Section 6.3

Developmental Psychology

When does Identity begin?In vitro?Label of sex in hospital?

Gender identity – When children correctly label their own or another person’s gender (about 2 years old.)Based on child-rearing practices

Gender role (based on society/biological factors)

Gender constancy (7 years old)

Identity Development

Whiting and Edwards (1973)Studied children in Kenya, Japan, India,

Philippines, Mexico and the US. Girls were more nurturing and made more

physical contact.Boys were more aggressive, dominant, and

engaged in more rough-and-tumble play.Nature vs. Nurture in developing gender roles.

Nature view claims that a child’s gender identity is programmed by genes and hormones.

Nurture view claims that the way a child is dressed and treated is the most important factor in determining gender.

Identity Development

Biological explanations:Natural selection according to evolutionary

psychologists.Men are competitive and aggressive to attract a

partner and being able to provide resources.Women nurture because they need to raise the

children in order to increases the chance of attracting a partner that provides for them.

Critics argue that roles are a consequence of cultural assignment of duties.

Androgens (male hormones) make the difference in the fetus between a male and a female.

Identity Development

Karen Horney Trained as psychoanalyst (Freud)Forced to resign from the New York

Psychoanalytic Institute because of differing views from Freud.

Against the idea of “anatomy is destiny.”One of the first feminist psychologist and

argued that masculine cultures do not provide equal opportunities.

Claimed that if women wanted to appear like men, it was because they were regarded as inferior.

Identity Development

Horomones Estrogen

Hormone replacement therapy Testosterone

Exposure before birth leads to masculine features. Theory of psychosexual differentiation

People born with innate predispositions of females or males. Prenatal exposure creates brain circuitry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXI9w0PbBXY&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1 Biosocial theory of gender development

Money and Ehrhardt (1972) Biosocial theory of gender development: Interaction between biological

and social factors have the effect on gender. Money: children are gender neutral at birth and it is later determined by

nurture. Theory based on intersex children: ambiguous genitals. Children are not born with gender identity, therefore, it is possible to reassign

sex within the first two years of life.

Identity Development

David Reimer Penis accidentally burned off while undergoing circumcision. David’s family (then Bruce) saw Dr. Money on tv and deemed it

possible to change gender successfully through surgery, hormone replacement, and socialization.

At 22 months, Bruce became Brenda and was then on raised as a girl.

Brenda was very lonely and felt different from other girls and felt intimidated by Money.

In adolescence, he refused further surgery or to take oestregen. At 15, his parents revealed the truth. Brenda decided to take on the name David and underwent

reconstruction surgery to have a penis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GhbVFjIaN0&playnext=1&list=PL85187148EC93E475&safety_m

ode=true&persist_safety_mode=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noqRhuE8_XA&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety

_mode=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ctg3poxT9g&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_

mode=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnb3EwJtsDs&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety

_mode=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OeITsQgKns&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety

_mode=1

Identity Development

Social Learning Theory: Direct tuition: children behave in ways where they are rewarded

by others and avoid behaviors that are punished or frowned on. The two factors of social learning theory on gender:

Presence or absence of reward for gender-appropriate behavior, and punishment for gender-inappropriate behavior.

Modeling of behavior demonstrated by same-sex models. Fagot (1985)

Observed children between 21 and 25 months. Boys made fun of other boys who played with dolls or girls. Girls did not like it when other girls played with boys. Children too young for gender identity? In-group/out-group identification?

Sroufe et al (1993) Observed children between 10 and 11 years. Those who did not behave in gender-stereotyped ways were least

popular.

Identity Development

Gender Schema TheoryGender schema’s – mental representations of the

genders.Martin and Halvorson (1978)

Children actively construct gender identity based on their experience.

Children have mental representations of what is suitable for boys and girls.

There is a schema developed for each sex.The tendency to categorize on the basis of gender

leads boys and girls to be seen as different.Can gender schemas become self-fulfilling

prophecy or stereotypes? How?

Identity Development

Identity Development

Gender Schema Model

Martin and Halvorson (1983) Information may be distorted to fit existing schemas.

Research on boys and girls aged 5 to 6. Showed pictures of males and females in activities that were in line with their

role schemas or inconsistent with their gender role schemas. (ex: a girl with a toy gun, a boy with a doll, or a boy with a ball.)

A week later the children were asked what the pictures showed and distorted memories that favored gender role schemas (a girl playing with a gun became a boy.)

Strength of gender schema theory: Gender schemas are maintained due to paying attention and

remembering consistencies with the schemas. Depicts children as actively trying to make sense of the world using

current knowledge. Limitation of gender schema theory:

Too focused on individual child gender development. Social and cultural factors are not taken into account. Not possible to explain how and why gender schemas develop or form.

Identity Development

Social Role Theory:Eagly (1987) – gender stereotypes arise from differing

roles men and women typically occupy. Women are best suited for the roles they occupy…same for

men.Williams and Best (1990) – gender stereotypes arise

out of gender roles. Parents teach gender role socialization to prepare for

adulthood.Best et al (1977) – cross-cultural study on gender

stereotypes. (including UK, Ireland, and US.Kids 5 and 8 years old.Agreed girls were soft-hearted, whereas boys were strong,

aggressive, cruel, and coarse.

