PSY 324 Childhood and Adolescence Exam 4 Study Guide 9th ed. 1

Chapter 13 - Development of Sex-Related Differences and Gender Roles

Introduction to Chapter 13

Gender stereotypes are so engrained that it is difficult to believe that they don't contain a grain of truth. Many of us find it hard to accept that there are very few psychological characteristics on which females and males differ significantly. Even the most unbiased among us struggle with the idea that on those few psychological characteristics, the differences between women and men are 10% at the most. How can these conclusions, based on thousands of research studies, be accurate when it is so clear to many of us that women and men are totally different in lots of ways? A large part of the answer lies in the nature of stereotypical thinking. Stereotypes are preoperational. If you look back at the characteristics of preoperational thinking, you'll see why the stereotypes we accept seem so obviously true and are so difficult to change. (Textbook material on gender-schemas, pp. 551-552, will help clarify this.)

In the case of gender stereotypes, their preoperational nature requires that everything be classified as either female or male. There is no place in preoperational thinking for instances that violate the stereotype. Consequently, when men are seen being sensitive or women are seen being aggressive, these instances are discounted as exceptions to the "true" nature of men and women. Even worse, many of these instances are not even perceived. They are screened out by selective attentional strategies because they don't fit with what we "know." The very experiences that would disprove stereotypes are unlikely to be processed. As a result, when we look back through our past experience we can see that women really are more empathetic than men and men really are more aggressive than women, no matter what the textbook says!

Think about this. How often do you describe women and men as opposite…not just different…opposite?

How easy or difficult is it for you to think about women and men being the same in most ways? Do the few physical and psychological differences make it seem that they must be different in every way?

Gender Stereotypes

1. Define gender stereotypes, gender roles, and gender identity. (p. 530)

2. In Western cultures, what types of traits have been traditionally associated with masculinity and femininity? (p. 530 and Table 13.1)

Note how gender stereotyping develops in early childhood. (p. 531) Given that our basic concepts of gender (gender schemas) develop during our preschool years, it makes sense that many ideas about gender continue to be preoperational (rigid, superficial, all-or-none) in adolescence and adulthood.

As explained in the introductory comments above, gender schemas are highly resistant to change because any experience that does not fit into our schema of

PSY 324 Childhood and Adolescence Exam 4 Study Guide 9th ed. 2

male or female is not used to revise our ideas, it is either ignored or interpreted as an exception.

3. How does knowledge about gender-related personality trait stereotypes change during middle childhood? By what age is knowledge of personality trait stereotypes adultlike? (p. 532)

4. How much flexibility in gender-related personality traits is acceptable during middle childhood? Are boys or girls given more latitude in gender-related personality traits? (p. 533 and Figure 13.2)

5. Note that gender stereotype flexibility is a good predictor of gender-role adoption in middle childhood. (p. 534) Can you translate that statement into everyday language?

6. Make a list of specific ways parents tend to treat boys and girls differently during middle childhood and adolescence. (pp. 539-542, including Figure 13.4)

Gender Identity

7. Define androgyny and summarize its implications for psychological adjustment. (pp. 547-548)

8. Describe the development of gender identity in middle childhood. (pp. 549-550) Notice that it is important for children to feel that they fit in with their same-sex

peers, feel comfortable with their gender, and not feel pressured to conform to gender roles.

9. Describe the development of gender identity in early adolescence. How is the process of gender intensification influenced by puberty and cognitive development? (pp. 550-551)

10. Describe the gist of gender-schema theory. (p. 551 and Figure 13.9)

11. How would gender-schematic thinking alter a child's memory of an event that is gender inconsistent, such as seeing a photo of a male nurse or a female physician? (p. 552) Note that the preoperational characteristics of gender schemas (all-or-none, concrete, centered on one feature) make it difficult for children (and adults, for that matter) to learn from encountering exceptions to their stereotyped gender schemas.

12. What are two things you would do if you wanted to minimize gender stereotyping in middle childhood? (p. 552)

Gender Differences

13. Of all the imaginable psychological characteristics people possess, the number on which women and men differ measurably is small.

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Sex differences usually account for no more than ___% to ___% of differences between individuals, leaving 90%-95% to be explained by factors other than gender. (p. 553 and Table 13.2)

14. Make a list of things you could do if you wanted to nurture your daughter's math and science skills. (pp. 556-558)

15. List two examples of girls' greater emotional sensitivity. (p. 558)

16. What can you conclude about gender differences in prosocial behaviors when you consider the full range of those behaviors, including caring, sharing, and helping? (p. 558)

Note that parents use more inductive discipline with girls, pressure girls to be thoughtful and caring, and spend more time talking with girls about emotions. (p.559)

17. Describe the developmental trend in depression for boys and girls during adolescence. (p. 559)

18. What do cultural differences suggest about the causes of adolescent depression? (p. 560) Depression in adolescents should be taken seriously. It should not be thought of as “just an adolescent phase.”

