Notes for Women in Psychology

Feminist psychologists saw the disparity of men in the field (particularly owing to
the readily available test subjects of men.

-Traditional Psychology: Androcentric discipline

-Women as force for change in psychology
-Second Wave Womens Movement: Strong Rhetoric
-These pioneers stressed qualitative nature of the field.

-Great struggle to maintain a firm progression of the discipline, given the differing
and vast feminist ideologies.

Liberal Feminism
-Stresses womens legal and societal egalitarianism in relation to men. This can be
seen as the bedrock of feminism, given its broad and fundamental sensibility.

Radical Feminism
-Primary assumption is based on male construct and domineering hold on women as
the most rudimentary form of oppression, which all women experience. Tackle the
suprerstructure to critique the disparity in power between the sexes.

Women of Color Feminism

-This asserts that other social constructs (race, ethnicity, etc.) cannot be considered
independent of feminism. White women dominated the field, thus neglecting the
subjugation specific to black and Hispanic women.

Cultural Feminism
-Emphasizes that women are different from men, having unique characteristics and
values that warrant respect and recognition. This ideological lens proved divisive in
the research conducted by various scholars, as well as the conclusions drawn from
them.

All of these schools of thought belong to different camps, but the results are
generally processed through the frames of liberal and cultural feminism. Ironic,
these (unsurprisingly) belong to the least controversial, less comparatively
marginalized group.

These, by and large, are gaining legitimacy with the zeitgeist.

Common elements among feminist perspectives:

-Valuing women
-Need for social change
-Stress that no camps carry more credibility than the other.

Contrast with Conservatism

-Traditional gender arrangements are justified on biological or religious grounds.

The Backlash against Feminism

-Conservatism, in part, has helped to stigmatize feminism. This renders forwardthinking individuals loath to identify as a feminist.

Mechanisms of Backlash:
-Emphasis on a biologically deterministic difference in sex.
-Straw feminists, a kind of fictional depiction of feminists as radicals bent on some
variant of world domination.

Thinking Critically About Research

-Consider who is funding and what they are writing about.

What?
Which theory.
HARKing (Hypothesizing After Research Known)

-This is a deceiving practice in which the individual writes their research analysis
after her hypothesis is known.

How?
Methodology? Practical resultsor only statistical ones?

Impact?
-Long-term interpretation? (own research on SH of men)
-Publication biases?

Text Themes
-Psychological gender differences are typically small and inconsistent.
-People react differently to men and women.
-Women are less visible than men in many important areas?
-Women vary widely from one another?
-Dont stop at the mean!)
-The mean is not always the best representation.

When our minds schematize the world and people around us, we tend to place
ourselves in such a group or category.

Intergroup bias effect: My group is superior.

Out-group homogeneity effect: Members from other groups are all alike.

We then strive to perceive and present ourselves in a manner consistent with the
conduct of our in-group.

Self-Presentation: In light of expectations of others, dressing up and dressing

down.

Additionally, we alter our public life to the expectations of our respective in-group.

Self-fulfilling prophecy: own expectations make expected predicted events

manifest.

There are many cultural manifestations of such self-fulfilling prophecies. Men are
more likely to make eye contact than women, for example.

Sexist imagery leaves the implication that women value achievement less.

Men judge women as less competent. It is believed, however, that the focus is
generally more centered on womens bodies.

-Emphasis on feminine beauty.

-Improbable weight statistics
-Effects on women:

Low self-image

The more frequently one is exposed to the image the more inculcated one becomes.

Interpersonal and social/cultural

Education: Psychology of Women! Womens studies!

Individual changes to challenge feminist rhetoric:

Conscious-raising groups: individuals gain awareness of social and cultural
injustices.

Gender-Comparison Research:
A Tale of Two Traditions
Similarities:
Root: Cultural Feminism

Goal: Equality with men

Reactionary forces attempt to show womens biological inferiority

Differences
Root: Liberal Feminism
Goal: Society-Humane, caring, peaceful, etc.
Liberal Feminism suggests that we must accentuate more feminine attributes as a
society, whereas cultural feminism asserts that we need different ways of defining
gender differences.

