01:830:333 Study Guide - Final Guide: Grammatical Gender, Femininity, Masculinity

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:333
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Gender refers to the characteristics of people as males and females. Two aspects of gender bear special mention: gender role: a set of expectations that prescribes how females and males should think, act, and feel. Pubertal change and sexuality: puberty intensifies the sexual aspects of adolescents" gender attitudes and behavior. Ex: rising androgen levels were related to boys" increased sexual activity. Evolutionary psychology and gender: evolutionary psychologists argue that primarily because of their differing roles in reproduction, males and females faced different pressures in primeval environments when he human species was evolving. Natural selection favored males who adopted short-term mating strategies and favored females who devoted effort to parenting and chose mates who could provide their offspring with resources and protection. Social influences on gender: social scientists argue that psychological gender differences are due mainly to social experiences, social role theory: states that gender differences mainly result from the contrasting roles of females and males.