Problem 7: Boyd, Leman
Are there gender differences in development? Why?
Is gender identity biologically or socially determined?
How does it develop?
Developmental patterns in gender and sex roles
Gender concept: the cognitive understanding that gender is constant and permanent, unchanged by appearance
Gender typing: means by which children acquire the values, motives and behaviours viewed as appropriate for males or
females
Influenced by gender stereotypes: the beliefs the members of an entire culture hold about the attitudes and
behaviours acceptable and appropriate for each sex (way M/F should act/be)
Gender role: composites of the behaviours actually exhibited by a typical male or female in a given culture;
the reflection of a gender stereotype in everyday life
Early in life child develops a gender identity: perception of themselves as either masculine or feminine
Sex-typed behaviour (“gender appropriate”): behaviour that matches a culturally defined sex role. Consistent across
cultures. Not “desirable” so much as typical and socially normative.
Male role is to control and manipulate the environment: independent, assertive, dominant, competitive
Female role: emotionally support the family – passive, loving, sensitive, supportive
Developmental patterns of sex role concepts and stereotypes
Stereotyped ideas about sex roles develop early
o Age 2: associate certain tasks and possessions with men and women
o Age 3-4: children can associate stereotypical occupations, toys and activities to each gender
o Age 5: children associate certain personality traits with each gender (knowledge well known by age 8 or 9)
Damon expt: is it okay for little boys play with dolls? At age 4: yes. Age 6: not okay. Age 9: no rule against it, but its
uncommon.
Recent evidence: 5-6 year olds, having figured out they are permanently a boy or girl, are searching for a rule about
how boys and girls behave
o Child picks up information from watching adults, from watching TV hearing evaluations of different activities
o Initially rules are treated as absolute moral rules
o Later they understand that these are social conventions here sex-role concepts become more flexible
Similarly, 5-6 year olds have very defined sense of “like me” and “not like me”
o Preferences for people like them
o Highly stereotyped (often negative) ideas about people not like them (eg- against obese children)
o These fixed, biased ideas about people decline into older childhood and adolescence
Entire stereotyping process seems to be totally normal part of the child’s attempt to create rules and order, to find
patterns that guide his understanding/behaviour
o Children’s beliefs to the extent to which they “fit in” with same-sex peers may be an important component of
healthy psychological adjustment during elementary school years
o 6-7 years: overgeneralizes gender rules, believing them to be built-in along with biological gender differences
o Age 9: understand that some differences between boys and girls are the result of training or experience
Sex role stereotypes across cultures
Sex-role stereotypes remarkably similar across cultures
o Men: aggression, adventurousness, cruelty, coarseness
o Women: weakness, gentleness, appreciativeness, softheartedness
o Eg- North America and Europe, the workplace remains typically gendered (mechanic vs nurse)
Ethnic differences
o Middle eastern and Taiwanese cultures adhere to more rigid stereotypes for M/F
o Can vary across ethnicity (African Americans less strict in boy-girl gender-role distinctions; Mexican-
American gender-role socialization standards are more clearly differentiated)
Mother’s education level can influence
Male sex-role stereotype and sex-role concept seem to develop earlier – children assign more prestige to a job if they
think it is being performed by a male and not a female (although children do not attribute higher status to boys)
, Problem 7: Boyd, Leman
Sex-role behaviour
Surprising finding: children’s behaviour is sex-typed earlier than are their ideas about sex roles or stereotypes
o 18-24 months: children show a preference for sex-stereotyped toys (dolls, or cars) some months before they
can identify their own gender
o Long before age 3: children show a preference for same-sex playmates – much more sociable with playmates
of the same sex (before they have a concept of gender stability)
o School age: peer relationships are almost exclusively same-sex instruction and modelling of sex-appropriate
behaviour
Sex-roles and adolescent identity development:
Mid-teens: abandonment of assumption that what one’s gender does is automatically better or preferable
Many girls participate in both female and male pursuits during childhood @ puberty there is a move back to strict
gender-typing (parental pressure, increasing interest in romantic relationships)
Gender differences – real or myth?
