Chapter 13: Gender and Development

Question 1

what is a persons sex

Answer 1

person’s biological identity

Chromosomes, physical identity and hormones

Question 2

what is a persons gender

Answer 2

“Socially and culturally constructed roles, relationships, behaviours, relative power and other traits that society ascribes to females, males and people of diverse gender identities”

Question 3

gender stereotypes

Answer 3

beliefs about how males and females differ in personality traits, interests, and behaviours

Question 4

how do we view men and women

Answer 4

Most adults associate different traits with men and women

In North America, males are seen as instrumental, women as expressive

Question 5

what does it mean to be instrumental

Answer 5

acts on world and influence it (action based). Men said to be independent, competitive, aggressive, outgoing, ambitious, self-confident, and dominant

Question 6

what does it mean to be expressive

Answer 6

emotional functioning, valuing interpersonal relationships. Women said to be emotional, kind, creative, considerate, gentle, excitable, and aware of the others feelings

Question 7

knowledge of gender-stereotyped activities at what age?

Answer 7

by age 4

• begun to learn about behaviours and traits that are stereotypically masculine/feminine

Question 8

preschoolers gender-stereotyped activities

Answer 8

Preschoolers believe boys more often aggressive physically, and girls tend to be aggressive verbally

Question 9

learning gender stereotypes during elementary school

Answer 9

• children learn that traits and occupations associated with males have higher status

Question 10

older children see stereotypes as

Answer 10

• general guidelines that are not necessarily binding for all boys and girls, older children more willing than younger to ignore stereotypes when judging other children
  o older children’s cognitive development allows them to understand that stereotypes are generalizations that do not necessarily apply to all people

Question 11

girls vs boys and gender stereotypes

Answer 11

girls tend to be more flexible about stereotypes

Question 12

adolescents from middle-class homes tend to

Answer 12

have more flexible ideas about gender than those from lower-class homes

• better educated middle class parents may impart less rigid views of gender to their children

Question 13

Differences in physical development and behaviour between boys and girls

Answer 13

boys tend to be bigger, stronger, faster, more active

girls tend to be healthier, and better on tasks requiring fine-motor coordination, female embryos are more likely than male embryos to survive prenatal development

Question 14

physical development of boys

Answer 14

• infant boys more prone to birth complications, and throughout life
• prone to many diseases and dysfunctions
• more likely to engage in unhealthy, risk-taking behaviours (drinking alcohol, reckless driving, sexual activity)
• bigger, stronger, faster, more active

Question 15

verbal ability girls vs boys

Answer 15

• girls excel at reading, spelling, and writing, and are less likely to have language-related difficulties, larger vocabularies, more talkative
• boys: more are diagnosed with language-related problems such as reading disability, or specific language impairment
• left hemisphere may develop more quickly, it is central to language, more mature in girls
• mothers tend to talk more to girls than boys

Question 16

spatial ability boys vs girls

Answer 16

boys tend to surpass girls at mental rotation and determining relations between objects in space

Question 17

spatial memory boys vs girls

Answer 17

• ability to remember the position of objects in the environment
• females tend to have better memory for spatial locations of objects

Question 18

math: girls vs boys

Answer 18

• girls tend to perform better on tests than boys in elementary schools, but this reverses in high school and college
• Efforts to encourage girls in math and science have succeeded in reducing gender gaps in these subjects

Question 19

differences in personality and social behaviour

Answer 19

GIRLS

• Girls tend to use relational aggression rather than physical aggression, they hurt others by damaging their relationship with peers
• Girls tend to be better than boys at expressing emotions and interpreting others emotions

BOYS

• Boys are more likely to be physically aggressive
• Boys are exposed to aggressive male models in the media
• Parents tend to be more tolerant of aggressive behaviour in sons than daughters

Question 20

aggressive behaviour linked to

Answer 20

to androgens, hormones secreted by testes

Androgens make it more likely that boys will be aggressive by making them more excitable or easily angered and by making boys stronger

Question 21

why are girls better at expressing emotions and interpreting others emotions

Answer 21

• Regions of the brains temporal loves that play role in processing emotional expression develop more rapidly in girls than in boys
• Parents are more “feeling oriented” with daughters than with sons, more likely to talk about emotions with girls and emphasize the importance of considering others

Question 22

who is more likely to be depressed?

Answer 22

Adolescent girls more likely than boys to be depressed, girls experience more frequent stressors such as dissatisfaction with their appearance after pubertal change or conflict with close friends, girls more apt to interpret negative life events in harmful terms, emphasizing social-emotional consequences to greater extent than boys

Question 23

social influence boys vs girls

Answer 23

• Girls more likely to comply with adults request and more likely to seek an adults help
• Girls/women more than boys/men by persuasive messages and others behaviour, especially when under pressure

Question 24

physical development: motor skills

Answer 24

boys excel at task that require strength

girls do better on tasks that require fine-motor coordination

Question 25

physical development: activity

Answer 25

beginning from infancy, boys more active than girls

Question 26

physical development: health

Answer 26

from conception through adulthood, girls are healthier

Question 27

intellectual abilities: verbal ability

Answer 27

girls have larger vocabularies - read, write, spell better

Question 28

intellectual abilities: spatial ability

Answer 28

boys are better on mental rotation tasks and in determining relations between objects in space, - girls have better spatial location memory

