1. 1 Psychology 320: Gender Psychology Lecture 22

2. 2 Social Learning Explanations of Gender Differences: 1. What theories illustrate the social learning view? (continued)

3. 3  Models may be “real-life” models or symbolic models. Common models include: parents. peers. toys. books. television programs. advertisements. What theories illustrate the social learning view? (continued) 1.Social Learning Theory

4. 4 The Berenstain Bears Little Bear 24 Children, Family, and Adult TV Series Desperate Housewives Flashpoint The Young and the Restless Mighty Machines The Office Sex and the City

5. 5 Signorielli & Lears (1992), Rivadeneyra & Ward (2005): Found a positive correlation between time spent watching television and the extent to which children held gender-role stereotypes. Zurbriggen & Morgan (2006): Found a positive correlation between frequency of watching reality dating programs and traditional attitudes regarding heterosexual romantic relationships.

6. 6 Reality Shows America’s Next Top Model The Bachelor The Bachelorette

7. 7 Advertisements

8. 8 Coltrane & Messineo (2000): Found that men were more likely than women to be depicted as aggressive and instrumental and women were more likely to be depicted as sex objects or in domestic settings.

9. 9 % Percentage of Characters in Commercials by Sex, Activity and Race (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000)

10. 10 2. Socialization (Operant Conditioning) Theory  Maintains that the characteristics of females and males diverge because they are reinforced and punished by their caregivers and peers for exhibiting different characteristics.

11. 11  Many studies have documented the differential patterns of reinforcement and punishment of females and males by caregivers and peers. Moreover, a number of these studies have demonstrated the influence of reinforcement and punishment on the behaviour of females and males. Examples:  Theorists distinguish between two types of reinforcement and two types of punishment: Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

12. 12 Raag & Rackliff (1998): Found that boys were more likely than girls to say that their fathers would think cross-gender-typed play was “bad.” Moreover, found that boys’ perceptions of their father’s expectations influenced their toy choice.

13. 13 Perceptions of Social Expectations Regarding Gender-Typed Play (Raag & Rackliff, 1998) Source Response Category GoodBadDoesn’t matter Mother Boys Girls 14 130 19 15 Father Boys Girls 16 91 15 17

14. 14 Perceptions of Social Expectations Regarding Cross-Gender-Typed Play (Raag & Rackliff, 1998) Source Response Category GoodBadDoesn’t matter Mother Boys Girls 2525 8383 23 20 Father Boys Girls 2626 14 4 16 17

15. 15 Mean Time (seconds) Boys Played With Tool Set as a Function of Perceptions of Father’s Expectations Regarding Cross-Gender-Typed Play (Raag and Rackliff, 1998)

16. 16 Mean Time (seconds) Boys Played With Dish Set as a Function of Perceptions of Father’s Expectations Regarding Cross-Gender-Typed Play (Raag and Rackliff, 1998)

17. 17 Lamb, Easterbrooks, & Holden (1980): Found that, with respect to teachers and peers: (a) Boys and girls were more likely to be reinforced for gender-role congruent activities than gender-role incongruent activities. Types of peer-reinforcement identified: praise, join play, imitation, approval, observe, comply, covet toy. (b) Boys and girls were more likely to be punished for gender-role incongruent activities than gender-role congruent activities. Types of peer-punishment identified: criticize, divert, abandon play, disapproval, disrupt activity.

18. 18 (c) Boys and girls continued gender-role congruent activities that had been reinforced for a longer duration than gender-role incongruent activities that had been punished. (d) Older children were more likely than younger children to engage in intentional punishment (e.g., criticism, disapproval) of peers for gender-role incongruent activities. (e) Boys were more likely than girls to receive intentional punishment from other boys and girls for gender-role incongruent activities.

19. 19 Social Learning Explanations of Gender Differences: 1. What theories illustrate the social learning view? (continued)