1. GENDER DIFFERENCES
Who are the perpetrators?
Who are the victims?

2. DEFINITION OF SEX DIFFERENCES
Psychological differences between biological males and females

3. DESCRIPTION OF SEX DIFFERENCES
1. PERFORMANCE SCORES ON TESTS OF
Verbal abilities: Females higher
Spatial abilities: Males higher
Mathematical abilities: Males higher Starting in adolescence (Also more male low achievers)

4. Film Clip: Gender Difference Math

5. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
2. ACTIVITY LEVEL
Males greater
(Starting in infancy)

6. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
3. AGRESSION, VERBAL, & PHYSICAL
Males more
(Starting at age 2)
About 5% of the variance

7. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
4. COOPERATION & COMPLIANCE
Females more
(Starting at age 2)

8. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
5. DEVELOPMENTAL VULNERABILITY
Males greater: Infant mortality
Prenatal & perinatal- stress & disease

9. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
5. DEVELOPMENTAL VULNERABILITY (CONT)
Males greater: Learning disorders
learning disabilities
speech defects
hyperactivity
mental retardation

10. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
6. PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
Males: Externalizing
Acting out, defiance
Delinquency
Females: Internalizing
Anxiety, fear
Self-esteem (esp. late adolescence)

11. SEX DIFFERENCES (CONT)
EXPLANATIONS
Evidence for NATURE
Neurological differences
Hormonal differences
Evidence for NURTURE
Environmental differences
Interventions are effective
Evidence for BOTH

12. GENDER ROLES 1. Gender Roles
Patterns of behavior or “jobs” assigned to females vs. males in a particular society
E.g., wife, mother, homemaker
E.g., husband, father, breadwinner

13. GENDER ROLES 2. Gender-role norms
society’s expectations or standards concerning what males & females should be like
Characteristics
Behaviors

14. Film Clip: Gender Norms in Middle Childhood

15. GENDER ROLES 3. Gender-role stereotypes:
overgeneralized (& largely inaccurate) beliefs about what males & females are like
E.g., Venus and Mars

16. Examples of Gender-Role Stereotypes
Females: Communality
Connectedness to others
emotional, kind, nurturant, cooperative, & sensitive to others’ needs.
Males: Agency
Individual action and achievement
dominant, independent, assertive, & competitive.

17. GENDER ROLES Androgyny
possessing characteristics that are considered both highly masculine and highly feminine

19. ARE GENDER STEREOTYPES TRUE?
No, the vast majority of gender stereotypes are not true.
Males and females are much more psychologically similar than different.

20. WHAT DEVELOPS? GENDER TYPING
1. Gender Identity Awareness that one is male or female
age years old

21. WHAT DEVELOPS? GENDER TYPING
2. Gender constancy
Sex is a stable characteristic
(age 5 to 7)

22. WHAT DEVELOPS? GENDER TYPING
3. Acquire gender-roles
Internalize
motives
values
patterns of behavior that culture considers appropriate for members of that sex

23. DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER STEREOTYPES
years Know “correct” behaviors
years Moral standards
years Psychological traits, customs

24. DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER STEREOTYPES
4. Adolescence The gender police
Gender intensification
Most harsh and rigid
5. Early adulthood More tolerant of self & others

25. DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER STEREOTYPES
6. Parenting years More stereotyped behavior “Parental imperative”
7. Post-parenting years Androgyny shift

26. GENDER TYPING What Influences It ?
1. Biosocial theory
2. Social learning theory
3. Cognitive theory

27. GENDER TYPING What Influences It ?
1. Biosocial theory
Biology
Chromosomes
Hormones (prenatal, puberty)
Social labeling
Others label and react
Self labels and reacts

28. GENDER TYPING What Influences It ?
2. Social learning theory:
“Gender curriculum”
Differential reinforcement
Rewards and punishments
Discipline, expectations
Fathers especially important
Observational learning
Parents, siblings, peers, media

29. GENDER TYPING What Influences It ?
3. Cognitive theory
Intrinsically motivated to belong to their own gender’s “club”
Cognitive Developmental Theory
Stages of understanding
Self-socialization (active person)
Begins with “gender consistency”?

30. GENDER TYPING What Influences It ?
3. Cognitive theory
Cognitive Schema Theory
Cognitive schema: Organized sets of beliefs and expectations about males and females
Guide information that people attend to and remember
In-group/ out-group schema
Own-sex schema

31. GENDER TYPING What Influences It ? INTEGRATION
1. Biology
2. Social experiences
3. Cognitive development

32. SO WHAT? CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER STEREOTYPES
1. Opportunity denied.
2. Competence: Interest and practice guided by expectations.
3. Identity: Internal alienation from true self.

33. Film Clip: Consequences of Gender Role Stereotypes

34. LAST NAME, first name
1. Name 3 psychological differences between males & females.
2. Are these differences based on biology or socialization or both?
3. What are gender stereotypes?
4. At what age does “gender intensification” take place?

35. END