Question 29

intellectual abilities: mathematics

Answer 29

boys get higher scores on standardized - primarily in countries where girls have limited educational and career opportunities

Question 30

personality and social behaviour: aggression

Answer 30

boys are more aggressive physically girl rely on more relational aggression

Question 31

personality and social behaviour: emotional sensitivity

Answer 31

girls are better able to identify and express emotions

Question 32

personality and social behaviour: social influence

Answer 32

because girls value group harmony more than boys do girls are more susceptible to others influence

Question 33

personality and social behaviour: depression

Answer 33

beginning in adolescence, girls more prone to depression than boys

Question 34

Frank Talk about gender differences

Answer 34

- Gender differences represent differences in average scores for groups of males and females; differences are relatively small - Distributions of scores have considerable overlap and differences are small - Many abilities and behaviours don’t show and gender differences

Question 35

influence of culture

Answer 35

- Impact of expectations on ability and vocational opportunities Self-fulfilling prophecy - Parental expectations - Scholastic influences

Question 36

socializing influences of people and the media

Answer 36

- Parents treat sons and daughters alike except for behaviour related to gender roles - Parents more positive when children play with toys typical for their sex - Fathers more likely to encourage behaviour associated with gender stereotypes

Question 37

how teachers treat boys and girls

Answer 37

- Many teachers make gender salient/noticeable in the classroom, and interact more with boys than girls - Unaware they do this

Question 38

peers and gender

Answer 38

- Peers tend to be critical of cross-gender play; once children learn rules about gender-typical play they often react harshly to perceive violations

Question 39

when do children begin to prefer playing with same-sex peers?

Answer 39

between 2-3 years - Girls interactions with one another are typically enabling—their actions and remarks tend to support others and sustain the interaction - Boys interactions are often constricting—one partner tries to emerge as the victor by threatening or contradicting the other, by exaggerating etc. - Early segregation of playmates means that boys learn primarily from boys, and girls from girls, reinforcing gender differences in play

Question 40

influence of television on gender

Answer 40

- Women on tv tend to be cast in romantic, marital or family roles, depicted as emotional, passive and weak - Men more often cast in leadership or professional roles and depicted as rational, active, strong

Question 41

cognitive theories of gender identity

Answer 41

- Gender identity develops gradually Child develops an understanding of gender labeling, stability, consistency, and constancy - By 4 years, children understand gender constancy and know gender-typical and gender-atypical activities

Question 42

gender labeling

Answer 42

by age 2-3, children understand they they are either boys or girls and label themselves

Question 43

gender stability

Answer 43

during preschool years, children begin to understand that gender is stable—boys become men, girls become women

Question 44

gender consistency

Answer 44

between 4-7, most children understand that maleness and femaleness do not change over situations or according to personal wishes

Question 45

gender-schema theory

Answer 45

once children learn their gender, they pay more attention to objects and activities that are considered gender appropriate

Question 46

gender dysphoria

Answer 46

The experience of extreme discomfort with one’s gender assigned at birth - In many cases (2-30% in natal males; 12-50% in natal females), such children do not continue to have gender dysphoria when they grow older - For natal males for whom the dysphoria does not persist 63-100% self-identify as gay or homosexual - Individuals with gender dysphoria have been reported across many countries and cultures

Question 47

biological influences on gender

Answer 47

Evolutionary adaptation to male and female roles may influence gender differences - Women invested in child rearing - Men invested in providing important resources for offspring—became more aggressive because behaviour was adaptive in helping ward off predators

Question 48

testosterone in amniotic fluid

Answer 48

The amount of testosterone in amniotic fluid predicts a child’s preference for masculine sex-typed activities

Question 49

congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)

Answer 49

Girls who are affected by CAH are exposed to large amounts of androgen during prenatal development and tend to prefer masculine activities and male playmates - In girls: can enlarge clitoris and resemble penis - Girls with CAH prefer masculine activities

Question 50

androgyny

Answer 50

Balance or blending of both masculine and feminine-stereotyped traits

Question 51

androgynous

Answer 51

people are rated high on both the instrumental and expressive dimensions, can be both independent and emotional, self-confident and considerate, ambitious and creative

Question 52

4 advantages of androgyny

Answer 52

(greater for girls) - More flexible an adaptable - Higher self-esteem - Better adjusted - More likely to express their thoughts and feelings publicly

Question 53

disadvantage of androgyny

Answer 53

children may be rejected by peers

Question 54

beyond traditional gender roles

Answer 54

- Children can be taught to have fewer stereotyped views of occupations and household activities in the short term - Parents may influence children by not being gender bound themselves - Parents should base decisions about toys, activities and chores on individual child, not child’s sex - Children can’t be sheltered from forces outside the home that shape gender roles, but parents can encourage critical thinking about gender-based choices of others