Theories of gender development
Sexual and gender identity. Sex differences. Androgyny
Sexual and gender identity: this is determined by the biological factors that have made us male or female; it can usually be assessed from the genital organs
Gender identity: this is child’s or adult’s awareness to be male or female; it is socially rather than biologically determined, and emerges during the early years of childhood
Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin. According to them, there are only four differences between boys and girls for which there is strong evidence:
Girls have greater verbal ability than boys; this difference has been found at most ages during childhood.
Boys have greater visual and spatial abilities than girls; these abilities include identifying the same figure from different angles and arranging blocks in specified patterns
Boys have greater arithmetical abilities than girls,but this difference only appears during adolescence
Boys are more aggressive than girls physically and verbally; this is found in nearly all cultures, and is usually present from about 2 years age
Shaffer pointed out, that:
Girls show more emotional sensitivity than boys in some ways
Girls have less developmental vulnerability than boys, so that more boys than girls show mental retardation, language disorders (e.g. speech effects), and hyperactivity.
At most ages from infancy onwards, boys have a higher level of physical activity than girls
Girls show greater timidity and caution than boys in unfamiliar situations
Androgyny: having a mixture of masculine and feminine characteristics
Masculine characteristics are those fitting an instrumental role. Masculine characteristics are those fitting an instrumental role, such as dominance, competitiveness, and assertiveness. Feminine characteristics are those involved in an expressive role, including sensitivity to others and co-operativeness. It allows people to handle situations in flexible ways, with either the masculine or the feminine side of their personalities as appropriate. Androgynous people are not suppressing part of themselves simply in order to fit in with sex-role stereotypes.
4 categories:
Androgynous: high on masculinity; high on femininity
Masculine sex-typed: high on masculinity; low on femininity
Feminine sex-types: low on masculinity; high on femininity
Undifferentiated: low on masculinity; low on femininity
Theories of gender development
Psychodinamic theory
Psychosexual development theory by Sigmund Freud. According to this theory, even infants possess a sex instinct and sexual energy (libido). Freud used the term "sex" to refer to a very wide range of motives and behaviour having little or nothing to do with sexual intercourse.
Phallic stage of development
Boys during this stage develop an Oedipus complex, which involves sexual desires for their mother combined with intense jealousy of their father, who is regarded as their rival. As boys are much weaker than their father, they are frightened of the possible reactions of their father to this rivalry. This leads to a castration complex, in which they fear they father will castrate them. The normal resolution of the problems of the Oedipus complex is identification, in which the boy starts to copy his father and tries to be like him.
Girls during this stage is rather different to that of boys. When girls reach the age of about 3, they realise that they don't have a penis. They blame their mother for this lack, and it's causes them to love their father more than their mother. According to Freud, this process goes so far that girls want to have their father's baby. He suggested that Electra complex may disappear when girls realise that it is unrealistic to have a child with their father. Girls developed sex typed behaviour because they are rewarded by their father, who is the central focus of their affection.
Where Freud was incorrect:
- There is no real evidence that boys fear castration or that girls think they have been castrated.
- Boys tend to identify much more with warm and supportive fathers than with overbearing and threatening ones
3. Psychodinamic theory should be regarded as an historical curiosity rather than as a useful theoretical contribution.
Social learning theory
Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel. According to this theory, two factors are of importance:
Observational learning: children learn sex typed behaviour by observing the actions of various models of the same sex, including other children, parents, and teachers.
Direct tuition: this is based on reinforcement or reward; sex-appropriate behaviour is rewarded, whereas sex-inappropriate behaviour is punished.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SLT
Advantages:
1. Much sex-typed behaviour in children occurs because it has been rewarded, whereas sex-inappropriate behaviour has been discouraged
2. Observational learning is of some importance, but probably mainly from the age of 6 upwards
Disadvantages:
1. Young children do not consistently imitate same-sex models
2. Social learning theory seems to regard young children as passive individuals who are taught how to behave by being rewarded and punished; in reality, children make an active contribution to their own development