How Do We View Men and Women?

1. How Do We View Men and Women? Chapter 12 Gender Development and Stereotypes

2. Module Objectives: What is the difference between sex and gender? What are Gender differences? What are Gender stereotypes?

3. Pat is active, independent, competitive, and aggressive.Is Pat male or female?

4. Most people assume Pat is male.Why? Although Pat is a common name for both males and females, the adjectives used to describe Pat are commonly associated with men rather than with women.

5. Test yourself… On the following slide, identify which traits are masculine and which are feminine.

7. The same chart has been used to assess gender stereotypes among college students.. Did you choose the same traits as the consensus? Even numbered - female traits Odd numbered - male traits

9. Instrumental Traits (Roles) are traits associated with males • They describe individuals who act on the world and influence it • Expressive Traits (Roles) are traits associated with females • They describe emotional functioning and individuals who value interpersonal relationships

10. Gender Stereotypes • Broad categories that reflect our impressions and beliefs about females and males • All gender stereotypes refer to an image of what the typical member of a particular social category is like

12. Why do we assume this is a girl?

13. Gender Stereotypes • Children understand gender stereotypes by the time they enter kindergarten • Their understanding grows throughout elementary-school years • They begin to understand that gender stereotypes do not always apply

14. Children learn very young that we do not live in a gender-neutral society By the age of 4, a child’s knowledge of gender-stereo-typed activities is extensive

15. Consider the reaction of one 6-year-old to a boy named George who likes to play with dolls: • Why do you think people tell George not to play with dolls? • Well, he should only play with things that boys play with. The things that he is playing with now is girls’ stuff • Can George play with Barbie dolls if he wants to? • No! • What should George do? • He should stop playing with girls’ dolls and start playing with G.I. Joe • Why can a boy play with G.I. Joe and not a Barbie doll? • Because if a boy is playing with a Barbie doll, then he’s just going to get people teasing him… and if he tries to play more, to get girls to like him, the girls won’t like him either

16. Between the ages of 3 and 7, gender-related issues are very important to children. This is the time when they are starting to firmly classify themselves as boys and girls…. They are starting to know that they will always be boys and/or girls.

17. As children develop they learn that gender stereotypes don’t always apply Older children are more willing than younger children to ignore stereotypes when judging children

18. Is There Any Truth to Gender Stereotypes?

19. Physical Development • As infants, boys are more active than girls • This difference increases during childhood • Girls tend to be healthier than boys • Female embryos are more likely than males to survive prenatal development • Infant boys are more prone to diseases and dysfunctions • Adolescent boys and young men are more likely to engage in unhealthy, risk-taking behaviors

20. In a classroom, boys are more likely than girls to have a hard time sitting still.On a playground, boys more often play vigorously and girls more often play quietly.

21. Intellectual Ability • Females tend to have greater verbal ability than males • Girls read, write, and spell better than boys • More boys have reading and other language-related problems such as stuttering

22. Males tend to have greater spatial ability than females From childhood on, boys tend to have better mental rotation skill than girls From adolescence on, boys are more accurate than girls on spatial tasks that involve relations between objects in space

23. Let’s Test Your Spatial Ability! Try the following activities on your own.

24. Spatial Ability • The items above test mental rotation. • The task is to determine which of the figures labeled A through E are rotated versions of the figure in the box on the left.

25. Did you get it?

26. The first row of cubes shows you how many cubes are contained in each pile. Figure out the number of cubes contained in each of the piles above.

27. 27 cubes • 15 cubes • 15 cubes • 18 cubes • 19 cubes • 40 cubes • 10 cubes • 22 cubes • 13 cubes • 20 cubes • 50 cubes

28. Intellectual Ability Continued… • On standardized math tests: • Initially, girls excel in math computation, but later boys excel in math problem solving • For grades in math courses: • Usually there is no difference between boys and girls, BUT, if there is a difference it usually favors girls

29. Think on Your Own… Why are girls doing worse on achievement tests but getting better grades in the classroom? .

30. One idea is that girls are more confident on classroom tests than on achievement tests. The achievement test questions are more novel than classroom test questions. Because they are not as confident… they don’t do as well. Boys are more confident in their math skills and like the challenge of novel problems. Math is also a stereotypic male pursuit so girls tend to lack confidence in their math skills

31. Personality and Social Behavior • Starting at age 2, boys are more physically and verbally aggressive than girls. • They are more likely to be physically aggressive toward other boys rather than toward girls

32. Boys and men are more aggressive in virtually all cultures and in nonhuman species

33. Why are boys more aggressive? • There is a Biological link to aggression in the hormone Androgens, which are secreted by the testes. • Androgen does not lead to aggression directly. Androgens make it more likely that boys will be aggressive by making boys more excited or angry and by making boys stronger.

