PSYC 205 Lecture Notes - Dollhouse, Mental Rotation, Gender Role
Adolescence
Gender role intensification - heightened concern about adhering to traditional gender roles
Gender role flexibility - adolescents may reject traditional gender roles as social conventions and
pursue flexible attitudes and interests
Studying Gender Differences
Single studies
oGroups of kids fill out questionnaires and compare scores of boys and girls
Meta-analysis
oGather all studies conducted on a certain topic, combine them statistically and draw
conclusions based on a larger body of studies
oHow many studies showed the difference?
oHow big is the difference?
Size of gender difference - how much do the curves overlap (small = 85%
overlap, medium = 66% overlap, large = 53% overlap)
In gender differences, most of the differences are small
Gender Differences in Play
Activity level
oBoys seem to be more physically active than girls from an early age
Toy preferences
oBoys and girls have different toy preferences - as early as 2 yrs old
oBoys prefer toys that stimulate higher activity in play - trucks, balls
oGirls prefer toys - play sets, stuffed animals
Gender Differences in Cognitive Ability and Academic Achievement
General Intelligence
oBoys and girls score same on IQ
oMore boys on high and low end of distribution but on average, they are the same
Academic achievement
oGirls tend to do better in terms of grades
oGirls tend to drop out of high school at lower rates
oGirls have higher rates of being awarded bachelors degrees
Specific cognitive abilities
oVerbal - Girls better with average language acquirement, verbal activity, reading, and
writing
oSpatial - boys tend to do better in certain areas such as mental rotation. Girls and boys
equally good at finding hiding objects or things on a surface area
oMathematical - girls and boys score similarly in childhood and adolescence
Why do Gender Differences exist?
Role of Environment
oSocial learning theory - We learn through observation
Modeling gender-typed behavior - adults may model this behavior such as
where men and women work and the chores they carry out in daily routine
Reinforcing gender-typed behavior - we encourage/reward gender-typed
behavior for boys and girls - praise girls for playing with dollhouse but discourage boys
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Document Summary
Gender role intensification - heightened concern about adhering to traditional gender roles. Gender role flexibility - adolescents may reject traditional gender roles as social conventions and pursue flexible attitudes and interests. Single studies: groups of kids fill out questionnaires and compare scores of boys and girls. Size of gender difference - how much do the curves overlap (small = 85% overlap, medium = 66% overlap, large = 53% overlap) In gender differences, most of the differences are small. Boys seem to be more physically active than girls from an early age. Boys and girls have different toy preferences - as early as 2 yrs old. Boys prefer toys that stimulate higher activity in play - trucks, balls: girls prefer toys - play sets, stuffed animals. Gender differences in cognitive ability and academic achievement. Boys and girls score same on iq: more boys on high and low end of distribution but on average, they are the same.
