DEVELOPING GENDER IDENTITY AND INTERSECTING IDENTITIES WHY DO OR SHOULD WE CARE Color scheme based on gender PSY 388 003 Girl Features Delicate Calmer Softer Beautiful Why do you think this is Sense of projection activation of stereotype Objective measures of the size and health of the infants showed no differences between males and females Girls are depicted as passive DID YOU KNOW 1910 s pink was for boys blue was for girls 1940 s colors switched pop culture influence GIRL BOY 1884 Boys wore dresses until age 6 or 7 the time of their first haircut in the U S Franklin D Roosevelt WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT Development predictable orderly changes over time due to life experiences biological effects PSY 388 003 Developmental Psychology the study of changes in human beings over the course of their life GENERAL DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES Infancy age 0 1 yr Childhood age 1 12 yrs Adolescence age 13 17 yrs Middle Adulthood age 40 64 yrs Young Adulthood age 30 39 yrs Emerging Adulthood age 18 29 yrs Old Age age 65 Each developmental stage has a developmental task Adolescence o Task Identity vs Confusion o Where are you headed in life Emerging Adulthood o Task Identity and Intimacy o Career Relationships HOW DO INFANTS DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN Infant s thoughts are difficult to study Approach novel object DEVELOPMENT DURING CHILDHOOD Show infants objects e g photo of faces Measure level of attention paid to the object Typically when infants grow bored their gaze shifts from the object perhaps to a Earlier than 6 months of age show preference for female over male faces o Due to experience with each type of face PSY 388 003 Infants 7 12 months distinguish between women s and men s faces o Attend primarily to hair length distinguishing cue By age 24 months children show o Some knowledge of gender typical activities e g cooking o Differences in gender related vocabulary his her o Accuracy in gender labeling THE SEQUENCE OF CHILDHOOD GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT At age 3 most children lack gender constancy Being a male female is a permanent unchangeable feature Believe they can change their gender or changes in hair length or clothing will change gender Gender constancy comprised of 1 Gender stability grow up 2 Gender consistency Gender as a stable personal characteristic Example I was a girl when I was a baby and will be a woman when I Retain gender even when physical features behaviors change Example I will remain a boy even if I grow long hair or put on a dress Children develop gender stability before gender consistency LATER DEVELOPMENT For most children gender development is complete by age 6 Around age 11 boys spend more time in gender typed activities and with other boys girls Girls participated in a greater variety of activities and interacted with boys and By middle childhood children exhibit some stability in terms of gender typed patterns of activities GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT Gender Identity identifying and accepting the self as male or female Gender Role behaviors typically associated with males or females Girls allowed to cry Boys lack of affection WHAT COULD INFLUENCE GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT PSY 388 003 Gender identity continues to develop during adolescence and into adulthood Family structure Transitions with each stage Social structure Environment regional influences Biological factors e g puberty Media BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND GENDER DEVELOPMENT Configuration of external genitalia Contributes to categorizing and identity Prenatal hormones o Influence brain development o Potentially related to gender typed childhood behavior Even when within normal range o Girls high in masculine behavior had mothers with higher levels of testosterone during pregnancy TRANSACTIONAL LMODEL OF PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION Girls and boys have some early differences in temperament o Boys surgency more smiling laughter active early on o Girls effortful control focused attention on tasks inhibit certain actions o Differences in tendencies may elicit certain responses from caregivers thus in turn elicit certain parent behaviors Example for boys if they are smiling the caretaker will be influenced to smile back Child influences caretaker caretaker influences child Babies may arrive primed to identify as male female but gender identity is not entirely dependent on any biological factor FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND GENDER DEVELOPMENT Family context is critically important o Both overt and covert beliefs about gender Differential treatment by parents for boys girls Traditional vs Non traditional homes o Influence on gender role flexibility 4 Processes 1 Modeling children observe parents behavior 2 Differential treatment of sons and daughters HOW DO PARENTS CONTRIBUTE TO CHILDREN S EARLY GENDER LEARNING PSY 388 003 3 Opportunities parents encourage toys play activities household chores 4 Parent monitor and supervise children s friends and activities Hold and communicate different expectations o Males o Females Stronger firmer better coordinated alert Softer delicate finer featured Fathers tend to be more traditional vs mothers Spend less time with children o But most influential in endorsing traditional gender roles especially for sons Ethnic differences ethnic groups Single parent household Without fathers o African American fathers tend to be more egalitarian vs fathers from other o Hispanic parents allow more freedom and privileges for sons than for daughters expected to do more household chores o Children closer to mothers o Boys show more feminine but no less masculine behaviors than children from two parent families o Girls develop less traditional gender roles Autonomy Children with lesbian mothers o Experience less gender stereotyped environments o Hold less traditional gender stereotyped attitudes egalitarian SO IN WHAT AREA SPECIFICALLY DO WE SEE PARENTS TREAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS DIFFERENTLY Choosing toys Dressing Assigning tasks chores Type of interaction actively o Girls encouraged to talk more Boys encouraged to roughhouse or play FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND GENDER DEVELOPMENT Many parents endorse equality but still serve as gendered role models o Types of employment o Division of household chores Gender composition of siblings affects gender socialization PSY 388 003 PEERS AND GENDER DEVELOPMENT Peers are highly influential o Around age 3 children develop preference for same gender peers Peers may act as the gender police o Curtailing cross gender behaviors o Especially in early middle childhood Or may act to