In the text, the word gender refers to the
state of being male or female. Gender stereotypes are widely shared
beliefs about males' and females' abilities, personality traits, and social
behavior
Great deal of consensus on supposed behavioral
differences between genders
Stereotypes in U.S. have remained fairly stable since
early 1970s
Points to keep in mind
Although there is general agreement on a number of
stereotypes, there are also variations
Male stereotype is more complimentary than female
stereotype
Related to androcentrism (the belief that the
male is the norm)
Although there are negative aspects of male
gender-role stereotypes
Since 1980s, boundaries between stereotypes have become
less rigid
Gender similarities and differences
Meta-analysis (a statistical technique that
evaluates the results of many studies on the same question) has been
used to synthesize research on gender comparisons
Can be used to tell how large a difference exists
Can tell which group scores higher
Cognitive abilities
No differences in overall intelligence
Comparisons of verbal ability
Until 1980s, consensus was that females scored higher
In 1980s, research suggested virtually no differences
Recent findings suggest some important differences
Girls usually start speaking earlier
Girls have larger vocabularies, better reading scores
in grade school
Boys do better on verbal analogies
Boys more likely to be stutterers
Overall, differences are small; most favor girls
Mathematical ability
Differences are small
Boys outperform girls on mathematical problem-solving
when they reach high school
More boys than girls are precocious in mathematics
Spatial ability
Males clearly outperform females in mental rotation
Experience, training can improve spatial ability
Personality traits and social behavior
Self-esteem
On average, males tend to be more self-confident. Boys
score higher on tests of self-esteem than girls do.
Finding holds for both African American and white girls,
women
Aggression: behavior that is intended to hurt
someone, either physically or verbally
Males tend to be more aggressive
But size of difference is moderate
Difference may depend on type of aggression
Boys tend to engage in more physical aggression, girls
in more verbal aggression
Sexual attitudes and behavior
Meta-analysis found men have more permissive attitudes
about casual sex
Males tend to be more sexually active
Conformity: yielding to real or imagined social
pressure
Traditionally, females viewed as more likely to conform
Females don't conform more to peer standards, unless
there is group pressure to do so
African American females seem to be less easily
influenced, more assertive than African American males, white females
Emotional expression
Research does not support the conventional wisdom. While
women are more expressive of their emotions than men are, both
sexes report equal levels of experienced emotions.
Communication
Men talk more than women, contrary to stereotype
Men interrupt women more than women interrupt men
Differences may reflect status, power differences
Women tend to be more tentative in their use of language
More likely to use hedges, disclaimers, tag questions
Difference attributed to greater insecurity, greater
interpersonal sensitivity
Women appear to be more sensitive to nonverbal cues
Psychological disorders
Overall incidence of mental disorder is similar
Some differences in specific disorders
Antisocial behavior, alcoholism, drug-related disorders
more prevalent among men
Women more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety
disorders, eating disorders
Women attempt suicide more often, but men
complete suicides at higher rate
Association between disorders and traditional gender roles
Putting gender differences in perspective
Gender differences refer to groups, not individuals
There is large overlap between groups
Gender accounts for minute proportion of variation among
individuals
Differences do not mean one gender is better than the
other
Overall, similarities between genders far outweigh
differences
Gender differences may seem larger than they actually are
Social role theory: asserts that minor gender
differences are exaggerated by the different social roles that males and
females occupy
Social constructionism: asserts that
individuals construct their own reality based on societal expectations,
conditioning, and self-socialization
Biological origins of gender differences
Evolutionary explanations
Suggest gender differences reflect different natural
selection pressures
For support, evolutionary psychologists look for gender
differences that are consistent across cultures
Differences in cognitive abilities, aggression, sexual
behavior are found in many cultures
Differences generally explained in terms of reproductive
fitness
Evolutionary analyses are interesting, but controversial
Tend to be highly speculative
Difficult to test empirically
Brain organization
Some theorists suggest that there are gender differences