19. How do boys and girls differ in aggression during middle childhood and adolescence? (p. 560)

20. What strategies would you use if you wanted to minimize gender stereotyping and gender-role conformity in your children? (pp. 562-563, including Applying What We Know)

Culture and Gender Stereotypes

Development of masculine and feminine traits in children and adolescents has an impact on their psychological adjustment mainly because our society generally values masculine personality traits more highly than feminine personality traits. Ours is an individualistic, capitalistic society in which social status and power are equated with material wealth which is earned through competition. Engaging in competition is not a feminine personality trait. Even if it were, the kind, empathetic, tactful approach would rarely win. The masculine traits acquired by androgynous women enable them to act in ways that are rewarded by society in many situations; to be assertive, competitive, and independent.

Chapter 14 – The Family

Introduction to Chapter 14

PSY 324 Childhood and Adolescence Exam 4 Study Guide 9th ed. 4

The concept of a family has become so diverse that it is difficult to make meaningful generalizations. Diversity in family types has resulted from increases over the last 30 years in divorce, remarriage, maternal employment, single parents, gay and lesbian parents, and transnational adoptions. One generalization that can be made is that all types of families can provide for normal, healthy development of children. There is no evidence that any particular family type is doomed to failure. The important characteristics of families are the interpersonal relationships within the family. If one or more parents provide warmth and nurturance, the outcome is likely to be good.

All types of families face stresses and challenges that are more difficult to deal with because society is not very family-friendly. Recall from Chapter 1 that the U.S. ranks lowest of all industrialized countries in many indices of child welfare. More parents in our country than in any other industrialized country are unable to afford medical care for their children, cannot provide adequate child care when they are at work, and cannot take time off work to stay home with a sick child. Because of the high divorce rate and high teenage pregnancy rate, more families in the U.S. than in any other industrialized country are headed by a single parent or a teenager. These challenges are magnified when families live in neighborhoods that are not safe and when children attend schools that are not safe. These challenges are magnified for families in societies that send mixed messages about values and that approve of violence as a way to solve problems.

Affluence has had negative effects on families during the last half-century. Ties to extended family members, including grandparents, aunts and uncles, have weakened as families have become more mobile and less dependent on relatives. Even within the nuclear family, there is less interdependence when each child has his or her own TV set and computer. Children have become more independent of their parents at younger ages than in the past. Many children in the U.S. feel closer to their peers than their parents by the time they reach 5th or 6th grade. Berk (p. 576) describes some very serious problems that have become widespread among adolescents from affluent, suburban families.

The family is the most important social institution. Without families, there would be no society. Without effective families, society is faced with insurmountable problems. Violent criminals, drug dealers, and child abusers are the products of families that are not able to meet the challenges facing them. It is in society's best interest to support families, to strengthen their ability to provide a safe, nurturant environment and to insulate children from negative external stressors.

Socialization within the Family

1. Identify and define two functions of the family as a social institution that are particularly relevant to psychological development? (p. 568)

2. Berk points out that three features of childrearing styles consistently distinguish between more and less effective parenting. (p. 573)

What is achieved through acceptance of the child and involvement in the child's life?

What is achieved through reasonable control of the child?

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What is achieved through appropriate autonomy granting?

3. Describe the four childrearing styles in terms of high or low levels of (1) acceptance and involvement, (2) control, and (3) autonomy granting. (pp. 573-575 and Table 14.1)

4. What are the childhood and adolescence outcomes associated with the four basic childrearing styles? (pp. 573-575 and Table 14.2)

5. List specific aspects of the authoritative parenting style that promote a positive emotional context for parent-child relationships and positive development in children. (pp. 576-577)

6. Define coregulation and describe what is required on the part of the parent and the child to make it work. (p. 577)

In this section, Berk mentions a study that found U.S. 5th and 6th graders described their parents as the most influential people in their lives. She didn't mention that, for the majority of children, peers become the most influential after 6th grade. She also didn't mention that in many other countries, parents remain the most influential people in adolescents' lives all the way through high school.

7. Define autonomy and describe it in terms of its emotional and behavioral components. (pp. 577-578)

8. Describe characteristics of parenting that foster the development of adaptive, healthy autonomy in adolescents. (pp. 578-579)

Note that the quality of parent-child relationships is strongly related to adolescents' mental health.

