Gender development 12512

1. Gender roles
   1. Social constructions based on biological sex
   2. Masculine=agentic traits, feminine=communal traits, androgynous=high in both, undifferentiated=low in both
2. Time course
   1. Late infancy to early childhood: clearer gender differentiation
      1. Biosocial model: Social roles "piggyback" on biological roles
         1. E.g. differences in play styles, based on prenatal hormone exposure, are reinforced *and* lead to gender segregation
      2. Social learning
         1. Roles are "picked up" from observation
      3. Cognitive models
         1. Child needs to identify with a gender to pick up role
         2. Kohlberg
            1. Developmental trajectory
            2. Labeling, stability (across time), consistency (across time *and* situations)
         3. Gender schema
            1. Basic identification
            2. Elaborated through match/mismatch with behavior
   2. Childhood: less differentiation
   3. Adolescence: more differentiation (gender intensification)
   4. Adulthood: more or less differentiation (moves towards androgyny), depending on individual circumstances
      1. Parental imperative: parenting seems to require stronger adherence to gender roles
      2. Decreasing gender differentiation past parenting years not due to loss of own-gender traits, but acquisition of other-gender traits (androgyny shift)