Sex Differences

and
Gender-Role Development
 DEFINING SEX AND GENDER

• Sex – person’s biological identity

– Chromosomes; physical manifestations of
identity; hormonal influences
• Gender – person’s social and cultural
identity as male or female
• Gender typing – process of acquiring a
gender identity and the motives, values,
and behaviors considered appropriate for
their biological sex
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

• Gender role standard – value, motive, or

behavior considered more appropriate for
members of one sex than the other
– Expressive role – female – kind, nurturing,
cooperative, sensitive to others’ needs
– Instrumental role – male – dominant, assertive,
independent, and competitive
• Table 12.1 Sex Differences in the Socialization of Five Attributes in 110 Societies. Note: The percentages for each attribute do not add to 100
because some of the societies did not place differential pressures on boys and girls with respect to that attribute. For example, 18 percent of
the societies for which pertinent data were available did not differentiate between the sexes in the socialization of nurturance. Source:
Adapted from “A Cross-Cultural Survey of Some Sex Differences in Socialization,” by H. Barry III, M. K. Bacon, & I. L. Child, 1957, Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55, 327-332..
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

• Facts and Fictions About Sex Differences

– Actual Psychological Differences Between the
Sexes (all small)
• Verbal Ability – girls are generally superior
• Visual/Spatial Abilities – boys are superior
– Evident by age 4, persists across life span
• Mathematical Abilities
– In adolescence, boys better at arithmetic reasoning
– Girls better at computational skills
• Figure 12.1 A spatial task for which sex differences in performance have been found. From
“Emergence and Characteristics of Sex Differences in Spatial Ability: A Meta-Analysis,” by M. C. Linn &
A. C. Petersen, 1985, Child Development, 56, 1479-1498. Copyright © 1985 by the Society for Research
in Child Development, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

– Actual Psychological Differences Between the

Sexes (continued)
• Aggression
– Beginning at age 2, boys are more physically and verbally
aggressive
– Girls more likely to display covert aggression
• Activity level – boys are more physically active
(even before birth)
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

– Actual Psychological Differences Between the

Sexes (continued)
• Fear, timidity, and risk-taking
– Girls are more fearful, timid, and take fewer risks
• Developmental vulnerability
– Boys are more vulnerable to prenatal and perinatal
hazards and disease
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

– Actual Psychological Differences Between the

Sexes (continued)
• Emotional expressivity / sensitivity
– Beginning in toddlerhood
» Boys express more anger
» Girls express most other emotions more frequently
• Compliance
– Girls are more compliant
• Self-esteem
– Boys are slightly higher beginning in adolescence
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

– Actual Psychological Differences Between the

Sexes (continued)
• Conclusions
– Differences reflect group averages
– Differences are small
– Differences are most apparent at the extremes
– Males and females are much more psychologically similar
than they are different
• Figure 12.2 These two distributions of scores-one
for males, one for females-give some idea of the
size of the gap between the sexes in abilities for
which sex differences are consistently found.
Despite a small difference in average
performance, the scores of males and females
overlap considerably. Adapted from “Gender
Differences in Mathematics Performance: A Meta-
Analysis,” by J. S. Hyde, E. Fennema, & S. J. Lamon,
1990, Psychological Bulletin, 107, p. 139-155.
Copyright © 1990 by the American Psychological
Association. Adapted by permission.
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

• Most gender-role stereotypes are “cultural

myths”
– No basis in fact
• Due to well-ingrained cognitive schemas
– Interpret and distort behavior
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

• Do Cultural Myths Contribute to Sex

Differences in Ability/Vocational
Opportunity?
– Self-fulfilling prophecy actually promotes sex
differences in cognitive performance
– Home Influences
• Parents expect sons to outperform daughters in
math
• Son’s successes are due to ability, daughter’s due to
hard work
 CATEGORIZING MALES AND FEMALES:
GENDER ROLE STANDARDS

– Home Influences, continued

• Children internalize parent’s views, boys become
self-confident
• Girls lose interest in math, due to perceived lack of
ability
– Scholastic Influences
• Teachers have similar views affecting children in a
similar manner
 DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN GENDER TYPING

• Development of the Gender Concept (gender

identity)
– By age 2 ½ to 3, accurately label oneself as a boy
or girl
– 5 to 7 years – gender is unchanging
 DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN GENDER TYPING

• Development of Gender-Role Stereotypes

– Present at 2 to 3 years, once children can label
pictures of children as boys or girls
– 3 to 7 – view gender-role standards as rules
– 8 to 9 – more flexible, distinction between
moral rules and gender-role standards
 DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN GENDER TYPING

– Cultural Influences
• Collectivist societies tend to encourage conforming
to gender-role standards
– Adolescent Thinking About Gender Stereotypes
• Less flexible again; increased pressure to conform
– Gender intensification
• Later in high school, may be more flexible again
• Figure 12.3 Children’s rankings of the wrongness of gender-role transgressions (such as a boy’s wearing nail polish) and violations of
moral rules (such as pushing another child from a swing). Notice that children of all ages deplore immoral acts but that only
kindergartners and adolescents view gender-role violations as wrong. Elementary school children come to think about gender-role
standards in a more flexible way than they did earlier in life, but adolescents become concerned about the psychological implications of
deviating from one’s “proper” gender identity. Adapted from “Children’s Concepts of Cross-Gender Activities,” by T. Stoddard & E. Turiel,
1985, Child Development, 59, 793-814. Copyright © 1985 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. Adapted by permission..
 DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN GENDER TYPING