9. In the section titled Does Parenting Really Matter, Berk concludes that parents profoundly affect children's development. Read this material and see what you think. (pp. 578)

10. What are two adverse parenting conditions commonly experienced by adolescents from affluent families and what are the consequences? (pp. 581-582 and Figure 14.1)

11. Note that the extended family is an important part of minority cultures in the U.S. and especially among African-Americans (pp. 583-584). Based on the textbook discussion of The African-American Extended Family, list the contributions of extended family members to the nuclear family. (p. 583)

Family Lifestyles

12. State a general conclusion about the child-rearing outcomes of each type of family: (1) one-child families, (2) adoptive families, (3) gay and lesbian families. (pp. 587-590)

13. What types of stressors are almost always triggered by divorce? (p. 591)

PSY 324 Childhood and Adolescence Exam 4 Study Guide 9th ed. 6

14. As a general rule, how long does it take children to adjust to divorce? (p. 592)

15. What factors are associated with positive long-term adjustment following divorce? Does research support the idea of father custody of boys? (pp. 592-593)

Note the suggestions for helping children adjust to their parents' divorce in the Applying What We Know section. (p. 594)

16. How do boys and girls tend to differ in their adjustment to mother-stepfather families? (pp. 594-595)

17. How do children tend to adjust in father-stepmother families? (p. 595)

18. What factors affect the impact of maternal employment on adjustment during middle childhood? (pp. 595-596)

19. If you were considering self-care for your child, what things would you need to consider that are likely to affect how well it works out? (pp. 597-598)

Child Abuse

20. Note the various forms of child maltreatment. About how many children per 1,000 in the U.S. are reported as victims of child maltreatment in a year? (p. 599)

21. What parent, child, and family characteristics are associated with child maltreatment? (pp. 600-602 and Table 14.3)

22. What community and cultural characteristics are associated with high levels of child maltreatment? (p. 602 and Table 14.3)

Affection and Resilience

Now that you have studied the textbook material about families, I would like to remind you about a topic we covered very briefly in chapter 1. The topic of resilient children was covered on pages 10-11. Here we are, nearly 600 pages later, going back to see what we can learn from the research on resilient children who turn out OK despite growing up under negative conditions. The three factors that make children more resilient are: (1) personal characteristics of the child, including temperament and intelligence, (2) a warm parental relationship, and (3) affection and support of a person such as a grandparent, teacher, neighbor, or friend. Notice that two of the three key ingredients are individuals who love the child.

Of the many lessons from research on resilient children, I think the most important is that the affection and support of one person can have such a powerful effect. One loving parent has often made the difference between a child growing up to be a competent, caring adult versus growing up with serious problems. One loving grandmother, uncle, big sister, neighbor, teacher, or friend has given many a child the resilience to overcome stressful life circumstances.

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Chapter 15 – Peers, Media, and Schooling

Peer Relationships In other cultures, parents are the most important people in children's lives until

late adolescence or early adulthood when a romantic partner captures the #1 spot. In the majority U.S. culture, children in upper elementary grades rate peers and parents as equally important sources of social support. Throughout adolescence, peer relationships are rated more important than relationships with parents. Socialization works best when it is guided by parents, not by peers. We should all be worried when adolescents feel that their peers are more important to them than their parents are.

1. How do peer experiences contribute to the development of perspective taking during middle childhood?

Make a list of the various types of skills and behaviors in middle childhood and adolescence that depend on interacting with peers. (p. 610)

Note that adolescents in the U.S. have much more time to spend with peers, primarily because they spend very little time studying. (p. 613 and Figure 15.1)

2. Describe the basis of friendship at each developmental level. (p. 614) Note from Figure 15.2 that self-disclosure with friends increases throughout late

childhood and adolescence. What happens to self-disclosure to parents during late childhood and adolescence?

Self-disclosure, sharing personal information that you would not share with strangers or acquaintances, is one of the characteristics of intimacy in interpersonal relationships.

Other characteristics of intimate friendships include affection, emotional support (nurturance), and trust.

3. What function do friends serve for aggressive girls and aggressive boys? (p. 616)

4. Describe four ways in which childhood and adolescent friendships can provide a foundation for positive psychological adjustment. What happens to children with aggressive friends and children who have no friends? (pp. 617-618)

5. Describe four different categories of peer acceptance in middle childhood. (pp. 618-620)

How do rejected-aggressive children differ from rejected-withdrawn children? Note that popular-antisocial children, rejected-aggressive children, and

controversial children tend to be bullies. What does the textbook conclude about the psychological adjustment of

neglected children?

