UNIT 6: Developmental Psychology
Learning Targets
46-1 Discuss how the meaning of gender differs from the meaning of sex.
46-2 Describe some ways in which males and females tend to be alike and to differ.
46-3 Identify the factors that contribute to gender bias in the workplace.
46-4 Explain how gender roles and gender identity differ.
Think about it.
Think of two people you’ve known for a long time: one male, and one female.
Have you observed differences in their behavior
that might be attributable to their gender?
Have these differences changed with age?
Share your observations with a partner.
What is the difference between �sex and gender?
sex
the biologically influenced characteristics by which
people define male and female
For instance, different genitals, different levels and types of hormones dictate sex.
gender
the socially influenced characteristics by which people define boy, girl, man, and woman
For instance, time spent doing housework, the sports played, the toys chosen indicate gender.
How are women and men alike?
Whether male or female, each of us receives 23 chromosomes from our mother and 23 chromosomes from our father. Of those 46 chromosomes, 45 are unisex—the same for males and females.
Our similar biology helped our evolutionary ancestors face similar adaptive challenges.
Both men and women needed to survive, reproduce, and avoid predators, and so today we are in most ways alike.
Are we more similar?
Identify yourself as male or female and you give
no clues to your vocabulary, happiness, or ability to see, learn, and remember.
Males and females, on average, have comparable creativity and intelligence and feel the same emotions
and longings.
(Hyde, 2014)
Our “opposite” sex is, in reality, our very similar sex.
How is she different from he?
The average girl enters puberty about a year earlier than the average boy, and a woman’s life span is 5 years longer.
She expresses emotions more freely, smiling and crying more, and, in Facebook updates, more often expresses “love” and being “sooo excited!!!”
(Fischer & LaFrance, 2015; Schwartz et al., 2013)
She can detect fainter odors, receives offers of help more often, and can become sexually re-aroused sooner after orgasm.
She has 2x the risk of developing depression and anxiety and 10x the risk of developing an eating disorder.
How is he different from she?
The average man is 4 times more likely to die by suicide or to develop an alcohol use disorder.
His “more likely” list also includes autism spectrum disorder, color-deficient vision, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
As an adult, he is more at risk for antisocial personality disorder.
How are the sexes different?
In the he/she examples on the prior slides, which seem mostly impacted by nature?
Which seem primarily influenced by nurture?
Talk with your partner.
Do males and females have a similar sense of self-esteem?
These two normal distributions differ by very little.
Such comparisons illustrate differences between the average female and male. The variation among
individual females or among individual males greatly exceeds this difference. (Hyde, 2005)
What does the data show regarding �men and aggression?
Men generally admit to more aggression, especially extreme physical violence.
(Bushman & Huesmann, 2010; Wölfer & Hewstone, 2015)
Worldwide, men commit more violent crime.
(Antonaccio et al., 2011; Caddick & Porter, 2012; Frisell et al., 2012)
Men take the lead in hunting, fighting, warring, and supporting war.
(Liddle et al., 2012; Wood & Eagly, 2002, 2007)
relational aggression
Women
are slightly more likely than men to commit acts of relational aggression.
(Archer, 2004, 2007, 2009)
Sladjana Vidovic was a high school student who committed suicide after suffering constant relational aggression by bullies.
What is the difference between aggression and relational aggression?
aggression
any physical or
verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally
relational aggression
an act of aggression (physical or verbal)
intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing
1. What Would You Answer?
According to research, which type of aggression is more common among males than females?
A. harmful physical aggression
B. indirect nonphysical aggression
C. verbal aggression
D. ostracism
E. spreading rumors
What would you say?
Imagine you’ve walked into a job interview and are taking your first look at the two interviewers.
The unsmiling person on the left oozes self-confidence and independence, maintaining steady eye contact.
The person on the right gives you a warm, welcoming smile, making less eye contact and seeming to expect the other interviewer to take the lead.
Which interviewer is male?
Gender differences in perceived social power.
If you said the person on the left, you’re not alone.
Around the world, from Nigeria to
New Zealand, people have perceived gender differences in power.
(Williams & Best, 1990)
How do girls tend to connect socially?
Females tend to be more interdependent.
In childhood, girls usually play in small groups, often with one friend.
How do boys tend to connect socially?
As children, males
typically form large play groups that brim with activity and competition, with little intimate
discussion.
(Rose & Rudolph, 2006)
How do some women’s relationships vary from some men’s?
Bonds and feelings of support are stronger
among women than among men.
(Rossi & Rossi, 1993)
Women’s ties— as mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers—bind families together. As friends, women talk more often and more openly.
(Berndt, 1992; Dindia & Allen, 1992)
And how do they cope with stress? Compared with
men, women are more likely to turn to others for support. They are said to tend and befriend.
(Tamres et al., 2002; Taylor, 2002)
What are some factors that contribute �to gender bias in the workplace?
perception
compensation
family-care responsibilities
everyday behavior
interaction styles
How do differences in perception impact workplace bias?
Power behaviors of women are often met with criticism and disdain while the same behaviors in men are received with enthusiasm and support.
