Gender Development
While you just finished reading about Gilligan, I might as well use this time to tell you about gender development.
I burp and fart in public and am usually proud of what I do.
Most of the girls I have dated hid the fact that they expelled gas (yes, girls fart too- the secret is out).
Why am I proud and girls usually ashamed….we have different gender roles (parts we think we play as being a boy or a girl in society).
How do these gender roles develop? there are two common theories.
1. Social Learning Theory (really important psychological theory): This is the idea that we learn things in two steps. First, we copy what we see or hear. Then if we are rewarded we continue that behavior, if we are punished we stop that behavior.
Let’s put this to the gender test. When my son Caleb was a baby he would sometimes sit down next to me and watch the Yankees play. I would sometimes scratch myself and Samuel, being the adventurous boy he is, would imitate my behavior.
| Man, you can find just about any picture on the internet!!!! |  |
I would look over at him, smile and throw him a cookie. That reward would make Sam do what?- keep scratching himself.
Now lets say Caleb watches my wife put makeup on and one day, sneaks into the makeup draw (I have no idea if we have a makeup draw in the house because I am a man) and imitates my wife by putting lipstick on.
This time instead of throwing him a cookie I smack him around (don’t freak out, I am only kidding- I am a practicing pacifist).
The beating is a punishment meant to stop Caleb’s makeup applying behavior.
Thus Sam learns his masculine gender role by imitation and then reward/punishment= social learning theory.
2. Gender Schema Theory: This theory does not oppose Social learning theory- it is just different.
I hope you remember what a schema is. This theory just says that we observe the world and develop schemas of how boys and girls act. If my oldest Sam only sees girls wear the words JUICY on their asses, then he puts Juicy on jeans in his schema for a girl. If I buy him Juicy jeans, he would say, “Dad, these are for girls!!!!.”
 |
| Don’t we all look like this in our Juicy jeans? |
Ooh- one last point about gender- it is true that boys and girls have obvious sexual differences- but for the purposes of the AP Exam- just know that our brain structures differ as well. For example, girls have larger corpus callosums- you have no idea what that is yet- so you can either look it up or wait until I talk about the brain. I am really tired of typing- so that is all the Developmental Psychology you have to know for this class- Congrats- you now know about 10% of the AP Exam!!!