Identity Development

Mead (1935) – compared gender roles in 3 New Guinean tribes and found that masculine and feminine traits are a result of culture.Arapesh tribe – men and women were cooperative,

gentle, and loving (westernized female behavior.)Mundugumor tribe – men and women were arrogant,

competitive, and emotionally unresponsive (self reliance.)Tchambuli tribe – men spent most of their time gossiping

and discussing body adornments while women were responsible for food production, making tools and clothes.

Mead showed that: labour division is not the same in all cultures.Human behavior is not determined by genes alone, but

include beliefs and culture.

Identity Development

Changed roles in the 20th century in western society.Scandinavian women

are 76% employed.Still more women than men in nursing and

midwives.More men than women in plumbing and

engineering.Children spend days in kindergarten so mothers

can work.Fathers participate in childcare and have paternal

leave.“father” clubs in Denmark for social networking

(similar to “mom’s like me” in the US.

Identity Development

Adolescence – the period of development between puberty and adulthood.The World Health Organization defines it as 10-

20 years of age with cultural variations.Hormones – males and females produce the

same amount of testosterone and oestrogen until puberty.

Revised self-schema based on new body and changes. Increase in eating disorders during this age

because of ideal body image.

Identity Development

AdolescenceChanges in the body:

Girls:growth spurt between 10 and 13.Development of breastsWidening of hips.Menarche – first menstruation which indicates the end

of puberty (beginning of reprduction ability.Armpit, leg, and arm hair develops.

Identity Development

AdolecenceBoys:

2 to 3 years later in growth spurt than girls.Broadening of the shoulders.Increase in muscle strength.Boys become closer to their ideal body image.Sexual maturation starts with the enlargement of the

testes (11-12) and growth of the scrotum.Sperm production begins at about 15.Facial hair and body hair production Lowering in the voice.

Identity Development

AdolescenceCultural ideal hypothesis - puberty brings boys

closer to their ideal body whereas girls move further way (Simmons and Blyth 1972.)Earlier maturing boys tend to be satisfied with their

bodies.Late maturing boys not satisfied until they catch up to

their peers.Caufmann and Steinberg (1996) – girls show more

concern about appearance and express worry about how other people will respond to them.Want to be seen as attractive.Western cultures ideal of slimness creates negative body

images and low self-esteem.Body dissatisfaction is the norm among girls in the West.

Identity Development

AdolescenceCultural differences in puberty

Ferron (1997) Found that Most important cultural differences between US and

French adolescents were based on their beliefs about the possibility of teaching the ideal body image.

75% of US adolescents did not accept any biological predisposition to body shape. could only obtain through trying hard and adhering to specific rules.

80% believed specific diets or exercise programs will help to form an ideal image while less than half of the French believed so.

75% of French participants acknowledged that physical appearance is predetermined and could not possibly be extensively modified.

75% of US girls believed that personal worth depended on the way they look.

Identity Development

AdolescentsIncreasingly aware of ones own sexuality.Body image dissatisfaction – discrepancy

between the person’s body image and their ideas of what an ideal body should look like.Stice and Withenton (2002) Strong predictor of

teenage depression, eating disorders, exercise dependence, and steroid use.

Boys image is generally more positive than girls.Boys more likely to welcome weight gain.

Identity Development

EriksonBelieved in lifelong development with specific stages.5th stage of development concerned adolescence.

Identity vs. Role Confusion Rapid physical growth and hormonal changes between 12 and 18. Adolescence need to develop a strong personal identity at this stage. Moratorium – status of a person who is actively involved in exploring

different Identities, but has not made a commitment. If successfully resolved, the adolescent will feel confident about their identity and

possible occupation. Moratorium specific to western culture.

Role Confusion – uncertainty about who one is and what one is to become. May develop a negative socially unacceptable identity (better than no identity to

Erikson.) Need to develop a commitment to work and social role in order to pass

on to “Intimacy vs. Isolation.” Fear of commitment comes from being afraid of losing one’s own identity.

Identity Development

Support for Erikson Espin et al (1990) – longitudinal study on one girl from Latin

America who was arrested for political reasons and showed stronger identity from 13-18 years followed by decreased identity and increased intimacy at 19.

Evidence against developmental crisis Rutter et al (1976)

Cohort Study on Isle of Wight to investigate crisis. 2030 participants aged 14-15 (entire population this age.) Questionnaires from parents, teachers, and interviews (two areas of

interest) Conflict between parents and children (generational gap) “inner turmoil” in terms of observed behavioral or psychiatric disorders.

Found that the average adolescent is not in a state of crisis and conflict with parents.

Only 1/5th reported feeling miserable or depressed (mostly ones with psychiatric problems of some sort.)

Identity Development

Erikson’s theory is western based.Condon (1987) reviewed anthropological

evidence of the Unuit people in Canada.Young women were regarded as adults at

puberty where they were married off and started having children.

Young men were adults when they could build an igloo, hunt large animals, and support themselves and their families.

There was no time in this culture to develop individual identities, questioning Erikson’s theory.

Identity Development

Identity formation is not a project of adolescence alone.O’Connell (1976)

Conducted retrospective interviews with married women that had children in school.

Showed that women had experienced an increasingly strong sense of identity when moving on from adolescence with marriage and children.

The study indicates that identity formation is a lifelong project related to experience.

Identity development is not only a phenomenon of adolescence.

Gradual rather than sudden changes in identity and self-esteem during normal development.

Identity Development

After ten years in therapy, my psychologist told me something very touching, he said, "no hablo ingles.~ Dennis Wolfberg ~