Chapter 11

Gender and Behaviour

Gender Stereotypes
Widely shared beliefs about abilities, traits and social behaviour
Female stereotypes tend to reflect expressiveness
Orientation toward emotion and relationships

Male stereotypes tend to reflect instrumentality

Orientation toward action and accomplishment Male stereotype preferred (androcentrism)

Stereotypes bias perceptions & expectations of self/others

Are a type of schema

Gender Similarities and Differences: Cognitive Abilities

Verbal ability
Includes vocabulary, reading, writing, spelling, & grammar
Small difference favouring females

Females:
Speak earlier Have greater vocabularies Have better reading scores

Males:
Better at verbal analogies More likely to stutter

Gender Similarities and Differences: Cognitive Abilities

Math ability
Includes computations and word problems Small difference favouring males
No differences until high school Differences driven by European Americans

Males:
High school boys outperform girls in area of problem solving Outnumber girls at high end of math scale of SAT 17 to 1

Spatial Ability
Mentally manipulating shapes and figures Males significantly better at mental rotation Experience & training can improve skills for both genders

Gender Differences in Personality Traits and Social Behaviour

Self-esteem
Females show slightly lower self-esteem than males Girls self-esteem does not drop dramatically in adolescence (contrary to some claims) Gender differences larger in low & middle SES families

Aggression
Behaviour intended to cause harm to another Males more physical aggression Females more relational aggression Verbal aggression unclear

Gender Differences in Personality Traits and Social Behaviour

Attitudes towards sex
Men:
More permissive when it comes to casual sex Have more interest in sex Are more likely to be aggressive when it comes to sex

Women:
See a greater connection between sex and intimacy Sexuality influenced more by situational or cultural factors

Gender Differences in Personality Traits and Social Behaviour

Emotional expression
Women do display more emotion
Sadness Disgust Fear Surprise Happiness Anger

Does NOT mean men are heartless!

Men feel emotion just as much as women do, they are just less likely to express it outwardly

Gender Differences in Communication

Men:
Talk more than women Interrupt women more

Women:
Tend to be more tentative in language use Are more sensitive to non-verbal cues

These differences may reflect power and status differences

Gender Differences in Psychological Disorders

The overall incidence of disorders is similar
Some specific differences however, have been found: Women more likely to have:
Depression, anxiety, and eating disorders More likely to attempt suicide Men more likely to have: Antisocial behaviour, alcoholism, drug-related disorders More likely to commit suicide

Note connection of differences to traditional gender roles

Reflecting on Gender Differences

Differences refer to groups NOT individuals
Much more variability within than between groups HUGE overlap

Differences do not mean that one gender is superior Similarities far outweigh differences Social Role Theory
Minor differences may be magnified by the different social roles males and females occupy

Social Contructionism
People construct their own reality based on societal expectations, conditioning, and self-socialization

Biological Origins of Gender Differences

Evolutionary explanations
Differences reflect natural selection process
Behaviours favoured that help us pass on our genes

How might we test this explanation?

Look for cross-cultural stability
Cognitive abilities, aggression and sexual behaviour
Consider how the gender differences already described in each of these domains could contribute to reproductive success

This theory is highly speculative and untestable

Biological Origins of Gender Differences

Hemispheric specialization (right/left brain)
Left hemisphere: verbal and mathematical processing Right hemisphere: visual-spatial, nonverbal processing Some data suggests males more specialized Female corpus callosum (fibers that connect the 2 hemispheres) larger Findings on gender differences inconsistent Different, early, socialization experiences could cause slight brain differences Male/female brains MUCH more similar than different

Limited data

Biological Origins of Gender Differences

Hormonal Differences
Prenatal gender differentiation
Sex cells produce androgens: High levels? male
Females exposed prenatally to higher levels of androgen exhibit more male-typical behaviours Males exposed prenatally to lower levels of androgen exhibit more female-typical behaviours

Limitations of these findings

Evidence much stronger for females Research is correlational
Most disorders have multiple effects

Generalizeability issues (small samples)

Biological Origins of Gender Differences

Hormonal Differences
Sexual and Aggressive Behaviour
Testosterone linked to sexual desire and aggressive behaviour Testosterone levels affected by situational cues
e.g., holding a gun will raise your testosterone level

General conclusions on biology:

Hormones do seem to effect some aspects of behaviour Overall, biological factors play a minor role in gender differences

Environmental Origins of Gender Differences

Gender role socialization
Direct and indirect teaching about gender roles 1. Reinforcement and punishment
For gender appropriate and inappropriate behaviour Parents focus most upon sons gender inappropriate behaviour

2. Observational Learning
Parents, teachers, siblings, TV/movie characters = role models More likely to imitate same gender parent (more similar)

3. Self-socialization
Children create gender schemas to organize world Link gender scheme to their self-concept (by 3 yrs)

Environmental Origins of Gender Differences

Sources of gender-role socialization
Parents
Encourage gender appropriate play Assign household chores according to gender Varies by ethnicity and SES

Peers
Play differs by gender group Peers critical of violations of traditional gender norms and perpetuate stereotypes Gender atypical children at risk for bullying, increased distress, and loneliness

 Schools

Environmental Origins of Gender Differences

Textbooks use sexist language Teachers and Counselors
Reward gender-appropriate behaviour More attention paid to males

Media (TV): The Smurfette Principle

Male characters more successful and competent overall Female characters tend to be young, attractive, less successful Commercials, & videogames also promote gender stereotypes Amount of TV watched correlated with acquisition of gender stereotyped beliefs

Questions?