Deck 4: Early Childhood Gender Socialization

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT true about the process of socialization?

A) Socialization occurs only during early childhood.
B) Socialization is a way of transmitting society's norms.
C) Socialization is a way of teaching society's values.
D) Gender socialization is often a conscious effort.

Answer 1

Socialization occurs only during early childhood.

Question 2

Research indicates that children show preference for gender-stereotyped toys by the age of

A) 18 months.
B) 3.
C) 5.
D) 7.

Answer 2

18 months.

Question 3

Identification theory originated with the work of

A) Jean Piaget.
B) Sigmund Freud.
C) Sandra Bem.
D) Albert Bandura.

Answer 3

Sigmund Freud.

Question 4

According to Freud's identification theory, children begin to model their same-sex parent during which stage of development?

A) oral
B) phallic
C) anal
D) oedipal

Question 5

According to Freud, which of the following is a consequence of "penis envy"?

A) Girls shift their love from their fathers to their mothers because they sympathize with others who have been "castrated."
B) Girls identify with their fathers who possess the coveted penis.
C) Women never fully mature because they cannot overcome their feelings of sexual inferiority.
D) Women learn to be good wives and mothers.

Question 6

In Nancy Chodorow's revision of identification theory, it is hypothesized that gender identification is more difficult for boys because

A) they must model their behavior after a parent of the opposite sex.
B) they must psychologically separate themselves from their primary caretaker and model themselves after a parent who is usually absent from the home.
C) they suffer from womb envy.
D) their relationship with their mother leads them to put others' needs before their own.

Question 7

According to social learning theory, reinforcement leads to gender acquisition because

A) children are rewarded for gender-appropriate behavior and punished for gender-inappropriate behavior.
B) it extinguishes children's Oedipal complexes.
C) it helps them organize the world around them.
D) none of the above

Question 8

The theory that children acquire gender through the process of reinforcement and by modeling their same-sex parent is referred to as _______ theory.

A) social learning
B) identification
C) gender schema
D) cognitive development

Question 9

According to social learning theory, children acquire gender through

A) their own mental efforts.
B) modeling.
C) reinforcement.
D) A and B only
E) B and C only

Question 10

Which of the following is a criticism of the social learning theory?

A) Children have some knowledge of gender apart from what they learn from modeling.
B) The notion of "reinforcement" is not scientifically valid because it cannot be observed.
C) It is a fact that children do not create schema or mental categories.
D) The theory depicts children as active creators of socialization messages.

Question 11

The basic principle of cognitive developmental theory is that children

A) acquire gender through modeling.
B) acquire gender during psychosexual stages of development.
C) passively acquire gender through reinforcement.
D) learn gender through their mental efforts to organize their social world.

Question 12

Cognitive developmental theory helps to explain children's

A) preferences for same-sex friends.
B) preferences for sex-typed toys.
C) expression of stereotyped ideas about gender.
D) all of the above

Question 13

Creation of gender schema is an important element of which theory?

A) social learning theory
B) cognitive developmental theory
C) identification theory
D) gender schema theory

Question 14

Sex is a useful schema for young children because it

A) is abstract.
B) does not depend on reinforcement to be learned.
C) is concrete and obvious, thus appropriate to young children's level of mental maturity.
D) both A and B above
E) none of the above

Question 15

According to psychologist Sandra Bem, children use sex as a fundamental organizing category because

A) it is simple and obvious.
B) models of both sexes are readily available.
C) sexual distinctions are emphasized in our society's culture.
D) None of the above; Bem does not agree that children use sex as an organizing category.

Question 16

The belief that males and females are not only fundamentally different, but also that sex is a central organizing principle for the social life of a society is called gender

A) acquisition.
B) polarization.
C) identification.
D) reinforcement.

Question 17

Studies of parental treatment of infants show that parents

A) engage in the same forms of physical contact with both their sons and daughters.
B) respond in the same way to boy and girl babies' cries for attention.
C) elicit more motor activity from their sons.
D) none of the above

Question 18

Metamessages

A) are lessons implicit in a society's culture about what is important, what is valued, and what differences are significant in that society.
B) are the results of, not contributors to, gender socialization.
C) derive from the work of Sigmund Freud.
D) develop in adulthood, once individuals have acquired their sex and gender identities.

Question 19

Studies of parents' reactions to the sex of their newborn children indicate that

A) gender socialization begins immediately after birth.
B) new parents rarely use gender stereotypical comments to describe their newborn.
C) parents of girls are likely to handle their babies more than parents of boys.
D) all of the above

Question 20

Research indicates that sex differences in young children's communication styles are likely due to

A) differences in adults' responses to boys' and girls' communication attempts.
B) differences in the children's race and social class.
C) innate biological differences between boys and girls.
D) None of the above; there are no sex differences in children's communication styles.

Question 21

In examining the contents of children's rooms, sociologists have found that

A) boys have more vehicular toys than girls.
B) girls have more books and musical instruments than boys.
C) neither A nor B above
D) both A and B above

Question 22

Most children's toys on the market today

A) are gender neutral.
B) easily cross gender lines.
C) foster different traits and abilities in boys and girls.
D) encourage boys to be creative and girls to be competitive.

Question 23

Which of the following best describes the qualities encouraged by toys typically intended for boys?

A) inventive qualities
B) aggressive qualities
C) nurturing qualities
D) Only A and B are correct.