Moderate gender differences in abilities but also many similarities
Boys tend to be more skilled that girls at manipulating objects, constructing 3D forms, mentally manipulating complex
figures and pictures
Proven gender differences
Physical, motor and Females – higher life expectancy
sensory development At birth girls more physically and neurologically advanced
Girls walk earlier and attain puberty earlier
Boys have more mature muscular development and larger heart/lungs and birth
With age, boys superior in activities involving strength and gross motor skills
Male foetuses more vulnerable to miscarriage, boys have higher rate of mortality; more
vulnerable to mental and physical disorders (ADHD, schizophrenia, tourettes etc)
Educational Infancy to early school: girls display superior verbal abilities (vocab, comprehension,
achievement verbal creativity)
Age 4: boys display greater visual-spatial ability (reading maps, target aim etc)
Age 12 onwards: boys excel in some mathematical tasks – esp geometry
Girls tend to perform better on exams throughout school
Social and emotional Boys: from early, aggressors and victims of aggression girls use more indirect forms of
development aggression (exclusion)
Girls more likely to comply with parental/adult demands (boys more variable)
Gender differences in compliance with peers not consistent
Girls more nurturant towards younger children
Boys more risk-taking; girls likely to show anger and other emotions
Atypical development Boys more likely to have genetic defects, physical disabilities, mental retardation, reading
disabilities, speech defects, school and emotional problems
Disproven or complicated gender differences
Sociability Boys and girls equally social. No gender difference in the need for love and attachment
Equally capable of nurturance (although girls/women actually care for children more)
Suggestibility and No difference in suggestibility or tendency to conform to standards of a peer group, or
conformity imitate responses of others. Obedience equal.
Learning style Equally good at rote learning and simple repetitive tasks
Equally responsive to visual and auditory stimuli
Self-esteem No difference in overall self esteem
Verbal aggressiveness Girls and boys engage equally in verbal aggression (although styles differ: girls tend to
and hostility gossip and exclude; boys are more directly verbally assaultive)
Explaining sex role development
Role of hormones
Prenatal hormones can organise foetus’ biological and physical predispositions towards predisposition of being male or
female.
o Surge in hormones at puberty activates these early predispositions
Are there gender differences in development? Why?
Is gender identity biologically or socially determined?
How does it develop?
Developmental patterns in gender and sex roles
Gender concept: the cognitive understanding that gender is constant and permanent, unchanged by appearance
Gender typing: means by which children acquire the values, motives and behaviours viewed as appropriate for males or
females
Influenced by gender stereotypes: the beliefs the members of an entire culture hold about the attitudes and
behaviours acceptable and appropriate for each sex (way M/F should act/be)
Gender role: composites of the behaviours actually exhibited by a typical male or female in a given culture;
the reflection of a gender stereotype in everyday life
Early in life child develops a gender identity: perception of themselves as either masculine or feminine
Sex-typed behaviour (“gender appropriate”): behaviour that matches a culturally defined sex role. Consistent across
cultures. Not “desirable” so much as typical and socially normative.
Male role is to control and manipulate the environment: independent, assertive, dominant, competitive
Female role: emotionally support the family – passive, loving, sensitive, supportive
Developmental patterns of sex role concepts and stereotypes
Stereotyped ideas about sex roles develop early
o Age 2: associate certain tasks and possessions with men and women
o Age 3-4: children can associate stereotypical occupations, toys and activities to each gender
o Age 5: children associate certain personality traits with each gender (knowledge well known by age 8 or 9)
Damon expt: is it okay for little boys play with dolls? At age 4: yes. Age 6: not okay. Age 9: no rule against it, but its
uncommon.