34. Is there a Societal link? • Media presents us with aggressive male role models - Jedi Knights to John Wayne • These role models are rewarded for their aggressive behavior. • Parents are more likely to use physical punishment with sons than with daughters.

35. Parents are more likely to be more tolerant of aggressive behavior in sons than in daughters. So… experience encourages boys rather than girls to express their aggression physically.

36. Girls display covert forms of aggressionsnubbing others or undermining social status or relationships.

37. What is actually the case? • BOTH boys and girls are aggressive. BUT… the method of aggression is different between the sexes. • In American children (African American and Euro American ) in grades 3 to 6, when they want to harm their peers, boys try to hurt them physically whereas girls try to damage relationships with peers. • Relational aggression (typical of girls) is less visually obvious.

38. Personality and Social Behavior Continued… • Girls are better able at expressing their emotions and interpreting others’ emotions • Girls are more willing to admit to feelings, but boys and girls are equally able to feel what others are feeling

39. Personality and Social Behavior • Females are more easily influenced by others - more persuadable • Girls are more compliant than boys with the requests and demands of teachers, parents, and other authority figures. • Young girls are more likely to seek an adult’s help

40. Rapport versus Report Talk • Rapport Talk • The language of conversation and a way of establishing connections and negotiating relationships • More characteristic of females than of males • Report Talk • Talk that conveys information such as public speaking • More characteristic of males than of females

41. The Peer Influence • Enabling interactions • Actions and remarks that tend to support others and sustain the interaction • Girls interactions with other girls • Constricting interactions • One partner tries to emerge as the victor by threatening or contradicting the other, by exaggerating, etc… • Boys interactions with other boys

42. Think about how boys and girls socialize • Males hold center stage through report talk with verbal performances that include story telling, joking, and lecturing with information. Think of play: boys tend to play in large groups that are hierarchically structured. They usually have a leader who tells the others what to do and how to do it. Boys games usually have winners and losers. Boys tend to do a lot of boasting about their skills and arguing about who is best at what.

43. Females enjoy private rapport talk more and conversation that is relationship-oriented. Think about play: Girls tend to play in small groups or pairs and at the center of a girls world is often a best friend. Intimacy is pervasive in girls’ relationships with peers and close friends. Turn taking is more characteristic of girls than of boys. Girls are more likely just to sit and talk with each other, and are more concerned about being liked by others rather than trying to achieve the leadership position of power.

44. Why is there a gender difference? Think on Your Own…

45. Parents are more “feeling-oriented” with daughters than with sons. They are more likely to talk about their emotions with daughters than with sons. They are more likely to emphasize the importance of considering others’ feelings with their daughter than with their sons.

46. What Influences How Children Learn Gender Roles?

47. Parents • From birth, fathers tend to interact more with sons than daughters while mothers interact more with daughters than sons • Mothers play traditional games like peek-a-boo whereas fathers play more physical, rough-and-tumble activities • Example: a dad might urge his frightened son to jump off a diving board (Be a man!) but not be so insistent with his daughter (That’s okay, honey!).

48. Parents treat sons and daughters similarly, except for gender-related behavior

49. Peers • By 3 years of age, most children’s play shows the impact of gender stereotypes: • Boys prefer blocks and trucks • Girls prefer tea sets and dolls • Young children are even critical of peers who engage in cross-gender play • Once children learn rules about gender-typical play, they often harshly punish peers who violate those rules

50. Peers Continued… • Between 2 and 3 years of age, children begin to prefer playing with same-sex peers • Children spontaneously select same-sex playmates. Adult pressure is not necessary. • Children resist parents efforts to get them to play with members of the opposite sex. • Girls are often unhappy when parents encourage them to play with boys, and boys are unhappy when parents urge them to play with girls.