How do differences in salary impact �workplace gender bias?
Women in traditionally male occupations have received less than their male colleagues.
Willett et al., 2015
How do family-care responsibilities impact workplace gender bias?
U.S. mothers still do nearly twice as much child care as fathers. In the workplace, women are less
often driven by money and status, compromise more, and more often opt for reduced work hours.
interaction styles
Men are more likely to offer opinions.
Women are more likely to express
support.
(Aries, 1987; Wood, 1987)
Practice your critical thinking skills.
The study referenced in the previous slide was conducted in 1987.
How might attitudes toward gender be different in the workplace today?
How might the context of the 1980’s impacted the behaviors of the subjects in that study?
Talk about it. Think about it. Don’t just accept it.
How might everyday behavior reflect gender bias in the workplace?
Leaper & Ayres, 2007; Major et al., 1990; Schumann & Ross, 2010
What is a role?
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave
What is the difference between �gender roles and gender identity?
gender roles
a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for males or for females
gender identity
our sense of being male, female, some
combination of the two, or neither (gender neutral)
Much of what we believed about �gender roles is changing.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, only one country in the world—New Zealand— granted women the
right to vote. (Briscoe, 1997)
By 2015, all countries granted that right.
A century ago, if a woman worked for
pay, she would more likely have been a midwife or a seamstress than a surgeon or a college professor. Now, more U.S. women than men graduate from college, and nearly half the workforce is female. (DOL, 2015)
What is social learning theory?
the theory that we learn social gender behavior by observing and imitating and by
being rewarded or punished
Consider the social learning theory.
Think of your own life and any gender roles
you have acquired. Are you in charge of taking out the trash? Watching your younger siblings?
Do those tasks/roles seem to line up with societal gender roles?
Apply the social learning theory to explain how you took on those gender roles.
Talk it over.
What is gender typing?
the acquisition of
a traditional masculine or feminine role
Do parents matter in the development of gender roles?
Parents do help to transmit their culture’s views on gender.
In one analysis of 43 studies, parents with traditional gender views were more likely to have gender-typed children who shared their culture’s expectations about how males and females should act.
(Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2002)
When fathers share equally in housework, their daughters develop higher aspirations for work outside the home.
(Croft et al., 2014)
Is there another option?
Rather than conform to restrictive gender roles and norms, many prefer to embrace androgyny, a blend of male and female roles.
Androgyny has benefits.
As adults, androgynous people are more adaptable. They are more flexible in their actions and in their career choices. (Bem, 1993)
They tend to be more resilient and self-accepting, and they experience less depression. (Lam & McBride-
Chang, 2007; Mosher & Danoff-Burg, 2008; Ward, 2000).
What are some examples of androgynous behaviors?
Boys and girls both feel comfortable dressing and nurturing a doll, building and destroying a block tower, throwing and catching a football, and designing and coloring a picture.
Father cooks the meals for the family, the stepmother changes the oil in the car, the teen daughter takes out the trash and sets the table, the teen son washes the dinner dishes and rakes the lawn.
Pants, shorts, and tees of every color are
worn by both boys and girls.
How do children decipher gender roles without even being taught?
Once children grasp that two sorts of people exist—and that they are of one of these two sorts—they search for clues about gender.
In every culture, people communicate their gender in many ways.
Their gender expression drops hints not only in their language (men are handsome, women are beautiful) but also in their clothing, interests (daddy golfs, mommy bakes), and possessions.
Children as gender detectives
Having picked up such clues, 3-year-olds may
divide the human world in half.
They will then like their own kind better and
seek them out for play.
“Girls,” they may decide, are the ones who watch
My Little Pony and have long hair.
“Boys” watch Transformers and don’t wear dresses.
How does this impact behavior?
Armed with their newly collected “proof,” they then adjust their behaviors to fit their concept of gender.
These stereotypes are most rigid at about age 5 or 6.
If a new neighbor moves in and is a girl, a 6-year-old boy may assume he cannot share her interests.
For young children, gender looms large.
What is transgender?
an umbrella term describing people whose gender
identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth-designated sex
Even as 5- to 12-year-olds, transgender children typically view themselves in terms of their expressed gender rather than their birth-designated sex.
(Olson et al., 2015)
To whom are transgendered people attracted?
Note that gender identity is distinct from
sexual orientation
(the direction of one’s sexual attraction).
Transgender people may be sexually attracted to people of the other gender (heterosexual), the same gender (homosexual), both genders (bisexual), or to no one at all (asexual).
Where do you fall on the gender spectrum?
Do you consider yourself strongly gender typed or not strongly gender typed?
What factors do you think have contributed to
your feelings of masculinity or femininity?
Talk with your partner.
Learning Target 46-1 Review
Discuss how the meaning of gender
differs from the meaning of sex.
Learning Target 46-2 Review
Describe some ways in which males
and females tend to be alike and to differ.
Learning Target 46-3 Review
Identify the factors that contribute
to gender bias in the workplace.
Learning Target 46-4 Review
Explain how gender roles
and gender identity differ.
Learning Target 46-4 Review cont.
Explain how gender roles
and gender identity differ.