Chapter 16 GENDER ROLES Section 1: What Are Gender Roles? HOLT Psychology 6/28/2019 Chapter 16 GENDER ROLES Section 1: What Are Gender Roles? Section 2: Gender Differences Section 3: Gender Typing Section 4: Variation in Gender Roles Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Section 1: What Are Gender Roles? Question: What are gender roles and gender stereotypes and how do they differ? GENDER Gender Roles – widely accepted societal expectations about how males and females should behave Gender Stereotypes – fixed and oversimplified beliefs about the ways in which men and women ought to behave Gender roles are widely accepted standards of gender-specific behavior while gender stereotypes are rigid, distorted, and oversimplified beliefs about how men and women should behave

Gender Quiz: Are Women and Men Different? T/F Women are the weaker sex. T/F Boys are more group-centered, active, and aggressive than girls. T/F Women are more emotional than men. T/F Women talk more than men. T/F Women suffer more from depression. T/F Women are more likely than men to divulge personal information. T/F Men smile more than women. T/F Women and men don’t care whether a baby is a boy or a girl. T/F Most women are confident about managing their financial affairs. T/F A heart attack is more likely to be fatal for a man than for a woman.

Gender Quiz: Are Women and Men Different? False Women are the weaker sex. True Boys are more group-centered, active, and aggressive than girls. False Women are more emotional than men. False Women talk more than men. True Women suffer more from depression. False Women are more likely than men to divulge personal information. False Men smile more than women. False Women and men don’t care whether a baby is a boy or a girl. False Most women are confident about managing their financial affairs. False A heart attack is more likely to be fatal for a man than for a woman.

Categorizing Males and Females: Gender-Role Standards Gender-role standard: Value, motive, or a class of behavior that is considered more appropriate for members of one sex than the other. Girls are typically encouraged to assume expressive role:being kind, nurturant, cooperative and sensitive. Taken together, a society’s gender-role standards describe how males and females are expected to behave and reflect the stereotypes by which we categorize and respond to members of each sex.

Chapter 16

GENDER DIFFERENCES Chapter 16 Section 2: Gender Differences Question: How have some studies indicated gender differences in cognitive abilities, personality, and behavior? GENDER DIFFERENCES Differences in Cognitive Abilities – it has been noted that males and females each outperform the other in certain tasks Differences in Personality and Behavior – women tend to exceed men in trust, nurturance and attention while men tend to exceed women in assertiveness

Some Facts and Fictions About Sex Differences Small but reliable differences between females and male Verbal ability, Visual spatial abilities, Mathematical ability, Aggression

Girls have greater verbal abilities than boys. Verbal ability Girls have greater verbal abilities than boys. Girls acquire language and develop verbal skills at an earlier age. Girls display small but consistent verbal advantage on tests of reading comprehension and speech fluency.

Visual/Spatial Abilities Boys outperform girls on tests of visual/spatial abilities: the ability to draw inferences about or to mentally manipulate pictorial information. Not large difference, but detectable as early as age 4 and persists across life span.

more males than females are exceptionally talented in math. Mathematical Ability Boys acquire more mathematical problem-solving strategies that enable them to outperform girls on complex word problems, geometry, and the SAT math portion. more males than females are exceptionally talented in math.

Aggression Boys are more physically and verbally aggressive than girls, starting as early as age two. 10 times more likely to be involved in antisocial behavior and violent crime during adolescence. Girls display more covert forms of hostility such as undermining or ignoring.

Other possible differences Other researchers have provided more possible differences: Activity Level Fear, Timidity, and Risk Taking Developmental Vulnerability Emotional Expressivity/Sensitivity Compliance Boys are more physically active than girls. Girls appear to be more fearful as early as the first year of life in uncertain situations. Most girls are more cautious and less assertive, and take less risks. Boys are more physically vulnerable to prenatal and perinatal hazards. Boys display more developmental problems. Females appear to be more sensitive and nurturing, but when studies in naturalistic settings, boys appear about equal. Finally, girls are usually more compliant than boys.

A Global View: Women around the World

Biological views Chapter 16 Section 3: Gender Typing Question: What is gender typing, and what are several theories that explain how it may occur? GENDER TYPING Gender typing – different theories proposed to explain gender role developments Biological views Hormones : Genes are passed on for survival , reproduction, or how one behaves.

Biological Views continued Chapter 16 Section 3: Gender Typing Question: What is gender typing, and what are several theories that explain how it may occur? Biological Views continued Hormones: Lateralization is one theory that explains why boys and girls are different. Lateralization – is where one side of the brain specializes over the other due to the influence of the sex hormones.

Psychological Views GENDER TYPING THEORIES Chapter 16 Section 3: Gender Typing Question: What is gender typing, and what are several theories that explain how it may occur? Psychological Views GENDER TYPING THEORIES Psychoanalytic Theory – gender typing can be explained in terms of gender identification Freud believed that one’s gender identity and preferences for a gender role emerge during the phallic stage.

Psychoanalytic Theory Continued Chapter 16 Psychoanalytic Theory Continued Said that boys identify with father’s out of fear of being castrated, thus resolving their Oedipus complex. Girls, in trying to please their father’s incorporate their mother’s feminine attributes.

Psychological Views GENDER TYPING THEORIES Chapter 16 Section 3: Gender Typing Question: What is gender typing, and what are several theories that explain how it may occur? Psychological Views GENDER TYPING THEORIES Social Learning Theory – gender role behavior is acquired through two different learning processes – reinforcement and modeling According to Banduras children acquire gender identities and gender-role preferences in 2 ways:

Social Learning Theory Continued Chapter 16 Social Learning Theory Continued Direct tuition-children rewarded or punished for behaviors Observational learning- in watching others children adopt attitudes and behaviors.

GENDER TYPING THEORIES (continued) Chapter 16 Section 3: Gender Typing Question: What is gender typing, and what are several theories that explain how it may occur? GENDER TYPING THEORIES (continued) Gender-Schema Theory – children play an important role in developing gender-appropriate behavior by forming their own concepts about gender and then shaping their behavior so that it conforms to their gender concepts

Gender Schema Theory Continued Chapter 16 Gender Schema Theory Continued Martin and Halverson claim that establishment of gender identity motivates a child to learn about sexes. Child incorporates information into gender schemas-organized sets of beliefs and expectations about males and females

CHANGE IN GENDER ROLES AND VARIATION Chapter 16 Section 4: Variation in Gender Roles Question: How have gender roles changed over time, and in what ways can they vary from culture to culture? CHANGE IN GENDER ROLES AND VARIATION Increasing participation of women in activities long considered appropriate for men only Men have taken on tasks previously performed by women Gender roles in one society may be viewed differently in another culture

CHANGE IN GENDER ROLES AND VARIATION (continued) Chapter 16 Section 4: Variation in Gender Roles Question: How have gender roles changed over time, and in what ways can they vary from culture to culture? CHANGE IN GENDER ROLES AND VARIATION (continued) Men and women of different cultures could be expected to be aggressive or peaceful Cultures may also have different ideas about who should be primarily responsible for raising children

Chapter 16 Question: What are the differences between gender roles and gender stereotypes? Gender Roles Gender Stereotypes