• Development of Gender-Typed Behavior

– 14 to 22 months
• Children prefer gender appropriate toys
– Gender Segregation
• 2 years, girls prefer playing with girls
• 3 years, boys prefer playing with boys
– Due to differences in play styles
– Cognitive and social-cognitive development
• Figure 12.4 Two- to three-year-old toddlers
already prefer playmates of their own sex.
Boys are much more social with boys than
with girls, whereas girls are more outgoing
with girls than with boys. Adapted from
“Social Behavior at 33 Months in Same-Sex
and Mixed-Sex Dyads,” by C. N. Jacklin & E.
E. Maccoby, 1978, Child Development, 49,
557-569. Copyright © 1978 by the Society
for Research in Child Development, Inc.
Adapted by permission.
 DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN GENDER TYPING

– Sex Differences in Gender-Typed Behavior

• Males are assigned greater status
• Males feel stronger pressure to adhere to gender
appropriate codes
• Most girls do comply with prescriptions for the
feminine role by adolescence
– Be attractive to opposite sex
– Concern of others’ evaluations
• Table 12.2 Percentages of Boys and Girls Who Requested Popular “Masculine” and “Feminine” Items from Santa
Claus. Source: Adapted from “Children, Gender, and Social Structure: Ana Analysis of the Contents of Letters to Santa
Claus,” by J. G. Richardson & C. H. Simpson, 1982, Child Development, 53, 429-436. Copyright © 1982 by The Society
for Research in Child Development, Inc. Adapted with permission.
 DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN GENDER TYPING

– Subcultural Variations in Gender-Typing

• Middle class adolescents hold more flexible gender-
role attitudes then low SES peers
• African-American children hold less stereotyped
views of women than European-American children
– Both due to differences in education and family life
• Table 12.3 An Overview of Gender Typing
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Evolutionary Theory
– Males and females face different evolutionary
pressures
– Natural selection created fundamental
differences in male and female roles
• Females need to be nurturing
• Males need spatial skills for hunting
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

– Criticisms of the Evolutionary Approach

• Applies primarily to differences that apply cross-
culturally
• Ignores differences limited to cultures or historical
periods
• Social roles hypothesis
– Cultures assign roles based on gender
– Socialization practices
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Money & Ehrhardt’s Biosocial Theory of

Gender Differentiation and Development
– Inherit X or Y chromosome from father
– If Y, testes secrete testosterone and MIS
• Resulting in male genitals
– At birth, social factors become important
• Child is labeled by society
– At puberty, sex characteristics and urges
combine with label.
• Figure 13.5 Critical events in Money and Ehrhardt’s biosocial theory of sex typing. From Man and Woman, Boy and
Girl, by J. Money & A. Ehrhardt, 1972. Copyright © 1972 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprinted by permission.
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

– Evidence for Biological Influences on Gender-

Role Development
• Genetic influences
– 50% of the differences in masculine self-concept
– 0–20% of the differences in feminine self-concept
– Strong masculine self-concept and experience with
spatial toys increases abilities
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Hormonal influences
– If females are exposed to excess androgen prenatally,
result is masculinized external genitalia
» Alters play behavior
» Increases interest in same-sex relationships
» Improves performance on spatial ability tests
» Influences career and family choices
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

– Evidence for Social-Labeling Influences

• Surgery and gender reassignment are generally
successful for androgenized females
– Prior to 18 months of age
» However, Bruce / Brenda case study
– After age 3, very difficult
» Masculine gender typing
» Labeling of self as a boy
– Appears to be a sensitive period, but both biology and
socialization matter
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Cultural influences
– Mead’s study of tribal societies
» Arapesh – both males and females were taught to be
expressive
» Mundugumor – both genders were taught to be
“masculine”
» Tchambuli – from Western standards, males more
feminine, females more masculine
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• A psychobiosocial viewpoint
– Prenatal hormone exposure influences brain
development
» Creates different sensitivities for males and females
» Coupled with others’ beliefs, provides more exposure
to gender consistent materials
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

– Males become gender typed as they identify
with their father to resolve the Oedipus
complex
– Fathers encourage feminine behavior in females
(modeled after mother)
– Lack of research support
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Social Learning Theory

– Direct Tuition of Gender Roles
• Children are rewarded for gender-appropriate
behaviors, punished for opposite sex appropriate
behavior
– Parents begin the process
– Siblings and peers reinforce it
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

– Observational learning – children adopt the

attitudes and behaviors of same-sex models
• Also important is the label attached to the attitude
or behavior
• Same-sex models become more important at ages 5
to 7, when gender is unchanging aspect of the self
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Kohlberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory

– Children first establish a stable gender identity
• Basic gender identity:
– By age 3, label themselves boy or girl
• Gender stability:
– Occurs next
• Gender consistency:
– By 5-7, gender is consistent across situations
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

– After achieving gender consistency

• Children actively seek out same-sex models to
determine how to act
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

– Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

• Gender-typing begins well before children acquire a
mature gender identity
• Gender reassignment is very difficult after age 3
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Gender Schema Theory (Martin &

Halverson)
– Children acquire a basic gender identity
• Motivates child to learn about the sexes and create
gender schemas
– Begin as simple in-group/out-group schemas
– Also create an own-sex schema
– Schemas serve as scripts for processing social information
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• An Integrative Theory
– Biological theories account for major biological
developments.
– Social-theories account for differential
reinforcement processes.
– Cognitive development explains the growth of
categorization skills.
– Gender schemas are also important as are
models as children age.
• Table 12.4 An Overview of the Gender-Typing Process from the Perspective of an Integrative Theorist.
 THEORIES OF GENDER-TYPING
AND GENDER ROLE DEVELOPMENT

• Applications: On Changing Gender Role

Attitudes and Behavior
– Parents must teach that biological sex is
unimportant other than for reproduction
– Delay exposure to gender stereotypes
– Interventions work best with younger children
– Programs work best if the adult in charge is
male