Nurturance Obedience Achievement II.SEX TYPING

CHAPTER 11 - GENDER

I. SEX STEREOTYPES

A. Definition - general beliefs based on sex.

1. Masculine stereotype

2. Feminine stereotype

B. Maintenance of stereotypes - 2 biases

1. Confirmatory bias
- people note when others conform to stereotype as proof

2. Selective inattention
- Inconsistencies ignored/explained

Sex stereotypes are schemas that organize our thinking
- often distort thinking & memory
- easy to remember confirming examples & hard to remember contradictory ones

C. Impact of stereotypes

1. Evaluate people more positively if consistent with stereotype

2. Men seen as able, women as giving effort for same male-typed
achievement

3. Males denigrated if conform to female stereotype

=> Both sexes constrained to conform to stereotypes

D. Origins of Stereotypes

1. Home
- parents treat kids differently from birth

2. School
teachers respond differentially

3. Peers
- children intolerant of sex-inconsistent behavior

4. Media
- extremes of sex-typed behavior

E. Cross-cultural results
110 non-industrialized societies

% Societies where pressure greater

Attribute For Boys For Girls
Nurturance
Obedience
Responsibility
Achievement
Self-reliance

- first goal is for all children to behave
** - second goal is to socialize child to conform to sex stereotype

II. SEX TYPING
- identification with own sex

A. Gender identity
- knowledge of one s sex and realization that sex is unchanging

1. initially categorize on superficial characteristics
2. by age 3 categorize self accurately

- but do not realize sex is permanent
3. by 5-7 realize sex is unchanging & have stable identity based on own sex

B. Gender roles
- beliefs about what the sexes are supposed to be like & do

1. Knowledge of stereotypes
- by 2.5, some knowledge
- by 10, complete knowledge

2. Adherence to stereotypes
=> more rigid at times when sex identification is more relevant

C. Sex-typed behavior
- favor activities typed for own sex

1. by 14-22 months, prefer sex-typed toys
18-24 mo = no opposite-sex toys

2. by 2 years for girls & 3 for boys, prefer same-sex playmates

3. Sex differences
- boys adopt sex-typed behaviors & preferences quicker
- girls more likely to retain cross-sex interests
=> boys = more pressure to conform

4. Stability of sex-typing
- fairly stable from childhood to adulthood
- but some flexibility

B. Theories of Sex-Role Development

1. Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)
- social & biological factors
- everyone is bisexual at birth
- sexual identity = identification with same-sex parent

2. Biosocial Theory (Money & Ehrhardt)
- biology channels development
- via child s & others reactions

3. Social Learning Theory (Bandura, Mischel)

Parents influence sex development
- direct instruction
- reinforcement & punishment
- encourage sex-typed behavior by age 2
- observational learning
- imitate same-sex models
- reinforced for this imitation
BUT - observation of same-sex models mostly happens after 6

4. Cognitive-Developmental Theory (Kohlberg)

- sex-role development depends on cognitive development
- children actively socialize themselves
- 1st establish stable gender identity
- then seek models & information

Role of developing cognitive abilities & child s motivation
- encourage sex-role development at 6+ years

BUT children show sex-typed behavior before they actively seek such information

5. Gender-Schema Theory cognitive (Martin & Halverson)

- children motivated to be consistent
- self-socialize as soon as have basic gender identity (age 2-3)
- role of gender schemas

Integration - biosocial, social learning & cognitive approaches

Biosocial
- biology leads people to label children by sex & treat differently

Social learning
- sex-typing from others teaching & encouragement

Cognitive - 2 theories
- cognitive milestones & child s own desires aid sex-typing

III. SEX DIFFERENCES IN SEXUALITY

Kinsey s report (1948)
- many long-held beliefs shown to be myths
- some confirmation of prior beliefs

Kinsey criticized for methodology
- interviews with volunteers
BUT, later studies have confirmed findings

Oliver & Shibley Hyde - meta-analysis
1) Decreasing sex differences

- more women reported premarital sex
- more women reported masturbation

2) Continuing sex differences
- men = more masturbation
- men more permissive toward sex
- men reported more homosexual sex
- men lost virginity earlier, reported more frequent sex, more sexual partners

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