The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

180 Chapter 5

Summary

I reviewed the different theories that explain

the origins of the sex differences discussed

in Chapter 4 as well as how gender roles are

acquired. Biological theories of sex differences

focus largely on the role of hormones and

the effects of the structure of the brain on

sex differences in cognition and behavior.

The evidence for each of these subject areas

is fairly controversial. The role of hormones

is difficult to study because it is difficult to

manipulate hormone levels in humans; thus

we are left to rely on correlational research

among humans and experimental research

on animals. Evolutionary psychology and

sociobiology are theories that introduce

evolutionary principles to explain cognitive

and social behavior. Although a number of

social behaviors, such as sexual behavior and

aggression, can be explained by sociobiology,

it is difficult to test this theory experimentally.

Psychoanalytic theory began with

Freud but has been updated by Chodorow.

The basis of the theory, whether traditional

or modern, is how identifying with the

same-sex parent influences the acquisition

of gender roles. Social learning theory states

that reinforcement and modeling apply

to the acquisition of gender-role behavior

just as they do to any other behavior. The

principles of social learning theory have been

applied directly to gender-role acquisition

in the form of gender-role socialization

theory. Gender-role socialization emphasizes

the role that social agents, in particular

parents, play in developing children’s

gender roles. The evidence for parents’

differential treatment of daughters and sons

is contradictory; put simply, parents treat

sons and daughters more similarly than

differently, but the few differences may have

a large impact. In particular, parents provide

sons and daughters with different toys, ones

suitable for their gender. Social role theory

is similar to gender-role socialization in that

it emphasizes the social forces that shape

gender-role behavior. However, social role

theory examines those forces at a higher

level, for example, by claiming that the

division of labor between men and women

in society (men working outside the home,

women caring for children) fosters agentic

and communal behavior. Interesting cross-

cultural research confirms the notion that

the different opportunities societies present

to girls and boys can lead to the development

of gender-distinct behavior. By contrast,

cognitive development theory emphasizes

the child as an active processor of the

environment rather than a passive recipient

of modeling and reinforcement. Gender

schema theory integrates the principles

of social learning theory (and gender-role

socialization) with cognitive development

theory. The principles of social learning

theory are responsible for the content of the

gender categories in society, and cognitive

development theory is responsible for our

acting in accordance with those categories.

Gender schema theory is really a theory of

process, rather than content; people who are

gender schematic behave in ways consistent

with the gender schema of a given society;

people who are gender aschematic do not use

gender as a guiding principle for behavior.

Finally, Deaux and Major offer a

theory that describes the more proximal

determinants of men’s and women’s

behavior. According to Deaux and Major,

characteristics of the perceiver, the target,

and the situation will determine at any given

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