The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Sex-Related Comparisons: Theory 181

moment how people behave and whether a

sex difference is observed.

Obviously, no one theory is correct

in terms of explaining all sex differences

or in terms of explaining how men and

women come to possess male and female

gender roles. Some theories have more

evidence than others. Some theories are

more easily testable than others. Some

theories are more relevant to one aspect

of gender than others; for example,

hormones may play a greater role in

aggression than in verbal ability. Each

of these theories appears throughout

this text, but the predominant theories

discussed are ones that focus on social or

environmental contributors to the impact

of gender on relationships and health.

1. Discuss the strengths and
   weaknesses of each theory of
   gender introduced in this
   chapter.


2. Which theory of gender is most dif-
   ficult to test? Easiest to test?


3. For which sex differences in cogni-
   tion and behavior does biology seem
   to play the largest role?


4. If you were going to develop a study
   to determine whether parents treat
   sons and daughters differently,
   how would you go about devel-
   oping this study? In particular,
   what specific behaviors would you
   measure?


5. How are gender roles portrayed in
   the media?
   6. Give some specific examples of how
   our culture models and reinforces
   violence.
   7. What is the masculine mystique?
   8. How do the roles women and men
   hold in society contribute to agentic
   and communal behavior?
   9. Distinguish between social
   learning theory and cognitive devel-
   opment theory. How does gender
   schema theory integrate the two?


6. Debate the advantages and disad-
   vantages of raising a gender asche-
   matic child.


7. Apply Deaux and Major’s model to
   a specific behavior. Review each
   of the steps in the model shown in
   Figure 5.12.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Bem, S. L. (1998).An unconventional family.

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Buss, D. M. (1995). Psychological sex differ-

ences: Origins through sexual selection.

American Psychologist, 50(3), 164–168.

(Classic) Chodorow, N. (1978).The repro-

duction of mothering: Psychoanalysis and

the sociology of gender. London: Univer-

sity of California Press.

Deaux, K., & Major, K. (1987). Putting gen-

der into context: An interactive model

of gender-related behavior.Psychological

Review, 94, 369–389.

Suggested Reading

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