Personality Theory & Gender Identity

The intersection of the components of gender, including gender constancy, consistency and gender stability are continuously formed ( as age increases, so does gender flexibility) while gender development is complete by age 6

The knowledge that gender is a permanent characteristic and will not change with superficial

Gender Knowledge:

The knowledge that gender is a stable personal characteristic

Gender Constancy:

The belief that people retain their gender even when they adopt behaviors of superficial physical features associated with their other gender

Gender Stability:

Gender Consistency:

• Children may show gender stability without gender consistency, not the other way around
• Therefore a child’s understanding of gender is very inflexible and rigid
• As biology influences gender development, its effects are difficult to separate from social influences because of the identification of external genitalia
• Thus, prenatal hormone exposure is the only way to affect gender-typed behaviors more than gender identity

•African American Fathers tend to be more Egalitarian than others

•Latin American fathers=less egalitarian, boys tend to have more freedom while girls are expected to do the household chores

•Lesbian Families= less gender stereotyped environments and less traditional

Family Treatment & Family Structures Influence on

Personality

Stages of Develeopment of Gender Knowledge

Gender labeling

Gender stereotype knowledge

Gender Preferences

Gender Stability

Gender Consistency

Leaper's Ideas on Parent-Gender Related Issues

Modeling

Gender

Identity

Different Treatment of Son v. Daughter

The process of gender development occurs between the ages 2 and 3, and most children begin to understand gender development and use labels to apply this understanding which formulates stereotypes

Types of Opportunity Furnished (toys, etc)

The extent to which parents monitor and supervise their child's friends and relationships

Boys are portrayed as: powerful, smart, ambitious, competitive, and violent

How much TV do kids watch, what do they watch and how is it affecting them?

Gender Bias in the Media

Girls are portrayed as: timid, warm, sensitive, peaceful, and attractive

Gender Schema Theory...

Hypothesizes that children develop schema for gender, a

cognitive structure that organizes and guides perception.

This theory theorizes gender-related

behaviors appear as a result of general cognitive development and the adoption of specific schemata related to gender.

Children come to understand

masculinity and femininity, and they attend to and come to behave in ways consistent with their schema which influences information processing,

memory, and attitudes, which leads to gender stereotyping.

Considering Diversity

Gender Identity Disorder

Most children show behaviors that represent a combination of the typical masculine and feminine, which does not indicate any type of gender confusion or dissatisfaction.

Boys who make cross-gender choices face a great deal of social censure, bullying and violence.

The combination of persistent gender-atypical behaviors and rejection of gender-typical behaviors may be indicative of problems,

such as Gender Identity Disorder.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Gender Identity Disorder must meet 4/5 criteria:

cross-sex behaviors

cross-sex toy and activity

cross-sex peer affiliation

cross-dressing

a stated desire to be the opposite sex

Gender Dysphoria

"Their brain's don't match their bodies"

If GID continues past childhood and into adolescence it is then called Gender Dysphoria.

Transexual

a person whose sexual identification is entirely with the opposite sex

&

Transgender

is a term used to describe individuals who are in the process of acquiring a new sex

Fact:

If a child or teenager exhibit gender dysphoria, they are subject to diagnosis and treatments to make them accept their biological sex as their gender identity. but if they are attracted to the same sex, they are not because the American Psychiatric Association has not considered Homosexuality as a disorder in over 25 years.

Gender Schema

Theory

Freud's Theory

Freud’s theory hypothesized a series of Psycho-sexual stages to account for the influence of childhood experiences on adult personality:

Building off of Freud's Theory

The Cognitive Development Theory ...

Differences in gender appearance

Oedipus complex: children are attracted to their other-sex parent and feel fear and hostility toward their same-sex parent

Boys experience more trauma and complete resolution of the Oedipus complex than girls

Oedipus legend personifies a men’s drive for power and feelings of entitlement

Antigone legend personifies a woman’s self sacrifice

Chodorow’s Emphasis on Mothering replaces the Freudian emphasis on the trauma of the Oedipal conflict with a highlight on the pre-Oedipal period, concentrating on the mother-infant relationship.

Oral

Anal

Phallic

Latency

Genital

• Views the acquisition of gender-related behaviors as part of children's general cognitive development.
• Children below age 3 years have not developed a gender identity and children learn the correct label for themselves before others.
• This theory correctly predicts the gender stereotyping that is common among children.
• ◾The social learning approach relies on the concepts of observational learning and modeling explain how children learn and perform gender-related behavior

• Boys and girls have different experiences in separating themselves from their mother, with boys having to strive for separation and girls neither striving for nor attaining the same level of separation.
• These experiences shape their personality later

What is Social Learning Theory?

Horney's Theory of Personality

Freud's Theory Continued...

Masochism- deriving pleasure from pain

Kaschak’s Antigone Phase

◦Instead of Freuds Oedipus complex, Kaschak uses the character Antigone as a symbol of female development in a patriarchal family.

◦Men who do not overcome the Oedipus phase of development treat women as extensions of themselves and their needs

◦Women who fail to overcome the Antigone phase fit into these subservient patterns, never acknowledging their own needs.

Womb Envy

Men feeling inferior to women, especially when giving birth

men wishing they had the ability to reproduce like women

Now a video explaining Freud’s theory in depth.

Based on the concepts of operant conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment, social learning theory adds

observational learning, modeling, and imitation to explain learning as a cognitive

phenomenon.

Hypothesized that children observe many gender-related

behaviors from a wide variety of models and come to exhibit appropriate gender-

related behaviors as a result of their observation and modeling.

•Builds off of Freuds theory

•Focuses on a biological perspective rather than the social perspective of Freud

•Eliminated the concept of penis envy saying that men's assertion of women's inferiority exists to keep men from

contending with their own feelings of inferiority

•Women are only inferior due to woman's society role.

Penis Envy

Personality Theories

when women discover that their clitoris are smaller than male penis, but simply just meaning that they don’t long for bigger clitorises but the prestige that comes along from simply being a man

Cognitive Development Theory

Social Learning Theory

Personality Theory & Gender Identity

Presented By:

Kennedy Walton,

Amber Broaden,

Jade McSwain,

Adora McClain,

&

Felicia Knox