Invitation to Psychology

96 ChapTer 3 Development Over the Life Span

Recite & Review

Recite: Before going on, exercise self-control by pausing to recite out loud what you know about

the development of moral reasoning and its relation to moral emotions and behavior; “orchid” and

“dandelion” children; power assertion versus induction; and delay of gratification and its benefits.

Review: Next, reread this material.

now take this Quick Quiz:

1. Which method of disciplining a child who is hitting his younger brother is most likely to teach
   empathy? (a) induction, (b) indulgence, (c) power assertion, (d) spanking


2. What early ability predicts the development of conscience later on?
   Answers:

Study and Review at MyPsychLab

delay of gratification, the ability to control one’s immediate impulses and wishes2. a 1.

the mother’s use of power assertion, meaning that

mothers who ordered their children to “behave”

tended to have children who were impulsive and

aggressive (see also Alink et al., 2009). However,

cause and effect worked in both directions. Some

mothers relied on power assertion because their

children were impulsive, defiant, and aggressive

and would not listen to them. This pattern of

findings teaches us to avoid oversimplifying, by

concluding that “It’s all in what the mother does”

or that “It’s all in the child’s personality.” Mothers

and children, it seems, raise each other.

the other. Gender typing is the process of socializing

children into their gender roles, and thus reflects

society’s ideas about which abilities, interests,

traits, and behaviors are appropriately masculine

or feminine. A person can have a strong gender

identity and not be gender typed: A man may be

confident in his maleness and not feel threatened

by doing “unmasculine” things such as needle-

pointing a pillow; a woman may be confident in

her femaleness and not feel threatened by doing

“unfeminine” things such as driving race cars.

The complexity of gender development is es-

pecially apparent in the cases of people who do not

fit the familiar categories of male and female. Every

year, thousands of babies are born with intersex

conditions, formerly known as hermaphroditism. In

these conditions, chromosomal or hormonal anom-

alies cause the child to be born with ambiguous

genitals, or genitals that conflict with the infant’s

chromosomes. A child who is genetically female

might be born with an enlarged clitoris that looks

like a penis. A child who is genetically male might

be born with androgen insensitivity, a condition

that causes the external genitals to appear female.

As adults, many intersexed individuals call

themselves transgender, a term describing a broad

category of people who do not fit comfort-

ably into the usual categories of male and fe-

male, masculine and feminine. Some transgender

people are comfortable living with the physical

attributes of both sexes, considering themselves

to be “gender queer” and even refusing to be

You are about to learn...

•    why some people fail to identify themselves as

either male or female.

•    the biological explanation of why most little boys

and girls are “sexist” in their choice of toys, at

least for a while.

•    when and how children learn that they are male

or female.

•    learning explanations of some typical sex

differences in childhood behavior.

Gender Development

No parent ever excitedly calls a relative to exclaim,

“It’s a baby! It’s a 7 1/2-pound, black-haired baby!”

The baby’s sex is the first thing everyone notices and

announces. How soon do children notice that boys

and girls are different sexes and understand which

sex they themselves are? How do children learn the

rules of masculinity and femininity, the things that

boys do that are different from what girls do? Why,

as one friend of ours observed, do most preschool

children act like the “gender police,” insisting, say,

on what boys and girls “have to” wear or play with?

And why do some children come to feel they don’t

belong to the sex everyone else thinks they do?

Gender identity Lo 3.11

Gender identity refers to a child’s sense of being

male or female, of belonging to one sex and not

gender identity The
fundamental sense of
being male or female;
it is independent of
whether the person
conforms to the social
and cultural rules of
gender.

gender typing The
process by which children
learn the abilities,
interests, and behaviors
associated with being
masculine or feminine in
their culture.

intersex conditions
Conditions in which chro-
mosomal or hormonal
anomalies cause a child
to be born with ambigu-
ous genitals, or genitals
that conflict with the in-
fant’s chromosomes.