DEP 4005 - Developmental Psychology Christine Ruva

"Sex Roles: Charting the Complexity"

I. Universal Differences vs. Cultural Determinants or Biological vs. Social Factors

A. Biological Factors:

1. Sex Chromosomes: XY vs. XX - influence on intellectual development.

a. XXX females and XXY males: verbal ability depressed

b. Missing X : depressed spatial development

2. Hormones:

a. Androgen Levels: androgen insensitive people, prenatal androgen levels.

3. Maturation & Onset of Puberty: compare late maturing girls and boys and you find differences.

B. Social Factors:

1. Interaction between the nature of the infant and parental treatment.

a. Female infants are born more neurologically mature than male infants.

(1) female infants more sensitive to pain

(2) male infants more irritable and cry more

2. Parental Expectations different for boys and girls

3. Gender Reassignment works before 18 months, but not after. Gender labeling and socialization influence sex differences.

II. Theories

A. Psychoanalytic (Freud): identification with same sex parent.

1. The experimental evidence does not support this theory because sex differences occur earlier than age 5.

2. No similarity between parent and child on how sex-typed they are

B. Social Learning Theory (Bandura): imitation, models, and reward & punishment

1. Parents differ on how they sex type their infants.

a. Fathers more responsive to boys than girls.

b. Fathers more likely than mothers to intervene if child plays with wrong sex toys.

c. Mothers treat infant boys and girls more similarly than fathers do.

d. Mothers speak more to their infant daughter than to their infant sons.

2. Peers - model & reinforce appropriate & punish inappropriate sex role behavior .

3. Toys as skill builders:

a. blocks = visual and spatial skills

b. stuffed animals promote nurturing and social skills

4. Media - cartoons (lack of female leading roles)

C. Cognitive Theorist: the child first identifies what sex they are then seek out appropriate examples. Cognitive development mediates the impact of the social world.

1. Development of Categories: 2-4 years and are mutually exclusive.

2. Lawrence Kolberg: 3 stages of Cognitive Development

a. Gender Identity: attained by age 3 - know one is male or female

b. Gender Stability: gained by age 4 - know that one's gender does not change over time.

c. Gender Constancy: gained around age 6-7 - one's gender does not change as a result of 's in appearance, behaviors, or desires.

III. Math Ability: males average standardized test scores than females, but in school females do slightly better than males. Should be noted that the average differences are not great and there is a lot of overlap. Where the real differences occur are at the extremes (e.g., more of the extreme outliers on the high math ability end are males).

Explanations for Gender Differences in Math Ability:

A. Brain Lateralization: brain organization and spatial skills

1. How do spatial skills related to math ability?

2. Spatial skills easily modified with training and experience.

B. Differential Treatment of Males and Females:

1. Parental values about the importance of math for girls vs. boys.

2. Schools and teachers

3. Anxiety about math

4. motivation to sign up for course

C. Attributions: girls are more likely to see effort as more important than ability and boys vice versa. Parents have same attributions for girls and boys.

D. Value Variables: of the individual and society.