Gender Development: Today’s OutlineInfancy (omitting prenatal development)Preschool, ages 2-5Middle childhood, elementary schoolAdolescenceTheories of gender developmentInfancyLearning genderBy 6 months, infants can distinguish the category of female voices from the category of male voicesThrough the use of habituationBy 9-11 months, infants distinguish between male faces and female facesGender categories (placing human beings into male or female category)Gender differencesActivity levelBoy babies are more active than girl babiesTemperament: inhibitory controlGirls show more inhibitory control (inhibit actions that aren’t appropriate)Gender similaritiesSmilingFrequency of smiling is about the sameAs they get older, girls smile more than boys (by high school)Many aspects of temperament, e.g., negative affectNegative affect: tendency to be irritable, boys and girls are about the sameGender socialization and parents’ differential treatmentFor the most part, the same (treatment to boys and girls from parents)Boys played with more roughly (ex: throwing baby up in the air)Preschool (2-5 years)Gender learningGender identity by 2 – 2.5 years of ageGender identity: know that they are a boy or a girl (beforehand: difficult ?)Gender of others by 3Understand the gender of people in their environmentGender constancy by 5-6 yearsGender constancy example: If you ask a 3 year old boy, “When you grow up, will you be a mommy?” He will say yesThey learn that gender is a permanent attribute as life goes onBy age 5: Associate certain occupations with men and others with women. Why?Stereotypes form their environment: male doctor dolls, female nurse dollsStatistical learning process: they learn statistical patternsGender DifferencesAggressive behaviorBoys tend to be more aggressive (girls can be too but avg. difference exists)Toy and game preferencesBoys: trucks; girls: dollsGender SocializationParents encourage gender-typed activitiesOver half of 4 year old boys said their father would think it was “bad” if they played with girls’ toysFamily variationsSome parents are committed to overcoming stereotypesOthers are concerned about making their child follow necessary gender rolesMothers talk more and use more supportive speech with daughters than sonsGirls later score a little bit higher on measures of verbal ability and are more expressiveProcesses of parents’ gender socialization(1) Channeling (shaping):Parents create a gendered world for the child e.g., choice of toys and activities (by the parents)Ex: Girls room painted pink, put girl in ballet lessons earlyEx: Boys room painted blue(2) Differential treatment:Girls and boys treated differentlyEx: Mothers’ talk(3) Direct instruction:Telling a boy, “Boys don’t cry”Tolerate more flexibility with girls (boys role defined more rigidly/narrow)(4) Modeling:Parents model gendered behavior (often without being aware of it)Ex: household division of labor?: Siblings DO play a role in socializationMiddle Childhood (Elementary School)Gender SegregationGender Segregation  Toy & Game PreferencesGirls & boys start wanting to play only with the same genders/their play is differentMutually reinforcing: the more that they play these things, they more that they don’t want to cross over and vice versaGender SocializationParents’ influence continuesIncreasing influence fromPeers (“Gender Police”)The schools: teachers’ differential treatment (very subtle)Ex: Call on boys in class more than on girlsThe mediaExtent of stereotypingNew media (e.g., video games) are more stereotyped than “old media” (e.g., TV, books)Amount of TV viewing correlated with acceptance of gender stereotypesAdolescenceGender IntensificationAbout 11-12, increased pressure for girls to be more feminine, boys to be more masculineCurrent data contradict the ideaDating and heterosexual interestPartially reverses gender segregationEmphasizes gender rolesFemininity, appearance for girlsMasculinity, athletics for boysEmphasis on heterosexualityPeer sexual harassment victimization (PSHV)Among students 8th – 11th grade, 79% of boys and 83% of girls have experienced itA lot of it is cross genderedForced kissingSexual TouchingSpreading sexual rumorsCalling people “gay” or a “lesbian”Compared with boys, girls more likely to be upset and to change behaviorThe Development of Gender Differences in DepressionIn adulthood, twice as many women as men are depressed (2:1 ratio)In childhood, girls are no more depressed than boysThe 2:1 ratio emerges between 13 and 15Among 15- to 24-year-olds, lifetime incidence of Major Depressive Disorder:21% females, 11% malesWhy?Puberty earlier for girlsGirls more focused on body imageMore on Why?Pubertal hormones: estrogen, progesterone, testosteroneMixed feelingsPubertal timing: for girls, early pubertal development is a risk factorEarly puberty  PSHV  DepressionBody esteem and objectified body consciousness (OBC)Pubertal development moves girls away from the thin idealPuberty moves boys toward the muscular idealOBC: the tendency to evaluate one’s body and appearance as an outside observerGirls score higher on these scales that measure OBCDo girls experience more negative life events (major stressors)?Child sexual abuseInterpersonal negative events (Ex: breakup of friendship)Theories of Gender DevelopmentSocial Learning TheoryRewards & PunishmentsImitation (modeling) and observational learningApplication to gender development?Rewards & PunishmentsParentsPeersObservational LearningParentsPeersMediaEvolutionary PsychologyNot a developmental theoryGender Schema TheoryCognitive (how kids are thinking about gender)Gender schema: a person’s general knowledge framework about gender; it processes and organizes information on the basis of genderCan distort memoryMartin & Halverson (1983)5- & 6- year oldsShown pictures of stereotype consistent or stereotype inconsistent activitiesRecall 1 week laterResults: misremembered gender of characters in gender stereotype-inconsistent picturesEx: If they saw girls boxing, they would remember it as boys that were boxingShow how stereotypes are so resistant to changeGender Self-SocializationKohlberg (1966), Tobin et al. (2010)(1) Gender identity, (2) gender stereotypes, and (3) gender self-perceptions all influence each other in developmentEx: (1) I am a girl; (2) girls are bad at math; (3) I am good at mathStereotype emulation: the more children identify with their gender, the more they