Concepts of Self Gender and Sex Roles This

Concepts of Self, Gender, and Sex Roles This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: • any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; • preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or part, pf any images; • any rental, lease, or lending of the program. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Concept of Self • Self-concept (William James) – Subjective self: “I-Self” • Classic view (Freud) • Recent research – Objective self: “Me-Self” • • Self as object Self-awareness (rouge test) “Terrible Two’s” Self-awareness and emotions Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Objective Self • Studying Self. Awareness – 4 -month-olds respond differently to live video or photographs by looking longer at others • Rouge Test – Refer to themselves by name at the same time they recognize themselves in the mirror Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Concept of Self • Developmental trends – Preschoolers • Notice differences, categorize – School-age children • 1 st, 2 nd grade: bias toward positive self-view • By 3 rd grade: self-other comparisons Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Emotional Self • Child’s ability to understand control expressions of emotions – Impulse control (inhibitory control) – Need to know the social rules of emotional expressions • “social smile” – expressed even when the child may not be happy – age 3 • Learn to conceal feelings • Theory of mind Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Emotional Self • Developmental trends: – Control shifts from parent to the child • Parenting behaviors – Age-based expectations for the child – Early: physical control, distraction, and repeated instructions – Later: verbal instructions which the child internalizes • Parental emotional expression – Parents who are quite expressive of negative emotions have children who have difficulty modulating expression of negative emotions Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Self-Esteem • The global evaluation of one’s own worth – Elementary and high school years • Evaluation becomes more differentiated (academic skills, athletics, physical appearance, peer social acceptance, relationships with parents, etc. ) • Evaluations become less positive with age • Experience plays a big role Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Self-Esteem • Harter’s research - 2 internal assessments • Some degree of discrepancy between what he would like to be and who he thinks he is – gap between ideal self and real self perceptions • Overall sense of support the child feels from important people around her, particularly parents and peers • Problems occur when the child perceives that parental support is contingent on good performance in some area Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Consistency of Self-Esteem Over Time • Longitudinal research suggests – Moderately stable in the short term – Somewhat less stable over several years • Particularly unstable in early adolescence – Shift from elementary school to junior high • The child who has low self-esteem is more likely to suffer depression in both middle childhood and adolescence Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Development of the Concepts of Gender and Sex Roles • Development of the gender concept – Gender identity – The child labels self and others correctly as male or female (~2 ½ to 3) • Gender stability – The child understands that a person’s gender stays the same throughout life (~4) • Gender constancy – The child understands that gender doesn’t change even though it may appear to change (~4 -5) – “conservation” of gender (boy with a dress and long wig on may look like a girl but is still a boy) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Sex Role Concepts and Stereotypes • Sex Role Concepts – what is expected of boys & girls in a particular culture – Early influences – Historical, cross-cultural perspective • Aristotle • 1960’s North American research – Expressive (feminine) traits: e. g. , warmth, caring sensitivity, emotionality – Instrumental (masculine) traits: e. g. , rational, assertive, competitive, competent Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Sex Role Concepts and Stereotypes • Historical, cross-cultural perspective – 1990’s cross-cultural research (Williams & Best) • 28 countries (all continents, varying levels of technology) • Stereotypes are quite consistent – Carol Beal’s “Cory Incident” – Gender role expectations and classification of infant behavior Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Sex Role Concepts and Stereotypes • Gender neutral language – Does it really matter? – Hyde (1984) & “wudgemaking” (fictional, gender-neutral occupation descriptions) • 3 rd, 5 th graders • Four experimental conditions (he, they, he or she, she) • Results – Males judged competent regardless of pronoun used – Females judged less competent if “he” used – Recent research: children are still making competence inferences from gender Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Sex Role Concepts and Stereotypes • Development of sex role ideas – Preschoolers • 2 ½- to 3 -year-olds: as children become aware of gender identity, they also begin to acquire sex role ideas • 3 - to 4 - year-olds: draw inferences about abilities from gender • 5 -year-olds: begin to associate personality traits with gender – School-age • ~6 -7: cross-gender behavior “wrong” – “us vs. them” thinking as discover rules, overgeneralize – Until ~8 years old: biases vs. people who are different than the self are the strongest – Stereotyping seems to be part of normal development • Children are trying to understand social and moral rules • Children are trying to decide where they “fit in” Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Sex Role Concepts and Stereotypes • Sex Role Behavior – Behaviors are sextyped earlier than ideas about sex roles or stereotypes • Toy preference • Playmate preference Figure 10. 