Differences in Variability
There is a multitude of ways to define gender difference. Most are observing
average differences, but psychologists are confined to the mean, simply because it
is the most common definition. This does not mean, however, that it is practically
significant.

Meta-Analysis
Combine data across studies to show:
-Magnitude of an effect: Effect size or d (.20=small, .40=medium, .60=large).
-D literally come out from difference. D observes the difference between the
means, following some normalization.

Effects way from study to study, which means that the consistency of an effect is
key.

Some factors can account for those inconsistencies.

A meta-analysis is far from perfect, given its reliance upon other studies. Journals
want to publish topics and studies that are interesting, Some studies may skew a
bias on their response to bolster their appeal.

Similarities of Tradition:
Measurement of Difference

-Flaws

Exclude one sex yet apply the findings to both genders.

Overgeneralization: Take geography, for example. If ones subjects are from
the upper Northeast, this does not mean that their socioeconomic makeup is
applicable to all potential subjects.
Bio conclusion without bio measurement. Qausi-conclusions attributing
findings to hormones or other physiological deterministic factors.
Confounds: Simply ignoring another study.

-Similarities Tradition: Cognitive Abilities

NO FUNDAMENTAL COGNITIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE GENDERS!

Verbal abilities see an incredibly nominal difference (d=.11) between the
genders.
Math abilities are determined through grades, standardized test scores. IT is
determined that in this field, the gender gap is shrinking.
Girls excel at math from an early stage.

Critique of Math-Differences Findings

-Small Effect: d= .15
-Overlap
-Underdevelopment

Explaining Gender Difference in Math Testing: Environmental Factors

-The classroom
-Extracurricular activities
-Beliefs about math as male
-Cultural context

The New SAT

-Verbal (reading) section
-Little gender gap
-How revised?

New Math Section

-Large gender gap (but shrinking over time?)

-How revised?

New Section: Writing

-Gender gap; strong correlation between how much is written and overall score.

Spatial Abilities
-How does one define these?
-Spatial visualization abilities (assessed with an embedded figures test)
-Men slightly better, d= .19
-Mental rotation abilities: Men much better, d= .50 to .90
If put in a gendered context, then there is hardly a gender difference.

Achievement Motivation
-Drive to accomplish things generally defined by the following:

Achieve in a prestigious occupation

Work diligently at challenging tasks
Engage in entrepreneurship

-Gender?
-Masculine bias in this definition?

Achievement motivation should be conceived broadly.

Related issues:
-Women have a fear of success-FALSE
-Social stigma attributed to success

Women typically report being less driven occupationally, given the lack of incentives
that such goals provide for them. For a time, however, male researchers suggested
that women had an intrinsic fear of success.

Self-Confidence and Attributions

-Ability vs. Lack
-Men tend to have achievement attributed to skills and abilities, whereas women
seem inclined to attribute their successes to luck (as well as those around them).

Social Characteristics
-Social constructionism: Create reality based on prior experiences, social
interactions, and beliefs.
-Take, for example, how women are encouraged to foster their emotional wellbeing.
Men do not receive such an acceptance. Therefore, men seem to be entitled to
aggression. Women, however, are dissuaded from ever showing aggression.

Gender? Most salient:

when you expect to see it.
when others are watching.

Men are far more likely to speak assertively and interrupt more.

Women tend to hesitate more and smile more (d= .41).

Women are better emotional decoders (d= .41), gaze at partner more. BUT are not
chattier than men.

Aggression and Empathy

-Aggression seems to manifest itself primarily based on gender. This is based
completely on stereotypes.
-Men: More physically aggressive, more spontaneous.
-Women: More relational (in some studies), more sensitive to relational aggression.

-Effects on Target: Both physical and relational aggression can result in trauma.
Particularly because relational trauma is far more insidious and pervasive.

-Broader societal implications? Punishment can undoubtedly deter aggression.

