Lecture 4 - Gender.pdf

Lecture 4 - Gender Overview 1. Sex and gender 2. Behavioural approaches to gender role development 3. Cognitive approaches to gender role development 4. Evolutionary approaches to gender role development ** Main focus - ‘How do children acquire gender roles’ ** Sex and Gender Sex Chromosomes Eac...

Lecture 4 - Gender Overview 1. Sex and gender 2. Behavioural approaches to gender role development 3. Cognitive approaches to gender role development 4. Evolutionary approaches to gender role development ** Main focus - ‘How do children acquire gender roles’ ** Sex and Gender Sex Chromosomes Each species has a distinctive set of chromosomes Chromosomes come in pairs One comes from your mum and one from your dad 22 of the pairs are identical in men and women The 23rd pair is different - these are the sex chromosomes Aspects of Sex and Gender Biological sex is a real thing When two people of different races conceive a child that child is a 50/50 mix of both races. However, biological sexes never mix This keeps sex so distinctive What is Biological Sex? We tend to read a person’s sex from their current external anatomy but we can think that there is some unseen essential property But what is it? It’s less straightforward than it al first seems, and may be not at all scientific Gender Roles The Origin of Gender Roles Behavioural Approaches Behaviourist Approach “…A child does not act upon the world, the world acts upon [them]…” Skinner believed our behaviour is shaped by a kind of learning operant conditioning Repeat behaviour which meet with others’ approval = reinforcement; Reduce behaviour which meet with others’ disapproval = punishment Applied to the development of gender roles Conditioning focuses child towards gender-typical behaviour Child has absolutely no control over their behaviour Behaviourism makes the sense-action claim for everyone This approach means that a scientist can observe the whole process Overcame “problems” of psychoanalysis However, behaviour s very hard to explain without reference to thinking (cognition) Skinner and Chomsky battled over whether language learning could be explained use conditioning Social Learning Theory (SLT) Social Learning Theory differs from Behaviourism in terms of what and how we learn: What’s learnt = symbols representation is crucial: Learn Gender Identity first, and build on it How we learn - most learning is by observation SLT says we use our Gender Identity to tell us who to copy - “I’m a girl - I’ll copy girls” No role for observation in behaviourism Research did suggest that little is learnt through reinforcement - because little is reinforced Cognitive Approaches Social Cognitive Theories Cognitive theories start with Piaget - he proposes: “A child constructs their own understanding, through active interaction with the world.” (Cf. Skinner) Cognitive theories emphasise Self-Socialisation: 1. Actively construct a coherent model of gender - the whole must make sense 2. Actively segregate and choose experiences; Child in charge of gendered learning Gender Identity is absolutely crucial because gender is constructed on this foundation Kohlberg’s Theory First cognitive theory - three stages: Stage 1: Gender Identity - 2 1/2 yrs. I’m a girl …but I could be a boy later Stage 2: Gender Stability - 3 to 4 yrs. I’m a girl, and I always will be …but if a boy wears a dress, he’s a girl Understand self better than others Stage 3: Gender Constancy - 7 yrs. If you’re a boy, nothing will change that Reversibility Kohlberg’s theory built to Piaget’s stages When children enter the pre-operational stage, and can hold a representation, they can understand gender They understand that volume is reversible, and therefore gender can be too. Evidence for Kohlberg’s Theory Stage 2 - Gender Identity’s a symbolic representation Only hold in pre-operational stages (2 yrs) Stage 3 - Gender Constancy is like Conservation it requires an operation Another way to characterise children’s development is that they become essentialists Good evidence for the three stages - but, proposed Gender Constancy needed to develop gender roles: So Gender Roles only develop in middle childhood; A lot of evidence suggests basic Gender Identity is associated with gender role acquisition 2 yr olds learn people are given one of two labels, and that other properties attach to these labels. But they have no reason to think that gender labels are permanent Typically-developing older children read gender off of biological sex, and think that sex is immutable, so gender is too. Essential properties are unaltered by superficial change Summary of Nurture Theories Nurture theories agree that: Learning is more important than biology In modern theories Gender Identity is crucial Nurture theories disagree about what controls development Behaviourism - control is external Social learning - more of an interaction, because you choose who you copy Cognitive - emphasises internal control, child contrasts their own understanding Evolutionary Approaches Natural selection is a science fact Psychologists agree that the human brain is the product of natural selection Psychologists disagree about: How tightly genes fix our psychology? Whether genes fix specific behaviours? Question is, Are some gender roles the product of natural selection? First step - Are different behaviours ‘fit’ for women and men? Parental Investment Theory Proposed by Trivers (1972) Women must invest lots in a baby, so choose a mate very carefully and hang on tight In contrast, men can invest little, so have lots of sex and cheat Different mating strategies are fitter for men and women - so evolution pulls their behaviour apart Mate Choice Mate choice criteria (Buss, 1989): A man wants beauty because it equates with fitness - and pregnancy, birth and infant rearing are all demanding A woman wants status because it brings resources for her and her baby Again, different mate choices are fitter so evolution pulls women’s and men’s behaviour apart Questions for Evolutionary Psychology Second step, need a biological mechanism - e.g. Compare mate choice for ‘beauty’ and ‘status’ Genes must know what they are looking for Makes sense for beauty, but not for status Claims of evolutionary psychology always need to be considered against non-evolutionary alternatives Choosing status seems rational Humans uniquely can resist their genes: Humans have evolved to be flexible - so flexible we can choose behaviours which ignore our genes Our genes may be talking but we don’t have to listen Beauty = fitness Some properties of beauty seem universal and stable They are specific stimulus for your genes to recognise Genes can make men fancy fit women There’s a plausible biological mechanism Status seems to be really changeable because it is so culturally specific A woman’s genes cannot recognise status in men So, women can’t be driven to fancy status There doesn’t seem to be a plausible biological mechanism here Conclusion Different kinds of theory that can be used to explain child development Behavioural, Cognitive, Evolutionary Seen how these theories are used to explain a particular aspect of child development The development of gender roles #PS406