5 Same-sex playmate preference among preschoolers. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Development of Sex-Typed Behavior • Early behavior (Behavior differences are apparent before ideas about sex roles) – Sex-typed toy choice: by about 18 months – Same sex playmate preference: • Apparent already at age 3 • Almost exclusive by school-age – About 5 -6 years old, quite rigid re: sex-typed behaviors Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Development of Sex-Typed Behavior • Conformity pressures – stronger for boys in many cultures – “sissy” versus “tomboy” – Boys develop sex-typed preferences sooner and develop more rigid sex-role ideas • Middle childhood – Santa Claus lists – Both genders conform, but girls more interested in cross-sex toys – Why? • Adolescence – as reach puberty, most girls prefer female role, become more sex-typed in behavior • Siblings & family size (Stoneman et al. ) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Explaining Sex-Role Development • Biological approach – Example: men & spatial cues; women & landmarks – Kimura: similar behavior in rats • Hormonal influences – Animals: clear that hormones affect sex-typed behavior in a major way – Humans in analogous situations: • Testicular feminization syndrome (genetic disorder) • Androgenized females Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Explaining Sex-Role Development • Biological approach – Money’s research (social learning proponent) • Gender reassignment – Very difficult after age 3 – Apparent success with injured male twin – Diamond – follow-up of twins • Status of twins at puberty – The twins as adults • Conclusion: hormones and experiences are both strong forces in the development of sex-typed behavior and ideas Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Explaining Sex-Role Development • Social Learning Theory – Role of direct reinforcement • E. g. , Langlois & Downs: preschool confederates showing cross-sex play – Fathers most concerned & with how sons played – Peers were harshest critics • Much support for reinforcement, but not sufficient to explain development of sex-typed behavior – Role of modeling (observational learning) • Many stereotypical sex-role models available (TV, etc. ) • However, children do not imitate same sex models more until 5 or six years old Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Explaining Sex-Role Development • Psychoanalytic Theory – Freud: sex-typing = identification with same sex parent at Oedipal resolution – However, sex-typed behavior appears well before the Oedipal conflict • Cognitive-developmental Theory – Kohlberg: should not see sex-typed behavior or imitation until child grasps gender constancy (5 -6 years old) • Consistent with when imitation of same sex models is seen • However, it does not explain sex-typed behavior (which is seen already at 18 months) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Explaining Sex-Role Development • Gender Schema Theory (roots in information processing theory and a refinement of Kohlberg’s cognitive-developmental theory) – Gender scheme begins to develop at 18 months • Notices differences between males and females • Can label the two groups consistently • Adults provide many gender references to help establish differences as being important – Children refine the scheme as they develop cognitively Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Ideas for Reducing Stereotyping • Monitor television children watch – TV provides more male models, stereotyped behaviors – Children who watch more TV are more stereotyped • Discourage gender stereotyping – Bem: try to prevent children from latching on to gender as an organizing principle early on • Encourage narrow gender schema Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Ideas for Reducing Stereotyping • Read “X: A fabulous child’s story”, by Lois Gould (1972) • Available at: http: //www. trans-man. org/baby_x. html Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Individual Gender Schemes Figure 10. 6 Thinking of masculinity and femininity as separate dimensions rather than as two ends of the same dimension leads to the creation of four sex-role types Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Concepts of Self, Gender, and Sex End. Roles Show This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: • any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; • preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or part, pf any images; • any rental, lease, or lending of the program. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007