-Empathy seems more prevalent in women than in men-but only in self-report data.

Defining Sex
-Sex is complicated. It depends on (at least) 8 factors.
-In Weeks 7 and 8 of the pre-natal stages, sex differentiation seems most definitive.
1. Chromosomes
2. Gonads
3. Gonadal Hormones
4. Internal Sex Organs
5. External Genitalia
*Birth*
6. Sex Label
7. Gender Socialization
8. Gender Identification

-Very set, definitive trajectory in the development of sexuality.

Inconsistencies in Sexual Biology: Intersexuality

-An estimated 2% of live births are intersexed
-Specialists across various disciplines are consulted
-Treatment recommendations vary from case-to-case
-Various tests are conducted

These inconsistencies do happen, at which point an individual nust decide if the

parents will order a corrective surgery.

Intersexuality Due to Atypical Prenatal Hormone Exposure

-Week 7-8: Differentiation
-Chromosomal influence on internal gonadal development

-Hormonal (androgen) influence on external genitalia development.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)

-Genetic female exposed to excessive masculinizing hormones.

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)

-Genetic male with partial or complete non-response to androgens

5-Alpha-Redactase-Deficiency (5-ARD)
-Genetic male who lacks enzymes needed to convert testosterone to a substance
thats needed to masculinize genitalia.

Intersexuality is significant in that it challenges our traditional, binary

conceptualization of gender.

Gender Development
-Social Learning

Rewards and Punishments

Modeling

-Cognitive Development

Gender schemas

-Gender Typing

From parentspeerstoys.
SchoolsBooksTV

Agencies of Culture such as these go largely unnoticed.

Gender-Typing Parents:
Socializing Hyper-femininity in Girls
-This dangerous socialization results in premature sexualization, body awareness,
lower self-esteem, and disordered eating.

Gender-Typing by Toys
-Preferring babies over bulldozers. Why?
-Advertising
-Parents
-Boy toys
-Girl toys

Gender-Typing by Peers
-By age 2: sex-segregated play
-By age 4 or 5: gender-typed play begins
-By age 9 or 10: gender-typed speech starts

Who is susceptible to gender-typing?

-White males are far more vulnerable to doing gender.
-Television ends up being a de facto babysitter.
-The working class, too, is highly vulnerable.
-Views of gender-noncomforming kids. Tomboys vs. sissies

In brain development, there is a disconnect in the development of reason.

Puberty: Age of being physically capable of reproducing.
Adolescence: Transition phase between childhood and adulthood. There is a strong
cultural pressure for understanding this era of life. There is often a strive for total
independence.

Girls Timing (average age=12, range 10-15).

-Based on hormones.
-Based on external changes
-Early maturation

-The earlier girls develop, the lower their self-esteem is.

-Onset linked to weight.
-Boys development still tends to lag far behind girls.

-Typical Pattern for Girls

Self-esteem
Body image
Eating disorders
Smoking
Noncompliance with insulin regimen
Use of diet pills

Contradictory messages on sustenance can produce eating disorders.

Cohabitation
-Prevalence
-Structure
-Cohabiters vs. non-cohabiters

-40% of non-cohabitating couples bear children out of wedlock.

-The idea of having a child can increase the likelihood of marriage for white women,
but not for Latina and African-American.
-Cohabitating couples, if theyre more liberal, are more likely to divorce.

Structure: There is little research on unorthodox, more open relationships. Consider

census data, which omits questions regarding such sexual activity.

Singled Out
-40% of people 18 and older are single (DePaulo, 2006).
-Singlism

Flip side of matrimania

Single women are most popular targets

-Assumptions of single women carry harsh ramifications from societal expectations.

Consider the connotation of the Old Maid Aunt.

-Being a single woman is largely stigmatized.

Motherhood Myths
-Ultimate fulfillment
-Natural caregivers
-Patience, self-sacrifice
-Intense, full-time

Implications of these for Women

-Feelings of inadequacy, guilt
-Lower pay/status at work
-Lower-level jobs and political posts

Motherhood Mandate: The social berating of childless women. This can be based
on a multitude of reasons, such as career ambitions.

