PSY 388 03 GENDER DOMINANCE Behavior o Men Fail to pick up conversational topics raised by women Differences in speaking pattern Men self oriented Women other oriented In leaderless groups men are more likely to emerge as leaders esp if groups are short term Working on tasks that do not require much social interaction Women are slightly more likely to become social leaders bring people together Mandela Rarely do we see men as social leaders e g Nelson WHY MIGHT WE SEE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DOMINANCE Personality o Males score higher on personality measures of dominance How we word the questions How we measure these constructs o How do we measure personality Surveys Use of self reported measures You re reporting based on what is expected of you Social Expectation or evaluation o Dominance is associated with masculinity o Violation of expectation social gender norm may result in negative reaction esp from same sex peers If a man does not show aggression he may be criticized his masculinity may be questioned ARE WOMEN MORE NURTURING THAN MALES 99 9 No WHAT IS NURTURANCE Involves caring for and promoting the welfare of others What do we think of when you see hear the word nurture or nurturing Motherhood taking care of an infant What about Changing one s auto tires to ensure his her safety Mending a leaky roof so one s family will be warm dry GENDER NURTURANCE PSY 388 03 Women IN FACT Score higher than men do on personality measures of nurturance o This is due to the questions being asked on these tests Almost always seen in nurturing roles e g mothers nurses child care workers In cross cultural studies girls women are often observed taking care of the infant But the participation is nurturing activities does not mean that women are naturally more nurturant than men No gender difference in physiological e g heart rate blood pressure response to o Would the women respond more than men to the infant s cry No not Men and women are both good at correctly identifying the meaning of a baby s cry Fathers are as good as mothers at using infants cues to guide their own Things are changing culturally stay at home fathers paternity leave more women infant s cry necessarily equally good caregiving behavior work outside of home WHY MIGHT WE SEE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN NURTURANCE Expectations o Children perceive their mothers as more nurturing than their fathers Partly due to how mothers and fathers express their care and support If a child fell mother may show more concern and baby child father may just say it s okay By age 6 children understand gender stereotype Feminine stereotype of emotional expressiveness and nurturance may make it easier for women to provide and to obtain social support from close relations Social Context o Gender differences exist among cultures in which girls are directly socialized more toward nurturance than boys o If boys and girls are socialized toward nurturance equally gender difference are minimal equal opportunity if socialized equally then differences become smaller smaller Norms of masculinity femininity o Nurturing not a masculine trait and this sex typing interferes with nurturant behaviors IS THERE A MALE FEMALE DIFFERENCE IN THE TENDENCY TOWARD EMPATHY Not necessarily WHAT IS EMPATHY PSY 388 03 The quality of being sensitive and responsive to feelings of others feeling sympathy or compassion for another There is a small gender difference in empathy in this case it favors women Larger difference found on self report measures Smaller difference on observational and behavioral measures Less clear differences on physiological measures o Blood pressure maybe heart rate will go up o Not clear to say which gender is more empathetic than the other Let s see why o Believed to be a feminine trait I tend to get emotionally involved with a friend s problems This statement may be more applicable to women women would score higher Women express emotion publicly In lab studies gender differences are less clear cut Controlled setting When observed anonymously no gender difference exist When explicitly questioned girls tend to show more nonverbal signs of empathy than boys o Girls may hug more Those who score higher on masculinity show fewer empathetic behaviors than androgynous feminine individuals Women tend to be more sensitive than men to nonverbal cues strengthens via social learning Women show greater levels of sensitivity to empathetic nonverbal cues WHY MIGHT WE SEE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EMPATHY Status o People with subordinate status may have to develop more sensitivity to other s feelings as a matter of survival o Gender differences are noticeable in cultures with strict traditional gender Social Expectations Socialization roles roles WHO IS MORE ALTRUISTIC MEN OR WOMEN Depends WHAT IS ALTRUISM o Among persons who are strongly socialized toward feminine and masculine PSY 388 03 Unselfish regard for welfare of others helping behavior Form of helping behavior helping others without expecting anything in return Assumption women are more helpful When measuring actual helping behavior findings are inconsistent No clear cut result for gender differences in altruism WHY MIGHT WE SEE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ALTRUISTIC TENDENCIES Situational o Male female appropriate o Men are more likely to help in dangerous situations or active intervention is required o Women more likely to help in context of relationships Moderator variables include o Sex of person needing help o Public vs private setting o Men more likely to help in the present of an audience GENDER AND THE SELF Gender identity identification of the self as male or female In North America cultures o Women are socialized toward relational self concepts o Men are socialized toward independent self concepts Use language for identification LANGUAGE Sex differences in language most apparent when interacting with same sex Men s language more direct succinct and instrumental Women s language more indirect elaborative affective o May use emotional words Sex differences in amount of talking and specific features of language QUALIFIERS OF SEX DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE Sex and familiarity of interaction partner s o Language more similar in mixed sex dyads Status difference among adults Topic and length of conversation Nature of topic and sex of partner interact to influence language Sex differences reduced when gender less noticeable feature of interaction Culture specific socialization practices LANGUAGE GENDER In English PSY 388 03