Gender Development 2

What does learning and social infl shape?

4 key aspects of gender dv

kn and competence - what cdr learn to do sa cooking

expectations abt gender roles - what cdr believe males/females shld do sa girls wear makeup

standards for self-evaluation - cdr judge themselves based on gender norms sa asking if im behaving like a proper girl so they adjust bv to fit expectations

self efficacy beliefs - belfs abt what you are capable of - gender shapes confidence and perceived ability

expl how gender dfrs are maintained but may reinforce stereotypes by focusing on existing norms

What does evidence say during early gender dv?

Gender awareness starts very early — b4 cdr can even speak properly

What did Quinn et al (2002) do?

used habituation and preferential looking and found infants (3-4mths) cld distinguish male vs female faces - v early perceptual awareness of gender

What have researchers sa Miller (1983) shown about 6 mth olds?

showed bbies face and voices and found bbies cld match same gender to voice - can integrate info across senses

What did Levy and Haaf (1994) find about 10 mths old?

showed men/women with objects and bbies formed ascs - men have male objects, women have female objects

early gender stereotypes begin forming

What does evidence overall show about gender knowledge?

infants can distinguish gender and begin forming basic gender ascs within the first year of life.

What did Poulin-Dubois et al (1998) show?

In a study using a preferential looking paradigm, about 50% of 18-month-old girls showed knowledge of gender labels but boys did not,

50% of 18- and 24-month-old boys and girls showed above-chance understanding of the label boy

What did Stennes et al (2005) find?

nonverbal situation showed 24- and 30-month-old cdr knew the gender grps to which they and others belonged

What did Campbell et al 2002 find about when cdr recognise their own sex?

most 24- and 28-month-old cdr select the correct picture in response to gender labels provided by an experimenter

What did Zosuls et al (2009) study?

looked at when cdr start using gender labels (e.g., boy, girl, man, woman) and whether that shows they understand their own sex/gender category using parent diaries and lab observations to link what cdr say with how they behave

What did Z et al (2009) find?

• 25% used labels by 17 months

• 68% used them by 21 months

• Girls started earlier (around 18 months on avg) than boys

gender awareness starts very early — before age 2

What did Z et al (2009) find abt cdr who knew and used gender labels?

Were more likely to show gender-typed play

e.g., girls → dolls, boys → trucks

sugg understanding gender categories → influences bv

What did Z et al’s work tf show? (2009)

lang dv is key to gender identity and early cog understanding of gender shapes bv

What do all of these studies sugg abt cdr and labelling gender grps?

sugg that most cdr dvlp the ability to label gender groups and use gender labels in their speech bt18 and 24 months.

What do the results from Z et al’s work sugg as proposed by self-socialisation theorists?

dvlping this ability to label gender grps has consqs: knowing basic gender info was related to increased play w/ strongly stereotyped toys

findings are consistent w/ research sugg that cdr dvlp awareness of their own “self ” at roughly 18 mths and then begin to actively engage in info seeking about what things mean and how they should behave (Baldwin & Moses 1996).

What is an issue with these gender theories?

Not everyone identifies with their assigned sex at birth

What did Gulgoz et al (2019) study?

the gender dv in a cohort of 3 to 12 year-old transgender cdr

What did Gulgoz et al (2019) find?

Children identified as the gender they feel they are, not their birth sex - their preferences and bvs matched their current gender identity - e.g., a trans girl behaves like other girls, not like boys

What did G et al (2019) find when comparing TC to cisgender children?

TC showed similar gender identity strength and gender-typed preferences - so they are not “confused” or “less developed”

What were TC’s gender identity like?

stable and coherent across measures

how long they lived as their gender didnt change results sugg its not imitation/short-term influence

What does the existence of TC challenge?

Challenges simple cognitive-developmental ideas (e.g., Kohlberg) - not just:
→ “child realises biological sex → then behaves accordingly”

• These children don’t follow assigned sex but still show strong, consistent gender identity

Challenges purely social learning views that bvs are reinforced and modelled because identity is internally experienced not just learned

What did Olson and Gulgoz (2017) do?

did longitudinal study which found that socially transitioned TC show gender dv similar to cisgender peers and patterns aligned with their identified gender - dv is typical, just aligned w/ experienced gender

What did Olson and Fast (2018) do?

compared TC to gender typical cdr and found TC were just as likely to prefer gender typical items, dress in gender stereotypical ways and identify more w. their experienced gender grp

What does converging evidence from longitudinal and bv studies sugg abt children’s gender dv?

it aligns with their experienced gender identity, challenging biologically deterministic accounts.

What are stereotypes?

cog structures that contain “the perceiver’s knowledge, beliefs, and expectancies about some human grp” (Hamilton & Trolier, 1986,)

What does evidence show abt gender expectations?

present from the moment of a child’s birth (Leaper and Friedman, 2007).

e.g. - A foetus’ movement is described differently by pregnant mothers when they know their baby’s sex (Rothman, 1986).

• Infants show a preference for toys stereotyped for their sex (Alexander et al., 2009; Jadva et al., 2010).