-Only children are stigmatized for similar reasons.

-Daycare is also stigmatized.

Identity as Mother
-Connection to baby
-Sense of feminine self
-Loss of autonomous sense of self
-Notion of only completing ones masculinity or femininity through childcare.
-Other social roles.

Mothers Who Dont Fit the Ideal

-Teen mothers
-Single mothers (need an additional income)
-Other factors include ethnicity, employment status

-A single mother is far more likely to be impoverished.

Lesbian Mothers
-Similarity with other moms
-Unique problems
-Parenting is the same with both.

Men struggle in formulating their masculine identity as a father.

What about Dads?

-Fatherhood as a feminist issue?
-Discourse on children
-Public policy on families-benefitting women and men.

Paid leave
Child care
Flex-time

-Further involvement

Men seem dissuaded from openly acknowledging the shift in their identity.

More start and stop times.

-Role of father is understudied and under-articulated.

Women in traditionally male occupations:

-Tokens
-Implications of tokenism for women.

-These diverse women are highly visible, and consequently highly vulnerable to
personal attacks on appearance.
-Being in a token position can be socially isolating.

The Gender Wage Gap

-Warrants psychological research
Explanation:
-Education?
-Absenteeism?
-Hours worked?
-Years on the job?
-Reduced hours due to childcare?
-Maternity Leave?

While the gender wage gap has decreased, pay still varies widely across racial lines.

White woman: 78 cents to the dollar

African-American: 62 cents
Hispanic: 54 cents

When examining pay discrimination, observe the average statistics.

Gender Discrimination
-Blatant vs. Subtle
-How to detect discrimination?

How to Protect and Preserve Equal Pay and Treatment:

-Treatment of equally qualified women and men.
-Rating of application (contrary to stereotypes)
-Hiring
-Performance evaluations (less likely to be positive for women if evaluations are
being rushed)

Managers invest a great deal of time on these performance evaluations.

Evaluation Criteria:
-What is the performance evaluation process?

Evaluation Time
-Ask the employer if the managers feel rushed.

-Increased numbers of women in the workplace indicate less overt discrimination.

Addressing the Gender Wage Gap: Comparable Worth

-What is comparable worth?

Rather than equal pay for equal work, equal pay for equal worth.

-Why would it help?

-Trend toward comparable worth in the U.S.

State and local legislatures

Collective bargaining agreements
Courts

Balancing Work and Family: Having It All

-Conception of the aspirational, self-advocating superwoman from the 80s and
90s.
-Biased research on the workforce of the middle class, white women as study
subjects.
-Women are far more likely to adjust work for the care of their family.
-Women are more inclined to adjust family for work.
-Percentage of professors at full research universities tends to be low.

Achievements and Challenges

-International Womens Day

-Where to go from here?

Gender inequality
Mommy track
Superwoman
Lean in?
Have it All: Leave It All

Menopause
Psychological Symptoms
-Hormone-related problems?
-Mood swings?
-Depression?

Menopause as a neutral or positive event

-No more periods
-No more pregnancy concerns
-No big deal

Any psychological ramifications of menopause can be traced back to socioeconomic

conditions, such as poverty.

Patterns for Poverty for Women:

Average annual income for women over 60: $12,000

Reasons
-Employment
-Financial planning (women tend not to do it)
-Widowed

75% of healthcare expenses are put towards our last years of life.

Older Women of Color

Commonly Faced Problems
-Report much greater life satisfaction
-Social Support

Interdependence; family comes first

Multiple generations in one home
Multiple caregivers

Older Women as Caregivers

-Patterns (75% of caregiver roles)
-Not only caregiving for children but also older husbands
-Woman in the middle, sandwich generation

Daughters vs. Sons as Caretakers

Empty Nest Syndrome

-Depression that sets in when children leave the house.
-More of a myth than reality. In reality
-Freedom!
-Effects daily life.