6. Define peer victimization and indicate why some children become victimized. (p. 621)

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7. What adolescent problems are associated with early, frequent dating? Note the statistics on the percent of boys and girls who are physically or sexually abused by dating partners. (p. 625)

8. How is parenting related to adolescents’ ability to resist negative peer pressure? (p. 627)

Television and Violence A considerable part of this chapter covers the negative effects of television on

children's development. These effects have been known to child development professionals and our national legislators for at least 30 years. Yet there has been only one significant change: TV programs are rated for violence, nudity, and profanity. Our society firmly believes it is wrong for government to interfere with TV programming. We also know it is wrong for TV networks to teach our children that violence is a normal way of solving problems, that sex is the first stage in developing an intimate relationship, that casual sex outside marriage is fun and romantic, that alcohol and drug use is exciting and glamorous, that smoking Camels makes you "cool," that adults are incompetent fools who shouldn't be allowed to have any control over children's lives, that material wealth makes people happy, that being physically active and having "work" to do are bad things that stress people out and make them unhappy, that when we are unhappy or when we fail, it is someone else's fault. These influences work against society's values and against the responsibilities assigned to parents and schools by society. Can the entertainment industry find a way to support the values of its own society that protects its freedoms? Will media executives someday realize that their own most fundamental interest, freedom of expression, is made less secure when their products encourage people to be selfish, irresponsible, unsympathetic, and violent?

9. Note Berk’s assertion that “if the content of TV programming were improved and adults capitalized on it to enhance children’s interest in their everyday worlds, television could be a powerful, cost-effective means of strengthening cognitive, emotional, and social development.” (p. 629)

Think about this statement in relation to the relative amount of time children spend watching TV vs. interacting with parents and friends, physical activity, hobbies, and homework. (p. 630 and Figure 15.5)

Our society is missing a huge opportunity to use the power of television to support positive development in children and adolescents.

10. Recall from chapter 5 that there is a strong correlation between television viewing and gains in body fat during childhood. (p. 199, Figure 5.12)

11. Make a list of conclusions regarding the effects of TV violence on aggression in children and adolescents. (pp. 630-631) Note the increase in aggression associated with TV viewing in childhood and adolescence (Figure 15.6)

12. How is TV viewing linked to children's ethnic and gender stereotypes? (p. 631)

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13. How does violence affect processing of prosocial acts and messages in TV programs? (p. 632)

14. Compare the effects of playing violent video games to watching violent TV programs. (p. 634)

15. Current regulations to protect children from being exploited by TV content are minimal and ineffective. (pp. 635-636)

Strategies parents can use to regulate TV, computer and cell phone use are presented on the Applying What We Know section (p. 636)

Schooling During the past several decades, educational researchers and practitioners have

tried many new approaches, each of which promised to "revolutionize" education. In plain English, this means having kids learn more without spending more money on educational materials, equipment, or teachers' salaries. It is pretty clear after 30 years of trying that tearing down walls, adding bells and whistles, replacing individual desks with tables for four, and replacing phonics with "creative" spelling don’t make a noticeable difference in either how many children learn or in how well they develop. What does make a difference is reducing classes to fewer than 18 students in elementary school and reducing secondary school sizes to fewer than 500. Both of these changes would increase the cost of education substantially. Is the current slogan that children will learn more if we put more computers in schools turn out to be the educational revolution that we have been searching for all these years? Maybe it's time to face the fact that if we genuinely want schools to be accountable, to get students to achieve more both academically and personally, we will have to be willing to pay the price of smaller classes and smaller schools.

16. Based on the material on class size, what would you say is the ideal class size in elementary grades? (p. 637)

17. What is the ideal school size for secondary schools and what are the developmental advantages of small schools? (p. 638)

18. What are the advantages of constructivist approaches to elementary education vs. a traditional approach? (pp. 639-640)

19. Describe three new themes in elementary education that are based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. (p. 640)

20. The material on school transitions doesn't lend itself to any simple summary. (pp. 640-642)

However, as a general principle, it is certain that school transitions are major events in children's lives that have the potential to disrupt friendships, self-confidence, and academic motivation.

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Each school should have a well-developed program for preparing children for school transitions to minimize the potential negative effects.

21. How can teachers' expectations regarding a child's ability be harmful? (p. 643)

22. Is parental involvement in school important beyond the elementary grades? What are some of the benefits of parents' involvement? (p. 647)

Berk doesn't mention the advantage that positive parental involvement is supportive for teachers as well as students.

23. Notice from Figure 15.11 that the U.S. ranks below the international average in math achievement. The U.S. is similarly low in reading and science achievement. Note four ways in which many other nations surpass the U.S. in education. (p. 648)

high quality education for all, including low-income and ethnic minorities. emphasis on effort (rather than ability) as the key to success. high value placed on academic achievement. teachers who are well-prepared, highly respected and better paid.