How do cdr learn about gender stereotypes in early years?

cdr dont just learn gender but also learn stereotypes abt gender v early on which show up in preferences, beliefs and how they describe ppl

What did Eagly and Wood (2013) show about gender stereotypes?

cdr show gender stereotypical bvs across diff areas sa preferring gender types activities when playing alone (Goble et a 2012) so even without social pressure they choose stereotypical options

What are the differences in how boys and girls are described?

girls - appearance stereotypes which focus on looks and clothes - e.g. pretty

boys - activity and trait stereotypes - based on Miller et al (2009) - focuses on actions and traits sa strong and fast

What did Bian et al (2017) find about the brilliance stereotype?

by age 6, boys are more likely than girls to believe their own gender is smart - shows st abt ability not just clothes/toys

imp bc it shows stereotypes start affecting self-beliefs, not just preferences

What is the underlying idea behind st and cdr?

cdr are not neutral learners, they actively categorise world by gender and attach meanings and expectations to those categories

links to GST - kids organise info into gender categories

What do gender st show about gendered expectations?

they’re internalised early and can infl self concept

What did Baker et al (2016) assess?

ways in which preschool children think abt gender and its ascs with 4 domains: occupations, activities, aggressive bvs, and prosocial bvs

girls expressed greater gender-congruent beliefs - reported that only girls shld be teachers and nurses, and only boys should be police 

boys reported equal gender prescriptions for every occupation measured 

girls and boys held stereotypic beliefs regarding multiple types of activities - both s felt that only boys shld use tools and fix cars

both reported that both shld behave in all the prosocial ways - cdr shld share toys, be nice and listen to the teacher 

What did MacPhee and Prendergast (2019) note?

Rheingold and Cook (1975) observed marked gender-typing of preschool children’s playthings and room furnishings decades ago, which is replicated in their research nearly 50 years later

What did Miller et al (2018) do?

examined 5 decades of ‘Draw-A-Scientist’ studies, which examined children’s gender-science stereotypes

predicted that stereotypes that link science to men should have weakened over the years as women’s representation in science has increased significantly

found that female scientists were drawn more often in later decades of the research, but less often among older children.

whilst some diversity is observed, as cdr grow older, they still asc science w/ men

What did Haines et al (2016) compare?

gender-stereotypical data from the 1980s to new data collected in 2014, which consisted of pp ratings on the likelihood that men and women have a set of gendered characteristics.

reported that during the past 30 yrs, indvs’ perceptions of gender stereotypical differences in women and men have not changed

What are parents an agent of?

gender dv and they infl cdr through 4 key mechanisms

What are the 4 key mechanisms whereby parents influence children?

channelling - parents structure the child’s env in gendered ways - choosing toys, clothes, activities - child isn’t choosing freely - their options are already pre-filtered - shapes bv without direct instruction

differential treatment - parents behave differently towards sons vs daughters - e.g. encouraging boys in physical play, girls in nurturing - even tone, attention and expectations can differ - children learn this how ppl like me are supposed to act

direct instruction - Parke & Buriel (1998) - parents explicitly tell cdr whats appropriate sa boys dont cry - most obvious form of influence

modelling - cdr learn by observing their parents - based on social learning theory (Bandura)

Why are parents acting as an agent important?

supports social/cultural influences on gender dv - expl why stereotypes appear early and why bvs differ across cultures

What is some empirical evidence for chanelling?

friedman et al (2007) -  adults encourage diff types of gendered bv, through choices of colours, clothing, toys, and room decor

Adults have also been shown to encourage cdr to play w/ specific types of toys (e.g., dolls for girls and footballs for boys; Frisch, 1977).

What is some empirical evidence for direct instruction and differential treatment?

Lytton and Romney (1991) - parents explicitly encourage cdr to engage in activities that they deem appropriate for their gender

What does home environment shape?

preferences (Boe & Woods, 2018) - the toys available predict what children prefer - this is channeling again but now shows actual outcomes (preferences)

What have parents been seen to value?

Parents see gender-congruent toys as more desirable - bias starts with parents attitudes not just bv - Kollmayer et al. (2018) & Wesigram & Brunn (2018)

What did Tenenbaum & Leaper do (2002)?

conducted meta-analysis investigating rs bt parents gender schemas and their cdr’s gender schemas - reported a sig pos correlation bt parents gender schemas and their cdr’s gender schemas

Where does parental influence extend beyond?

beyond bv to cognition, as parents’ gender schemas are asc w/ their children’s schemas (Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2002), sugg that cdr internalise gendered ways of thinking as well as behaving

How do peers work as an agent of gender dv?

bt 2 and 3, cdr start choosing more same-sex peers for play partners and friends

preference for same-sex friends increases dramatically bt ages of two and six.

80 to 90% of older preschoolers show a marked preference for same-sex peer rs, many never playing with a child of the other sex (Martin & Fabes, 2001).

What do male peers encourage?

conformity w/ masculine norms by issuing physical and verbal challenges to each other (Mora, 2012)

What do female peers enforce?

norms of beauty, appearance and heterosexual romance. (O'Sullivan et al., 2000)

How does media act as an agent of gender dv?

media doesn’t just reflect gender but actively shapes gender norms and expectations

How are men and women represented in media?

News = mostly men, especially as experts

Women only around 24%

So children learn - men = authority, knowledge Women = less visible / less important

What gender dominates in children’s media?

male characters especially in male-led and mixed shows - boys are more visible and central and girls less rep unless show is specifically abt them

What are gender portrayals like in the media?

media doesnt just show gender but stereotyped gender

men - active, strong leaders,, women - passive and emotional - reinforces what kids already start learning

How are genders portrayed in video games?

women - underrepresented and less likely to be playable - often shown as needing rescue

Link the media to SCT

cdr observe media characters, imitate bv and internalise roles

Link GST to the media

media provides content for schemas - what boys/girls are like

Why does the media matter?

its influence is constant, widespread, hard to ctrl unlike parents so it helps expl why stereotypes are so consistent across cultures and why they persist even when parents try to be neutral

How does the media contribute to gender dv?

by disproportionately representing men and portraying both genders in stereotypical ways, providing cdr w/ powerful models that shape their understanding of gender roles and expectations.