For most women older than 65, they are generally satisfied with their lives.

What increases with age?

IDENTITY

Confidence in power
Assertiveness
General Psychological Wellbeing

What decreases with age?

-Depression
-Free from family responsibilities

Reasons for Womens Wellbeing:

-Freedom from stereotypes, child-rearing
-Coping
-Goals: Realistic rather than idealistic

Intimate Partner Violence

Definition:
Psychological intimidation, threats, extreme control, physical and/or sexual

-Rates of IPV are incredibly difficult to know, given how well their victims conceal
their abuse.
-The degree of control exerted by abusive men also deter women from reporting.

-Women in general: 1/4

-Women in ERs: 1/3 to 1/2 of all womens visits to ERs are due to IPV
-Women Murder Victims: 1/3-1/2 of all are due to IPV

-Again, these numbers are difficult to rely on.

What about women as perpetrators?

-While women can contribute to IPV, they are likely to be motivated by self-defense.

Societal Risk Factors

-IPV against women is higher in societies that:

Accept violence
Devalue women
Accept male domination over women

-All of these factors are very much prevalent in American culture.

Perpetrators:

-Violent childhood, which perpetuates the cycle of violence

-Aggressive Personalities
-Positive attitude toward aggression/violence
-Poor coping
-Substance abuse
-Traditional gender beliefs

Major Question: Why dont women leave?

-Many do leave, though they are not subjects of study.
-Others arent able to leave
-Battered Women Syndrome is a form of PTSD, in which they submit to repeated
abuse which asserts that they cant leave.
-Lack of support
-Finances
-Children deter women from leaving, such as protecting them
-Intensification of abuse
-No place to go
Why dont men stop abusing?

Intervention/Social Change Strategies

-Awareness campaigns
-93% of Americans learned from media coverage that IPV is a serious problem
-Training of respondents (therapists, police, etc.)
-Legal forms
-More shelters

What increases womens risk for depression?

-Family factors
-SES factors
-Discrimination/violence

-Gender-typing
-Contingent self-esteem (basing ones self-esteem upon something else)
-Rumination

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

-Trauma (DSM definition)
-Not exclusive to war veterans
-Can apply to rape victims

Key Symptoms of PTSD

-Re-experiencing
-Avoidance/numbing
-Hyperarousal

Statistics
-1 in 10 women experience PTSD
-1 in 5 men

Factors that Increase PTSD Risk

-Assault (far more common for rape than any other form of violence)
-Life-threatening
-Injury
-Other stressors

Eating Disorders: Anorexia

Hallmark Symptoms
-Refusal to maintain minimally normal weight
-Intense fear of gaining weight/becoming fat
-Body image disturbance

Medical Consequences
-Amenoria (ceasing of period)

Eating Disorders: Bulimia

Key Symptoms
-Binge eating
-Extreme methods of weight control: purging, misuse of laxatives or diuretics,
excessive exercise, fasting

What increases womens risk for eating disorders?

-Beauty ideals
-Criticism
-Harassment
Self-Objectification

Cognitive-Behavioral Model of Bulimia

-Low self-esteem
-Extreme concerns about weight and shape
-Strict dieting
-Binge-eating
-Self-induced vomiting

Thanks to Feminism in the U.S.

-Women have access to colleges, medical schools, law schools, business schools
-Women do not have to tolerate sexual abuse in return for the right to be employed
or earn a living
-Women (and men and children) can turn to rape crisis centers, rape hotlines, and
battered womens shelters
-Women can control their own reproductive lives, including access to contraception
and abortion (to some extent)

-Women hold only 5% of top officer positions in the Fortune 500, few are women of
color.
-Women earn on average 75% of the pay of men for the same work
-Of the worlds nearly one billion illiterate adults, two-thirds are women.
-An estimated million people, mostly women and girls, are victims of the
commercial sexual servitude
-1 in 4 women is sexually assaulted at some point in her lifetime; 1 in 4 is abused by
her intimate partner; 1 in 2 is sexually harassed at work.