1. Gender Development Dr. E. Blakemore
Psychology 235
Gender Development
Dr. E. Blakemore

2. Terminology Sex and gender
sex - biology (genes, chromosomes, hormones, anatomy, etc.)
gender - either cultural or learned - or some combination
Are males and females “the two sexes” or “the two genders”?

3. More terminology Gender identity Gender roles Gender typing
appearance, behaviors, characteristics, roles, occupations, activities, toys
Gender typing

4. Theories of Gender Development
Psychoanalytic Theory
Social Learning Theory
Cognitive Theories
Cognitive Developmental Theory (Kohlberg)
Gender Schema Theories

5. Social Learning Theory
Emphasizes three mechanisms
1. Consequences for behaviors
rewards, punishments, etc.
2. Imitation and observation
observing others including adults, other children, the media, etc.
3. Direct verbal instructions
Summary: socialization by others

6. Cognitive Approaches
Emphasizes cognitive development and acquiring information about gender
Called self socialization
Child acquires information and then chooses to do gender role behavior
Two theories
Kohlberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Gender Schema Theory -- the developmental theory is Martin & Halverson

7. Kohlberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Cognitive development underlies gender role development
Gender role development consists of three stages
Gender Identity (by about age 2)
Gender Stability (by age 4 or 5)
Gender Constancy (by age 5 to 7)

9. Kohlberg continued Gender constancy believed to be the critical factor
Because of a “tendency to value things like the self”, children will choose the things that are gender-related once they have gender constancy
What’s the evidence?
May play a role, but more is involved

10. Gender Schema Theories
Martin & Ruble
A gender schema is a set of ideas about gender (boys like cars, boys are loud, girls like dolls, etc.)
How and when are these ideas learned, and how do they shape behavior?
They are learned very early and very easily, and start to shape behavior at a young age

11. Gender Socialization Who (or what) socializes children’s gender roles?
Parents
Peers and siblings
Other adults (e.g., teachers, coaches, grandparents)
media (TV, books, movies, ads)
What is most critical?
Probably peers and media, but all are involved including the child him or herself

12. Parental Socialization
Gender is not the critical factor for parents
Temperament is more important
Several reviews have concluded that, at least in western countries, boys and girls are treated quite similarly by parents
However, there is some differential treatment
Fathers do more of it than mothers

13. How do parents treat boys and girls differently?
Direct Differential Treatment
rewards, punishments, instruction, responding to certain behaviors
Channeling or Shaping
Choosing certain items or activities for boys or girls
Observation and Modeling
modeling certain behaviors for one or the other
being imitated because of being male or female

14. Direct Differential Treatment
Independence from toddler age on encouraged more in boys
Girls more often treated as though they cannot do things on their own – not very competent
Achievement encouraged more for boys
Boys get more direct instruction
Boys get more rough & tumble play
Girls are talked to and with more
Children are responded to more (esp. by fathers) when engaging in gender appropriate behavior

15. Channeling or Shaping
This involves providing certain things to children of one gender or the other
Clothing and hairstyles
Room decorations and furnishings
Activities (e.g., athletics, art, music, dancing)
Toys
One gender may have more pressure, especially to avoid the other gender’s characteristics
Which one, and why?

16. Boys’ Toys More cognitively sophisticated more different kinds of toys
develop spatial skills
more likely to provide feedback
imaginary play - exciting far away adventures - superheroes
aggression, violence, warfare

17. Girls’ Toys The reverse (less cognitively sophisticated, etc.)
Imagination more likely to focus on everyday life and may include relationships
Nurturing
Domestic
Appearance-related

18. Toys conclusions
Practicing skills
What they tell you about yourself

19. Observation, Imitation, Modeling
Do boys imitate their dads and girls imitate their moms?
Too simple -- doesn’t have a lot of support
Rather children imitate a variety of gender related models including many people outside the family
eventually leads to conclusions about what males and females do

20. Peer Gender Role Socialization
Peers respond to gender typical behavior
Children’s peer experiences take place heavily in same gender peer groups
The groups behave differently
You could say that boys and girls grow up in different cultures
Begins around age 2 with girls avoiding boys for two reasons
Girls are wary of rough physical play styles of boys
Girls have trouble influencing boys
By school age it’s very well established