in hemispheric specialization
The cerebral hemispheres are the right and
left halves of the cerebrum, which is the convoluted outer layer of the
brain
Some evidence that males exhibit more cerebral
specialization than females
Some studies suggest that females tend to have larger
corpus callosum
Some theorists argue that differences in brain
organization are responsible for gender differences in verbal, spatial
ability
But findings are inconsistent
Peculiar that strong lateralization would produce
advantage for males on one kind of task (spatial) and disadvantage on
another (verbal)
Differences in early life experiences may produce slight
differences in brain organization
Male and female brains are much more similar than
different
Hormonal influences
Hormones: chemical substances released into the
bloodstream by the endocrine glands
Prenatal gender differentiation
High level of androgens (male hormones) in males,
low level in females leads to differentiation in genital organs
Androgynized females are born with masculine
genitals and also display some masculine behavioral tendencies
Findings suggest that prenatal hormones shape gender
differences
But problems with research mean findings are not
conclusive
Sexual and aggressive behavior
Testosterone is linked to sexual desire, higher levels
of aggressive behavior
Summary of biological evidence
Hormones probably do play role in some aspects of
behavior
Overall, evidence suggests biological factors play
relatively minor role in gender differences
Environmental origins of gender differences
Socialization: the acquisition of the norms and
roles expected of people in a particular society
Includes all efforts by society to ensure that its members
behave appropriately
An important aspect is teaching children about
gender roles (cultural expectations about what is appropriate
behavior for each gender)
Processes in gender-role socialization
Reinforcement and punishment
Children learn roles by being rewarded for
"gender-appropriate" behavior, punished for "gender-inappropriate"
behavior
Fathers are especially likely to punish
gender-inappropriate behavior in sons
Observational learning
Parents, others serve as models for children
Children more likely to imitate people who are
nurturing, powerful, and similar to them
Self-socialization
Children play active role in gender-role socialization
Children work to discover rules that govern their
behavior
Sources of gender-role socialization
Parents
Parents tend to encourage gender-appropriate play
Assign household chores in line with gender stereotypes
Peers
Between ages of 4 and 6, children tend to form
same-gender playgroups
Play among groups takes different forms for boys and
girls
Boys play in larger groups; roam farther from home
Status in boys' groups is linked to dominant behavior;
girls generally express wishes as suggestions
Peers play more important role for boys than for girls
Adult males generally not around as much as adult
females
Boys spend much of their time in presence of adult
females (i.e., mothers, teachers)
Schools
Books used in school can influence socialization
Gender bias in teachers' behaviors has been found
Frequently reward gender-appropriate behavior
Tend to pay more attention to males
Gender bias shows up in academic and career counseling
The media
Television a major influence
Male characters outnumber females 2 to 1
Programs tend to emphasize gender stereotypes
Commercials even more gender-stereotyped than programs
Most video games emphasize gender stereotypes
Seems to be link between number and type of television
programs watched and acquisition of gender-stereotyped beliefs
Television places inordinate emphasis on physical
attractiveness in women
Traditional gender roles
Role expectations for males
Role contains five key elements
Achievement
Aggression
Autonomy
Sexuality
Stoicism
Expectations have remained stable, but may be undergoing
changes
Masculinity validated by achievement, power rather than
physical strength, aggression
Modern males may experience role inconsistencies as
result of conflict between traditional role and modern expectations
Problems with the male role
Pressure to succeed
Males encouraged to be highly competitive
Many men are unable to realize their dreams, may view
themselves as "failures"
Men may want to "keep women in their place" because
self-esteem is threatened when women earn more
Men's emphasis on success takes away from family time
The emotional realm
Men learn to direct negative feelings toward others
Increase tendency for men to behave aggressively
Most violent crimes committed by men
Men learn to hide such emotions as love, joy, and
sadness
May become unable even to identify such emotions
(i.e., alexithymia)
May cause problems in relationships with partners,
children
May contribute to stress-related disorders
Sexual problems
Problems can derive from gender-role socialization
Obsession with sexual performance may produce anxiety
that interferes with sexual responsiveness
