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GENDER
How do we determine whether someone is male or female?
Fetally Androgenized Females
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
Turner’s Syndrome
Klinefelter’s Syndrome
n
So, can’t always tell a person’s gender by their
genitals, hormones, or sex chromosomes
Characteristics of Males and Females
Gender Role Stereotypes
n
Gender roles stereotypes evoke fixed, conventional
expectations of men and women.
Gender Differences
Gender Differences
n
Findings are based on averages
¨
Despite group differences, millions exceed the
average
n
Recent research suggests these differences are
small and getting smaller
n
Finding gender differences does not tell us why
those differences occur.
Gender Differences
n
Differences in math
¨
Benbow and Stanley study
¨
Eccles study
Gender Differences
n
Aggression
¨
Preschool boys
¨
Crick study
Gender Differences
n
Biological Vulnerability
¨
Males more likely to die at all ages
n
Tend to die earlier
n
Approximately 10 women to every 1 man in nursing
homes
Theories of Gender Role Development
Biological Theories
n
n
Prenatal hormones masculinize or feminize the
developing brain
Psychodynamic Theories
n
Freud
¨
Identification is completed as boys resolve the
Oedipus complex (called Electra complex for girls)
Social Learning Theory (SLT)
n
SLT theorists explain the development of gender
roles in terms of processes such as
¨
Observational learning:
¨
Identification:
¨
Socialization:
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
n
Gender role development entails the emergence of 3
concepts
Gender Schema Theory
n
Children develop a gender schema as a means of
organizing their perceptions of the world.
¨
A gender schema is
¨
The gender schema influences the kinds of
information children attend to and remember
Ways to discourage rigid gender roles
n
Avoiding grouping by gender
n
Encouragement of efforts toward common goals
n
Male involvement in child care
n
Teach children a wide range of skills
Should sex assignment surgery be done on intersexed children?
n
Intersex Society of North America