1. 1. When do children develop their gender identity?
Between 2 and 3 years of age

2. 2. What is the difference between gender roles and a person’s sex?
Sex is biological, gender roles are cultural

3. Gender Roles
The expectations of parents, peers, and society of how we should think or behave because we are male or female

4. 3. How do children acquire gender roles? Social Learning/Role Theory
Argues that we learn gender roles in two major ways:
Operant conditioning – we receive rewards or punishments for specific gender role behaviors
Observational learning – we watch and imitate the same sex parent because these behaviors are rewarded

5. Social Learning/Role Theory
Different toys, different discipline techniques, different types of encouragement
4. What is the major criticism of social role theory’s explanation?
Critics argue that gender development is not acquired passively and that the child’s cognitive abilities play a role

6. 5. Cognitive Developmental Theory
Argues that a child’s thought processes are primarily responsible for gender role development
Children identify with and imitate same-sex parents because they recognize that these individuals belong to the same category as they do
Once they label themselves, they learn the male and female rules through active involvement with their environment
They form gender schemas – sets of information and rules organized around how either a male or a female should think and behave

8. 6. What is the major difference? How can they work together?
Social role theory is based more on outside forces; cognitive developmental theory stresses internal forces based on gender rules
Both internal and external factors are important

9. 7. Differences in Aggression
Nature: hormones, brain structures
Nurture: encouragement from society

10. 8. Cognitive ability differences
Women score better on verbal and written tests
Men score better on math, mental rotation of objects (spatial relationships), and mechanical reasoning

11. 9. Biological explanation:
Women use both sides of their brains to process language

12. 10. Theorize both nature’s and nurture’s explanation for gender differences in math abilities.
Nature: Brain structures and processing
Nurture: Encouragement (or discouragement) in school and in families; different toys (blocks, Legos, etc.); social roles