I. Sex Differences in Behavior

A. How Prevalent
 

Which of these characteristics show consistent sex differences according to Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974?
 
active   analytical
nurturing   aggressive
suggestible  mathematical
spatial   verbal
timid   social
difficult   compliant
artistic   empathic
What about new research, 2003?
 
active   analytical
nurturing    aggressive
suggestible   mathematical
spatial    verbal
timid   social
difficult   compliant
artistic   empathic

B. Interpreting Sex-Related Differences
 

Gender accounts for no more than _____ of individual differences.

There is more variability __________ than _________genders.

Boys and girls are more _________than ________

II. Approaches to Gender Development

A. Psychoanalytic Theory: Freud
 

Phallic stage (3-6 years)
Girls:  Must resolve :
 

Boys:  Must resolve :
 

Resolution is through:
 
No empirical support for theory
 
 

B. Social Learning Theory: Effects of Socialization
 

Role of modeling, imitation, and reinforcement

Evidence:

Adults perceive boys and girls differently.
 
 
 
 
 

Parents actively encourage gender stereotypes.
 
 

Differential socialization can be subtle
 

Teachers respond to boys and girls differently.
 

Peers tend to reinforce gender stereotypes.
 

The media portrays gender stereotypes.

C. Cognitive Approach

1. Emergence of Gender Identity (Kohlberg)
 

Gender identity
 

Gender stability
 

Gender constancy
 
 

Issue:
 

2. Gender schema theory
 

From an early age, children organize knowledge of gender-related behavior into gender schemas

Explains why gender stereotypes persist

Children's processing of gender schema information: Liben and Signorella (1993)
 
Is difficulty in recalling counter-stereotypic information due to an encoding problem?

Method:
 
 

Results:
 

Implications

Children's processing of gender schema information: Koblinsky and Cruse (1981)
 
Created stories in which a boy and a girl each displayed
 

10-year-old children asked to recall whether it was a boy or a girl who performed each activity
 

BUT when children were alerted to the fact that the behaviors were not going to be stereotypic
 

Implication:
 
 

Evolutionary Psychology and Bioecological Model:see textbook pp. 361-364

1. Hormone effects

Prenatal Development

Research on “natural mistakes”

girls exposed to male hormones (androgen) in fetal development (Ehrhardt & Baker, 1973)

Research on hermaphrodites (Money)

Implication:

New findings (see link on class web page)
 
Study of 27 genetically male children born with cloacal exstrophy (lack of a penis) but presence of normal testicles
evidence of prenatal exposure to normal male hormones

25 were surgically reassigned

the majority of these children, between the ages of 5 and 16, have "reassigned" themselves back to males

Conclusion:
 
 

Girls generally mature faster
Brain lateralization occurs earlier
Reach puberty earlier

Waber:

faster maturation:
 
• earlier specialization of left hemisphere -->


slower maturation
 

• stronger right hemisphere specialization -->


studied early vs. late maturers
 

early maturers --

late maturers --

pattern found for:
 

Integrates social learning, social cognitive, and evolutionary psychology theories of gender.
 

Gender segregation:

Why gender segregation?
 
Play styles are more compatible

Hormones

Gender knowledge of self and others

Peer Pressure

Adult interactions with children