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Psychology 320: Gender Psychology

Lecture 21

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Invitational Office Hour Invitations, by Student Number for November 5th

11:30-12:30, 3:30-4:30 Kenny 2517

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2. What theories illustrate the social learning view?

Neoanalytic and Social Learning Theories of Gender Differences

1. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? (continued)

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. discuss Chodorow’s explanation for the development of personality differences between the sexes.

2. describe the social cognitive theory of gender development.

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2. Nancy Chodorow’s Theory of Gender Development (continued)

Chodorow argued that predominantly female parenting produces female and male adults with distinct emotional needs:

What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? (continued)

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Females:

Identity formation is relatively easy; involves adopting a feminine identity similar to their mother.

As girls, identify with their primary caregiver; emotional unity develops between mother and daughter.

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Try to re-enact the emotional unity experienced in the mother-daughter relationship in intimate

relationships with men; these efforts are often unsuccessful because men do not have the same relational needs:

As adults, recognize the societal notion that femininity is inferior and experience ambivalence about their identification with a negatively valued gender category.

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“But families organized around women’s mothering and male dominance create incompatibilities in women’s and men’s relational needs. In particular, relationships to men are unlikely to provide for women satisfaction of the relational needs that their mothering by women and the social organization of gender have produced. The less men participate in the domestic sphere, and especially in parenting, the more this will be the case (Chodorow, 1978, p. 199).

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Males:

As boys, are unable to identify with their primary care-giver; nevertheless, have a strong sense of

attachment to and “oneness” with their mothers:

“Underlying, or built into, core male gender identity is an early, nonverbal, unconscious, almost somatic sense of oneness with the mother, an underlying sense of femaleness that continually, usually unnoticeably, but sometimes insistently, challenges and undermines the sense of maleness” (Chodorow, 1978, 109).

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Identity formation is relatively difficult; involves:

(b) developing a conception of masculinity with which to identify.

(a) separating from and rejecting the feminine identity of their mother (i.e., “fleeing from femininity”).

Results in a fear of females, contempt for females, and devaluation of femininity.

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Chodorow’s theory suggests that shared parenting between females and males would reduce negative attitudes toward females and, thus, result in more egalitarian gender roles and relationships.

Research (e.g., Kaschack, 1992) has not fully supported this assertion.

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What theories illustrate the social learning view?

• The social learning view emphasizes social influences and learning processes in gender development.

• Three theories illustrate the social learning view:

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1. Social Cognitive Theory

Maintains that the characteristics of females and males diverge because they learn sex-

appropriate characteristics from different models within their environment.

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Research has shown that people are most likely to imitate a model when:

the model is warm, nurturing, or an authority.

the model’s behaviour has been rewarded.

the situation is unfamiliar or ambiguous.

imitation by the observer has been rewarded.

the model is of the same sex as the observer.

the model behaves in a gender-role congruent way.

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2. What theories illustrate the social learning view?

Neoanalytic and Social Learning Theories of Gender Differences

1. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? (continued)