Child Development Exam 3

Chapter 8

Sex vs. Gender

• Biological sex

~Biological traits usually determined by chromosomes (XY, XX, or intersex)

~Determined at birth

• Gender identity

~Social construct/gender markers

~How you see yourself

Sex

• Is sex binary (XX and XY)? NO

• Intersex: born with a mix of male and female genitalia

• XXY (Klinefelter’s syndrome)

• X (Turner syndrome)

“Even the biological categories of male and female are blurred; we know today that not just the X and Y chromosomes but at least 12 others across the human genome govern sex differentiation, and at least 30 genes are involved in sex development.” - Simona Giordano, Director of Medical Ethics, Manchester University Medical School

Gender

• Is gender binary (male and female) NO

• Agnder: might not feel either gender

• Bigender: might feel more than one gender

• Transgender: gender does not match sex assigned at birth

• Cisgender: gender matches sex assigned at birth

Gender and Colonialism

• Before Western colonialism and the spread of Catholicism

~Some cultures did not abide by the gender bianary 

• Early childhood

~Gender identity: know this by age 3

~Gender constancy: gender wont change if they do something “meant” for the opposite gender (ex.if someone does something that is for girls, they are also a girl), doesn’t have this at this age

• Middle childhood

~Gender roles and stereotypes: ex. see mom’s cooking at home = this is their role because they are girls, some things may be told directly to them (ex. boys don’t wear dresses), some may be subtle and subconsciously taught to children, stereotypes (ex. careers, firefighters are men)

~Segregation: starts to happen, preferring same-sex peers as playmates, hanging out or being more drawn to same-sex peers

• Adolescence

~Gender-insensification hypothesis: starting to conform more to what society expects them to do

Gender Schema Theory

• Gender schema: gender-based cognitive structure for organizing and processing information, comprising expectations for females’ and males’ appearance and behavior

• Gender schema theory: emphsizes that children learn to categorize a wide range of activities, objects, and personality characteristics as “female” or “male”

Gender and Media

• Children learn about gender by observing how males and females are depicted in books, online, movies, and shows

Books:

• Classic books from the 1950s:

~Doctor Dan…. boys are doctors

~Nurse Nancy…. girls are nurses

• 1970s: I’m glad I’m a boy, I’m glad I’m a girl

Movies

• Smith and Choueti (2010) content analysis

~122 G, PG, and PG-13 movies released between 2006 and 2009

~%,554 different speaking characters (29% female; 71% male)

~Only 7% of directors, 13% of writers, and 20% of producers are female

• Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media:

~2023 report recommendations

~Prioritize achieving gender parity in leading roles

~Show variation in the types of jobs characters have

~Develop more nonhuman female characters

• Bechdel Test

~Are there two women (with names and lines) who talk to each other about anything other than men

• We do not just need good representation of girls in media, but also good representation of boys

Gender Socialization

• Socialization: the process by which an individual learns the rules and norms of appropriate behavior

~Parents, teachers, peers, and the media are involved

Parents

• Males and females are treated differently from birth

• Parents are a lot more aggressive with how they handle boys than with girls

Peers

• Receive positive and negative feedback from peers

~Cross-gender behavior

• Sex segregation

~Boys play with boys; girls play with girls

Teachers

• Different expectations: of different sexes or genders (ex. girls should be more quiet or obedient, expect boys to be more loud and rowdy)

• Different responses

Chapter 9

Bowlby’s Stages of Attachment

• Preattachment (birth to 6 weeks)

~Dont know who their caregivers are

• Attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks to 6 months)

~Know who their caregivers are and are okay with being around strangers

• Clear-cut attachment (6 months to 18 months)

~Seperation anxiety, crying and screaming

• Reciprocal relationships (18 months on)

~Caregivers have a schedule and their own lives

Under critiques of attachment theory: Parent-child relations are bidirectional (that is, caregivers influence children AND children influence caregivers)

• Parental sensitivity

~Higley and Dozier (2009)

