Gender Development Concepts

1. Gender Development Concepts PSYB1

2. Activity In pairs try to list as many Biological/behavioural differences you can think of between males and females…

3. Why study gender? • Identify • Understand their personality • Biology vs environmental causes?

4. General concepts you should understand • Sex • Gender • Androgyny • Sex role Stereotypes • Cultural diversity • Nature Nurture

5. SEX The term sex refers to biological status as either male or female and can be defined by our chromosomes, hormones and anatomical differences.

6. GENDER Is psychosocial and refers to notions about the expected roles, behaviours and attitudes of males and females within society.

7. Social construction • The concept of gender has been investigated by our society and so can change over time and vary from culture to culture.

8. Think • What does it mean to be masculine? • What does it mean to be feminine? • Can you think of the advantages of adopting these adjectives?

9. Androgyny • Androgynous people are people whose personality encompasses both masculine and feminine characteristics. • Sandra Bem (1974) developed the BSRI (Bem Sex Role Inventory) which measures an individuals androgyny. • Bem’s scale found that people with high androgyny scores are psychologically more healthy than people who show only masculine or feminine traits.

10. Read the handout • Look at the evaluations - evaluations are really important in psychology. They are your AO2 marks!!! • Summarise into 4 key words then explain to me without your notes

11. Sex-role or gender stereotypes • A stereotype is a belief you have developed over time about someone’s behaviour, attitude or characteristics • We have over time developed a stereotype for people as what they should do to be male or female.

12. Baby Jack • What type of outfit would you chose for Jack? • What toy would you buy him? • What story could you read to him at bed time? • What colour would you paint his bedroom?

13. Adult gender stereotypes about infants • Many baby X studies have been performed where an adult is misled about the babies gender and their behaviour is observed to look for gender expectations. • Obviously how the baby is labelled affects how the adult treats the baby. • See Seavey et al (1975) AIM, METHOD, RESULTS, CONCLUSION – summarise into 4 key words • What positive implications do you think knowing this information can have on a child’s development? • Can you think of any criticisms for this study?

14. For example – positive A parent should try not to treat their child in such a masculine or feminine way because Sandra Bem says that people with androgynous personalities are those people who ate more psychologically healthy. • Negative – Would the results be different if a different colour of clothing was used etc…

15. Children’s gender stereotypes • Golombok and Fivush (1994) believe that children develop very fixed gender stereotypes between 3 & 5yrs of age. • Read the study by Urberg (1982) and make notes – what does it prove about children’s stereotypes? Summarise into 4 key words • However, note…the older children get they become less likely to use only gender to predict behaviour but will use other information as well.

16. Gender stereotypes in the media • How the sexes were represented in children’s books has changed enormously over the years. • Has this stereotyped message changed today? Read DeLoache et al (1987) to see- summarise into 4 key words • On TV Davis showed how females on TV are outnumbered by men 2:1, younger than males and 4 times more likely to be dressed provocatively.

17. Exam questions Describe one study which investigated adult gender stereotypes. What did they find. Remember to include the aim, method, results and conclusion. (5 marks) Now make up your own question where the marks would be worth (3 marks) for that same topic… Describe one study which investigated gender stereotypes. What did they find. Remember to include the aim, method, results and conclusion. (5 marks) Now make up your own question where the marks would be worth for that same topic… Androgyny is a term used to describe a person who displays both feminine and masculine traits. Suggest how a psychologist might measure androgyny (2mks)

18. Cultural diversity in gendered behaviour • One of the most well known studies of cultural differences in gender related behaviour was carried out by the anthropologist Margaret Mead (1935) • Read the study and discuss the evaluations – summarise into bullet points then into key words….

19. More evaluations • Meads methods have been challenged as unscientific • Even before she made her observations she was always of the opinion that the environment was responsible for shaping behaviour. This may have led to researcher bias in her observations • Errington and Gewertz (1989) revisited the Tchambuli and carried out an analysis of Mead’s original records. They concluded that the women did not dominate the men or vice versa. • Some years later Mead significantly changed her views about cultural influences, stating that women were naturally better at childcare than men.

20. Cultural diversity • See study by La Framboise et al (1990) • Perhaps Mead exaggerated these cultural differences. Wade & Tavris (1998) that in most cultures men have the status and engage in more warfare and women deal with children and housekeeping. • Status – women have highest status in Scandinavian cultures – lowest in Bangladesh • In western cultures women hold many male orientated jobs such as medicine and dentistry

21. Nature & Nurture • This is a debate concerning the extent to which our behaviour is governed by the forces of biology or the environment. • An extreme nature view would argue gender is totally a result of genes and hormones so women are programmed o be nurturers and men protectors • An extreme nurture view would explain gender related behaviour as a result of social and cultural factors in the environment. • What do you think?

22. Recap • List as many key concepts and researcher names and dates as you can…..