Question 24

Comparisons of children's books written and illustrated by African Americans and White Americans reveal that books written and illustrated by

A) White Americans give female characters the greatest visibility.
B) White Americans depict female characters as competitive and persistent.
C) African Americans give female characters the greatest visibility.
D) African Americans depict female characters as competitive, persistent, emotional, active, nurturing, and aggressive.
E) both C and D above

Question 25

The success of publishers' efforts to produce nonsexist children's books may be limited because

A) authors have refused to comply with publishers' guidelines.
B) children naturally develop gender stereotypes regardless of what they see in their books.
C) adults who read the books to the children assign gender labels to gender-neutral characters.
D) all of the above

Question 26

Research on early peer group socialization indicates that

A) young children have difficulty working cooperatively in sex-integrated groups.
B) children's same-sex peers are powerful socializers.
C) young boys tend to interact in smaller peer groups than young girls do.
D) girls receive greater criticism from their peers for gender inappropriate behavior than boys do.

Question 27

All of the following are true regarding early peer group socialization EXCEPT

A) young children at play voluntarily segregate themselves into same-sex groups.
B) boys tend to engage in more organized games.
C) children who choose gender "appropriate" toys are more liked by their peers.
D) all of the above

Question 28

Which of the following regarding the socialization of boys is NOT true?

A) Boys are criticized less by peers than girls for cross-gender play.
B) Boys who play with girls are considered unpopular by their peers.
C) Peers are more influential than teachers.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 29

Recent research has concluded the following:

A) Children will imitate individuals most like themselves.
B) Children will imitate same-sex models.
C) Children prefer objects preferred by children of their same gender.
D) all of the above

Question 30

Children use the category of sex to

A) label themselves and organize identities.
B) draw conclusions about ambiguous behavior.
C) determine their sexual orientation.
D) both a and b

Question 31

Research indicates all EXCEPT the following:

A) Fathers are warmer to their daughters.
B) Mothers are warmer toward their daughters than fathers.
C) Mothers are more attentive to the emotions of daughter
D) Fathers are more attuned to the emotions of their sons.

Question 32

Research indicates that gender role identity and concepts differ across all of the following EXCEPT:

A) ethnic groups
B) socioeconomic groups
C) family structure
D) brain function

Question 33

Hill (2005) concludes the following about race, class and gender:

A) Gender socialization matters less for African Americans as they struggle to care for their children.
B) Racial inequality affects all parenting and gender socialization despite one's racial identity.
C) Race and class are not related when exploring socialization.
D) all of the above

Question 34

Sex-typed behavior increases through the preschool years.

Question 35

Social learning theories predict that children will imitate individuals portrayed in the media rather than those they have personal interaction with on a daily basis.

Question 36

Girls and boys with parents with more traditional gender attitudes tended to also have traditional attitudes about gender after age 15.

Question 37

Research has found that working- and lower-middle-class White parent's differential socialization of sons and daughters was much weaker than among working-class and lower-class Black parents.

Question 38

Studies show that while most Americans prefer sons as firstborns, they prefer daughters to outnumber sons.

Question 39

There is some research that shows that Black children are less gender-stereotyped than White children.

Question 40

According to Freud, "womb envy"
is the underlying reason for men's need to dominate women.

Question 41

Female infants are devalued in many cultures throughout the world.

Question 42

Research indicates that boys receive harsher penalties for cross-gendered behavior than do girls.

Question 43

A criticism of cognitive developmental theory is that the theory does not put enough emphasis on the role of culture in gender socialization.

Question 44

Research has found that parents communicate the same with sons and daughters.

Question 45

Studies indicate that children reared in gay and lesbian families are dramatically different in their gender-role behavior than children reared in heterosexual families.

Question 46

According to Bem, the lens of gender polarization is incorporated into the socialization process from birth.

Question 47

Mothers provide more stereotyped descriptions of their newborns than fathers do.

Question 48

According to the authors of your text, clothing does not play a significant role in gender socialization. Page 83

Question 49

There has been no improvement in the number of female characters in preschoolers' books since 1972, when Lenore Weitzman did her research on this topic.

Question 50

Gender-neutral books have solved the problem of sexism in literature by allowing individual readers to label the characters as they choose.

Question 51

Research shows that preschoolers disapprove of gender-"inappropriate"
behavior by their peers more than adults.

Question 52

Explain identification theory and how it could be construed as "sexist."

Question 53

Social learning theory involves both imitation and reinforcement. Explain these two principles. What are the strengths and weaknesses of social learning theory as an explanation for gender acquisition?

Question 54

What is cognitive developmental theory? Discuss its strengths and weaknesses as a theory of gender acquisition.

Question 55

Bem argues that gender acquisition involves the enculturation of three specific lenses. What are these lenses? Specifically, how do they each contribute to gender acquisition? What role do metamessages play in this process?

Question 56

Discuss how children's environments play a role in gender socialization.

Question 57

Is nonsexist socialization possible? Why or why not?

Question 58

Sex is a very useful schema in children. Explain why and how sex is categorically used in young children.

Question 59

Compare and contrast the gender attitudes of lesbian parents to heterosexual parents. Cite research to support your answer.

Question 60

Discuss how birth order affects gender attitudes.

Question 61

How does ethnicity influence gender socialization? Specifically address African and Latino children's gender socialization.

Question 62

Discuss how toys continue to portray gender stereotypes. Cite example of toys and their message in your answer.