Psych of Sexes - Day 5 Notes PDF

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January 28, 2020

PSYC 2550

The Psychology of Different Sexes - Day 5 Gender Development Sex Assignment and Gender Identity - Sex assignment: boy or girl - Gender identity: I am a boy, I am a girl - Gender identity usually based on sex assignment - What about intersex: - Optimal sex (optimal gender) - Better to treat a child with one gender - Controversial - “Gender identity is largely a product of socialization” - “Social factors can override role of biology” - EX: those with visually atypical genitals could be raised as either female or male, continent upon strong and consistent socialization pressures from parents and surrounding environment - The case of the identical twins and failed circumcision - John Money - Brenda (Bruce) - David Reimer - Penis became destroyed (one without) - Brenda became a male, brother died from overdose Sex Differences in the Brain - result of fetal hormones? - Some differences - Significance? - size? - Areas - Frontal pole cortex (strategic planning, decision making) - Left hippocampus (memory, learning, emotion), left amygdala (emotion, fear) - Plasticity Theories of Sex Differences that Account for Both Nature and Nurture - Psychology: many theories focus almost exclusively on nurture (e.g., learning, cognitive development) - Two theories include both nature and nurture - Evolutionary psychology - Biosocial constructionist theory - Biological differences between gender results in different advantageous realities - Division of labor —> justification for way things are - Coming up with rationals that support having divisions of labor Big Picture Issues - What to explain in gender development? - Gender identity (male, female, other) - Gender stereotypes (qualities associated with sex) - Gendered self-view (self as masculine/feminine traits)

January 28, 2020

PSYC 2550

- Gender roles (sets of behaviors, chores, jobs) - Gendered preferences (toys and play activities) - Gender-based prejudice (feelings about different sexes) - Gender development trends and patterns - Mostly “traditional” - But, significant variability for people - 2020? - Non-weird cultures - You and generation Z How Central Are Sex and Gender in Early Development - parents attribute qualities to their newborns - Sex is one of the main cues that they use - Parents project gender onto their infants with proclamations such as “what a strong grip he has!” and, “she’s got such delicate features” Theoretical Approaches - Major Psychological theories of gender development fall into 2 broad categories: social learning theories and cognitive theories - Both types address a set of common questions about how children acquire gendered beliefs and preferences - According to social learning theory, certain behaviors elicit different patterns of reward and punishment for children of different sexes - Modeling and initiation are also significant - Parents - Parents are an important source of reward and punishment for children’s sex-typed activities - More criticism of boys doing female-typical things than girls - One meta-analysis of 172 studies conducted in Western cultures found that parents treated boys and girls very similarly, EXCEPT when it comes to encouraging sex-typical preferences and activities - Same-Sex Parents - Some people express concerns that the children of same-sex parents will have trouble developing a gender identity, or that the lack of parents of both sexes will deprive them of important gender role models - Research shows that gender identities, gender role behaviors, and sexual orientations develop in similar ways among children of gay and straight parents - patterns of mutual influence are called parent-child interactions - Can take a couple of different forms - Children’s temperaments can influence how parents treat them - Even when parents treat male and female children similarly, children may respond differently to such treatment - siblings represent a daily source of gender messages - Girls with older sisters and boys with older brothers displayed most traditionally sex-typical behaviors

January 28, 2020

PSYC 2550

- Boys and girls with cross-sex older siblings displayed the least traditionally sex-typical behaviors

- Teachers - Children spend several hours each day at school - Teachers have a substantial impact on gender development - Peers - Children’s peer and friendship circles tend to be quite sex segregated - Beginning at about age 3, most children show an increasing preference for peers and friends of their own sex, and this lasts until about puberty

- Media -...