Identify and discuss gender differences in development. Be sure to focus your answer on socialization, cognitive, and personality differences

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Socialization
Girls may be closer to their parents, especially their mothers, which shields them from anti-social behavior. Males learn to value independence, whereas females are taught that their self-worth depends on their ability to sustain relationships. Although there are few gender differences in aggression during the first few years of life, girls are socialized to be less aggressive than boys and are supervised more closely. As they mature, girls learn to respond to provocation by feeling anxious, unlike boys, who are encouraged to retaliate. Overall, women are much more likely to feel distressed than men.

Cognitive
Males excel in tasks that assess the ability to manipulate visual images in working memory, whereas females do better in tasks that require retrieval from long-term memory and the acquisition and use of verbal information. Girls learn to speak earlier and faster, and with better pronunciation, most likely because parents talk more to their infant daughters than to their infant sons. A girl's verbal proficiency enables her to develop a skill that may later help her deal with conflict without resorting to violence. When girls are aggressive, they are more likely than boys to hide their behavior from adults.

Personality
Girls are often stereotyped as talkative, but research shows that in many situations boys spend more time talking than girls do. Females are more willing to reveal their feelings and more likely to express concern for others. Adolescent females use different knowledge than males and have different ways of interpreting their interactions with others. These gender differences may have an impact on self-esteem and self-concept.

Concept Summary 6.1 breaks down the differences easily.