to traditional
masculine and feminine gender roles
(Hill & Lynch, 1983; Lynch, 1991).
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Developmental Changes and Junctures
• Is Early Adolescence a Critical Juncture
for Females?
– Gilligan (1996) argues that girls experience life
differently from boys; in her words, girls have
a “different voice.”
– Gilligan also stresses that adolescence is a
critical juncture in girls’ development.
– Some researchers note that the self-doubt and
ambivalence girls experience in early
adolescence translate into depression and
eating disorders.
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Developmental Changes and Junctures
• Is Early Adolescence a Critical Juncture
for Females? (Continued)
– Some critics argue that Gilligan and her
colleagues overemphasize differences in
gender (Dindia, 2006; Hyde, 2007).
– There is increasing evidence that adolescence
is a critical juncture in the psychological
development of females (Basow, 2006).
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41
RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
•
“Gender Development in Adolescence” by Nancy Galambos, Sheri
Berenbaum, and Susan McHale. (2004).
In R. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of Adolescence. (2009,
3rd Ed.). New York: Wiley.
An expert on gender development in adolescence, Nancy
Galambos, evaluates many different research areas.
•
The Inside Story on Teen Girls by Karen Zager and Alice
Rubenstein. (2002). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Provides insight into the lives of adolescent girls with many excellent
recommendations about such topics as identity, puberty, sex, dating,
school, peers, and relationships with parents.
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42
RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
•
Real Boys by William Pollack. (1999). New York: Owl
Books.
Pollack examines the ways boys have been reared and
concludes that there needs to be a major change in this
rearing.
•
YMCA http://www.ymca.net
The YMCA provides a number of programs for teenage
boys. A number of personal health and sports programs
are available.
The website provides information about the YMCA closest
to your location.
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43
RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
•
YWCA
http://www.ywca.org
The YWCA promotes health, sports participation, and
fitness for women and girls. Its programs include
instruction in health, teen-pregnancy prevention, familylife education, self-esteem enhancement, parenting, and
nutrition.
The website provides information about the YWCA
location closest to you.
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44
E-LEARNING TOOLS
To help you master the material in this
chapter, visit the Online Learning Center
for Adolescence, 13th edition at:
http://www.mhhe.com/santrocka13e
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