Men learn to confuse feelings of intimacy with sex
Homophobia: the intense fear and intolerance
of homosexuality
More prevalent among males
Related to fear of appearing feminine
Role expectations for females
Consists of two major expectations
The marriage mandate
The motherhood mandate
These mandates fuel women's focus on heterosexual
success (learning how to attract males as prospective mates)
Problems with the female role
Diminished career aspirations
Women tend to have lower aspirations than men of similar
background
Ability-achievement gap: refers to discrepancy
between abilities and aspirations in women
Juggling multiple roles
Women often responsible for roles of spouse, parent, and
employee
Problem stems from unequal sharing of role
responsibilities
Some women may experience psychological conflicts fueled
by husband's negative attitudes about wife working outside of home
Ambivalence about sexuality
Girls taught to suppress, deny sexual feelings
Told that woman's role in sex is passive one
Girls learn to focus on romance, not sex
Females have concerns about pregnancy, sexual
exploitation, and rape
Sexism: a special problem for females
Sexism: discrimination against people on the
basis of their gender
Economic discrimination
Women don't have same access to jobs
Women tend to be treated differently at work in terms of
salary, sexual harassment
Aggression toward females includes rape, intimate
violence, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, incest, and violent pornography
Gender in the past and in the future
Why are gender roles changing?
Gender roles have always been based on division of labor
Traditional gender roles no longer make economic sense
Future is likely to bring more dramatic shifts in roles
Alternatives to traditional gender roles
Gender-role identity: a person's identification
with the traits regarded as masculine or feminine
Originally conceived as either "masculine" or "feminine"
In 1970s, psychologists began to rethink ideas about
gender-role identity
One assumption questioned is that males should be
"masculine" and females should be "feminine"
Heterosexual couples with traditional identities seem
to have less satisfying relationships than less sex-typed couples
Androgyny: the coexistence of both masculine and
feminine personality traits in an individual
Androgynous people tend to be more flexible in their
behaviors
Research findings do not support association
between androgyny and psychological health
Gender-role transcendence (means that to be
fully human, people need to move beyond gender roles as a way of
organizing the world and of perceiving themselves and others)
Based on assertion that masculinity, femininity are
arbitrary labels
Advocates argue that this practice would lead to
gender-free society, in which each individual would be evaluated on
his/her own merits
Some social critics concerned about the decline of
traditional gender roles
Application: Bridging the gender gap in communication
The clash of two "cultures"
Deborah Tannen suggests that males and females are
socialized in different "cultures"
Gender differences in communication are consistent with
traditional gender stereotypes
Boys tend to engage in activities that encourage
exploration, independence, and dominance behavior
Girls tend to play in smaller groups that emphasize
intimacy in social interaction
Styles learned as children tend to carry over into adult
social situations
Men tend to view the world as hierarchical
Women tend to view the social order as a community
Instrumental and expressive styles of communication
Men are more likely to use instrumental style,
which focuses on reaching practical goals and finding solutions to
problems
Women tend to use expressive style, which is
characterized by being able to express tender emotions easily and being
sensitive to the feelings of others
There are individual differences in preferred styles that
are not consistent with gender role
Common mixed-gender communication problems
Mismatches
Refers to discrepancy between expectations and reality,
particularly in terms of support from friends, partner
Generally results in frustration, confusion
Rapport talk and report talk
Women tend to engage in rapport talk (displaying
similarities with others)
Men tend to engage in report talk (exhibiting
knowledge, skill)
Talking about people versus things
Women tend to talk about people rather than
things
Men are more interested in details about things
like politics, news, and sports
Lecturing and listening
In public, women often end up listening to the man's
"lecture"
Men and women are playing games they learned in
childhood
The woman's double-bind
In general, "male style" of communication will
predominate
Women who use male style tend to be viewed negatively
Toward a "shared language"
People tend to perceive style differences as other
individual's personal failings
Awareness of gender-based differences in communication can
help improve communication process