Gender Diferences
g14.1 How Do We View Men and Women?
• Social Role: cultural guidelines for how a person should behave • Gender Roles: behaviors considered appropriate for males and females • Gender Identity: perception of oneself as male or female • In the US, males are seen as instrumental, women as expressive • Not shared worldwide: US views on gender are extreme
Cultural Differences in Gender Stereotypes
14.1: How Do We View Men and Women?
14.1 Learning Gender Stereotypes
• By age 5, US children judge 1/3 of traits as stereotypically as adults do • During elementary-school years, children learn that traits and occupations associated with males have higher status • Older children see stereotypes as general guidelines that are not necessarily binding • Girls tend to be more flexible about stereotypes • African American children have more flexible ideas about gender
Gender Differences in Physical Ability
14.2: Differences in Physical Development and Behavior
14.2 Differences in Physical Development and Behavior
• Obvious differences in primary & secondary sexual characteristics • Boys are bigger, stronger, faster, and more active • Girls are healthier and better on tasks requiring fine-motor coordination
14.2 Differences in Intellectual Abilities and Achievement
• Verbal ability--girls excel at reading, spelling, & writing and are less likely to have languagerelated difficulties • Spatial ability--boys surpass girls at mental rotation and determining relations between objects in space • Math--girls often get better grades and are better at computational skills, but boys excel in math problem solving
Test of Mental Rotation
14.2: Differences in Intellectual Abilities and Achievement
Test of Spatial Relations
14.2: Differences in Intellectual Abilities and Achievement
9
14.2 Differences in Personality and Social Behavior
• Aggression: boys are more likely to be physically aggressive and girls more likely to be relationally aggressive •
• Social Role: cultural guidelines for how a person should behave • Gender Roles: behaviors considered appropriate for males and females • Gender Identity: perception of oneself as male or female • In the US, males are seen as instrumental, women as expressive • Not shared worldwide: US views on gender are extreme
Cultural Differences in Gender Stereotypes
14.1: How Do We View Men and Women?
14.1 Learning Gender Stereotypes
• By age 5, US children judge 1/3 of traits as stereotypically as adults do • During elementary-school years, children learn that traits and occupations associated with males have higher status • Older children see stereotypes as general guidelines that are not necessarily binding • Girls tend to be more flexible about stereotypes • African American children have more flexible ideas about gender
Gender Differences in Physical Ability
14.2: Differences in Physical Development and Behavior
14.2 Differences in Physical Development and Behavior
• Obvious differences in primary & secondary sexual characteristics • Boys are bigger, stronger, faster, and more active • Girls are healthier and better on tasks requiring fine-motor coordination
14.2 Differences in Intellectual Abilities and Achievement
• Verbal ability--girls excel at reading, spelling, & writing and are less likely to have languagerelated difficulties • Spatial ability--boys surpass girls at mental rotation and determining relations between objects in space • Math--girls often get better grades and are better at computational skills, but boys excel in math problem solving
Test of Mental Rotation
14.2: Differences in Intellectual Abilities and Achievement
Test of Spatial Relations
14.2: Differences in Intellectual Abilities and Achievement
9
14.2 Differences in Personality and Social Behavior
• Aggression: boys are more likely to be physically aggressive and girls more likely to be relationally aggressive •