~Consistency in child and parent interaction shows attachment style

~Not consistent, shows insecure attachment

• Children’s temperament

~Ainsworth has been criticized for placing too little emphasis on children’s own behaviors in contributing to the quality of the mother-child relationship

• Influence of parenting on child development is not a simple cause-and-effect

~Relationship between parent and child is bidirectional/reciprocal

~Parent ← → Child

Strange Situation Classifications: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_6rQk7jlrc

• Adults can express their feelings in words

• Measures the security of an attachment in one to two year olds

• 20 minute participatory observation

• 8 stages of 3 minutes

THREE ATTACHMENT TYPES

• Secure Attachment: show distress when separated from mother, avoidant of stranger, unless accompanied by mother, happy to see mother after separation (70% of infants)

• Ambivalent Attachment: show intense distress when separated from mother, significant fear of stranger, approach mother but reject contact after separation (15% of infants)

• Avoidant Attachment: show no interest when separated from mother, play happily with stranger, ignore mother after separation (15% of infants)

• Disorganized Attachment: Added by Main and Soloman (1990), inconsistent attachment behaviors (<4% of infants)

• Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis: differences in infants’ attachment styles are dependent on the mother’s behavior during a critical period of development

Internal Working Model

• Representation of the self, of attachment figures, and of relationships in general

~Memory

~Beliefs and expectations

~Attachement related goals and needs

~Relationships behavior

Chapter 10

Mead’s Classification of Childhood Social Stages

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development

• Microsystem: people and things that the child interacts with every day and that directly affect their development (ex. family, peers)

• Mesosystem: interactions between the things in the microsystem (ex. what are your parents' relationship with each other)

• Exosystem: things that indirectly affect the child, don’t interact with them directly, but still are affected by them (ex. school system)

• Macrosystem: ideas, beliefs, and culture (ex. the U.S.’s ideas about gender roles)

• Chronosystem: time, in terms of individual development (ex. Social development when you’re 4 vs when you’re 20), historical events (ex. COVID-19) and its impact on social and physical development

Play

• Is something that is pretty universal, kids in most cultures will have some type of play (ex. games)

Styles:

• Solitary: by themselves

• Onlooker: just looking, wants to watch someone play, maybe too shy

• Parallel: two children are playing with the same thing, doing the same thing, but not interacting with each other

• Simple social: children are sharing, playing with each other, playing simple games (ex. building a castle together)

• Cooperative pretend: children share a fantasy world and do imaginative play together

• In toddlerhood, solitary, onlooker, and parallel play are most popular; in early childhood, simple social and cooperative pretend play become popular

Middle Childhood

• Simple social play remains popular (ex. tag)

• Cooperative pretend play also popular (ex. pretend school)

• Cognitive development drives more complex and rule-based play (ex. playing with action figures but with rules)

• Fantasy play (ex. imaginary friend)

• Hobbies (ex. collecting things)

• Board/card/video games are popular

• Physical development spurs more physical play (ex. unorganized and organized sports)

The Decline of Play

• Decline of play is causing significant problems in child development

• Increase in anxiety and depression, narcisissm in adolescents 

Parenting Style Classification

• Parenting styles: practices that parents exhibit in relation to their children and their beliefs about those practices

• Diana Baurind’s research on middle-class White American families

• Four parenting styles:

~Authoritarian

~Permissive

~Authoritative

~Disengaged (Uninvolved)

Outcomes of Parenting Styles

• Authoritative: leads to children with higher self-esteem, social competence, and independence

• Authoritarian: can result in children who are obedient but may have lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety

• Permissive: often associated with children who may struggle with authority and self-discipline

• Uninvolved: may lead to children who are emotionally withdrawn and have poor academic performance

Parenting Styles Worldwide: What are the Differences?

• Authoritative style is rare in cultures outside of West

• “Responsiveness” and “Demandingness” are unique to American majority culture

• Baumrind’s model of parenting doesn’t apply to other cultures

~Even sometimes, minority cultures in the U.S.

• To understand parent-child relationship, you need to understand the culture