1. Gender Roles

2. What’s the difference? Gender: Biological, fixed by genes BEFORE birth
Gender roles: What is appropriate by society’s standards & expectations; how someone should behave
Gender stereotypes: fixed and oversimplified behaviors

3. Gender stereotypes Can include emotional characteristics
Can cause employment opportunities to be limited

4. Physical Differences Females Males Primary: Secondary: Primary:
Ovaries
Secondary:
Smaller body size, wider hips, fuller breasts
Primary:
Testes
Secondary:
Deep voice, facial hair
Primary sex characteristics: Without them, procreation can’t happen (reproductive organs)
Secondary sext characteristics: Not necessary for procreation (controlled by hormones)

5. Cognitive Abilities Females Males Verbal abilities
Spelling, pronunciations, foreign languages
Learn language quicker
United States: Girls tend to have less reading problems than boys
Manipulate visual images (spatial ability)
Use directional coordinates and measurements (miles) whereas women use landmarks and turn left or right
Tend to outperform girls in math

6. Personality & Behavior Differences
Females
Males
Trust & nurturance (affection & care)
Less aggressive (indirect)
Verbal
Assertiveness & tough- mindedness
Tend to be more aggressive (physical) due to higher levels of testosterone
Hitting, shoving

7. Communication Styles Females Males More talkative throughout childhood
Less talkative in mixed-sex groups as they get older
Talk about feelings and personal experiences & intimate matters
Talk with other women and understand nonverbal communication better
More understanding and supportive
Look each other in the eye and face each other
Usually dominate classroom discussions
Men introduce new topics
Interrupt each other
Go to women than men for advice with difficult situations
Don’t face each other during conversations

8. Mate Selection Females Males
Professional status, considerate, kindness, fondness of children, dependability
Support the family (financially and emotionally)
Physical characteristics
Wider hips, fuller breasts, younger
More likely to have children and pass on genes

9. Gender Typing Theories that explain gender role development
Around age 2, children begin to develop ideas about male & female behaviors

10. Biological Views: Genetics
Genes for specific traits have been passed to future generations
Highly controversial, some people don’t think biology predetermines how someone will behave
Genes are responsible for physical traits (strengths) but not complex social behaviors (aggression)

11. Biological Views: Hormones
The specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain is known as lateralization and in influenced by sex hormones during fetal development
Testosterone, larger growth in right hemisphere with is related to visual-spatial tasks (which is a male characteristic)

12. Psychological Views: Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud argues that at a young age, children seek attention from the opposite sex parent
He also argues that gender typing doesn’t develop until age 5, however some research says that girls aged 1-3 prefer soft and doll like toys and boys prefer hard transportation toys.

13. Psychological Views: Social-Learning Theory
Gender is developed through reinforcement & modeling
Reinforcement: Behaviors that have favorable consequences; when a behavior is rewarded it is repeated
Parents reacting positively for children playing with gender appropriate toys; Dad’s approving boys playing with tools but not dolls
Modeling: Learning from observation & imitation
Girls tend to imitate mother’s behaviors and boys imitate father’s

14. Psychological Views: Gender-Schema Theory
Gender schema: Cluster of physical qualities, behaviors, and personality traits associated with one sex or another.
Once a child realizes his/her gender, they seek information related to their gender and respond how they think they should based off of society’s expectation.

15. Variation of Gender Roles Through Time
In the past, gender roles were more distinct than they are today
In the past, women were expected to be homemakers & child rearers and men were providers and protectors
Change has taken place over the last several decades, mainly for economic reasons
Many working single moms
Can’t afford lifestyle off of just husband’s income
Reverses roles; men stay home

16. Cultural Variations
1930’s, Margaret Mead studied three tribes from New Guinea:
Mundugumor: warlike people, both males and females are aggressive
Women looked down on childbearing & child rearing practices because it interfered with be able to go to battle
Arapesh: Gentle & peaceful people; equal roles in child rearing & maintaining the land
Tchambuli: Reversed United States roles
Men care for children, care about physical appearance, gossip, & bicker
Women provide food, shave heads, don’t accessorize, and are more aggressive