Recent evidence: 5-6 year olds, having figured out they are permanently a boy or girl, are searching for a rule about
how boys and girls behave
o Child picks up information from watching adults, from watching TV hearing evaluations of different activities
o Initially rules are treated as absolute moral rules
o Later they understand that these are social conventions here sex-role concepts become more flexible
Similarly, 5-6 year olds have very defined sense of “like me” and “not like me”
o Preferences for people like them
o Highly stereotyped (often negative) ideas about people not like them (eg- against obese children)
o These fixed, biased ideas about people decline into older childhood and adolescence
Entire stereotyping process seems to be totally normal part of the child’s attempt to create rules and order, to find
patterns that guide his understanding/behaviour
o Children’s beliefs to the extent to which they “fit in” with same-sex peers may be an important component of
healthy psychological adjustment during elementary school years
o 6-7 years: overgeneralizes gender rules, believing them to be built-in along with biological gender differences
o Age 9: understand that some differences between boys and girls are the result of training or experience
Sex role stereotypes across cultures
Sex-role stereotypes remarkably similar across cultures
o Men: aggression, adventurousness, cruelty, coarseness
o Women: weakness, gentleness, appreciativeness, softheartedness
o Eg- North America and Europe, the workplace remains typically gendered (mechanic vs nurse)
Ethnic differences
o Middle eastern and Taiwanese cultures adhere to more rigid stereotypes for M/F
o Can vary across ethnicity (African Americans less strict in boy-girl gender-role distinctions; Mexican-
American gender-role socialization standards are more clearly differentiated)
Mother’s education level can influence
Male sex-role stereotype and sex-role concept seem to develop earlier – children assign more prestige to a job if they
think it is being performed by a male and not a female (although children do not attribute higher status to boys)
, Problem 7: Boyd, Leman
Sex-role behaviour
Surprising finding: children’s behaviour is sex-typed earlier than are their ideas about sex roles or stereotypes
o 18-24 months: children show a preference for sex-stereotyped toys (dolls, or cars) some months before they
can identify their own gender
o Long before age 3: children show a preference for same-sex playmates – much more sociable with playmates
of the same sex (before they have a concept of gender stability)
o School age: peer relationships are almost exclusively same-sex instruction and modelling of sex-appropriate
behaviour
Sex-roles and adolescent identity development:
Mid-teens: abandonment of assumption that what one’s gender does is automatically better or preferable
Many girls participate in both female and male pursuits during childhood @ puberty there is a move back to strict
gender-typing (parental pressure, increasing interest in romantic relationships)
Gender differences – real or myth?
Moderate gender differences in abilities but also many similarities
Boys tend to be more skilled that girls at manipulating objects, constructing 3D forms, mentally manipulating complex
figures and pictures
Proven gender differences
Physical, motor and Females – higher life expectancy
sensory development At birth girls more physically and neurologically advanced
Girls walk earlier and attain puberty earlier
Boys have more mature muscular development and larger heart/lungs and birth
With age, boys superior in activities involving strength and gross motor skills
Male foetuses more vulnerable to miscarriage, boys have higher rate of mortality; more
vulnerable to mental and physical disorders (ADHD, schizophrenia, tourettes etc)
Educational Infancy to early school: girls display superior verbal abilities (vocab, comprehension,
achievement verbal creativity)
Age 4: boys display greater visual-spatial ability (reading maps, target aim etc)
Age 12 onwards: boys excel in some mathematical tasks – esp geometry
Girls tend to perform better on exams throughout school
Social and emotional Boys: from early, aggressors and victims of aggression girls use more indirect forms of
development aggression (exclusion)
Girls more likely to comply with parental/adult demands (boys more variable)
Gender differences in compliance with peers not consistent
Girls more nurturant towards younger children
Boys more risk-taking; girls likely to show anger and other emotions
Atypical development Boys more likely to have genetic defects, physical disabilities, mental retardation, reading
disabilities, speech defects, school and emotional problems
Disproven or complicated gender differences
Sociability Boys and girls equally social. No gender difference in the need for love and attachment
Equally capable of nurturance (although girls/women actually care for children more)
Suggestibility and No difference in suggestibility or tendency to conform to standards of a peer group, or
conformity imitate responses of others. Obedience equal.
Learning style Equally good at rote learning and simple repetitive tasks
Equally responsive to visual and auditory stimuli
Self-esteem No difference in overall self esteem
Verbal aggressiveness Girls and boys engage equally in verbal aggression (although styles differ: girls tend to
and hostility gossip and exclude; boys are more directly verbally assaultive)
Explaining sex role development
Role of hormones
Prenatal hormones can organise foetus’ biological and physical predispositions towards predisposition of being male or
female.
o Surge in hormones at puberty activates these early predispositions
