Gender, Nature, and Nurture Gender, Nature, and Nurture Richard A.Lippa California State University, Fullerton LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London Senior Editor: Debra Riegert Textbook Marketing Manager: Marisol Kozlovski Editorial Assistant: Jason Planer Cover Design: Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Textbook Production Manager: Paul Smolenski Full-Service & Composition: Pre-Press Company, Inc. Text and Cover Printer: Hamilton Printing Company This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” Copyright © 2002 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lippa, Richard A. Gender, nature, and nurture/Richard A.Lippa p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-3605-5 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-8058-3606-3 1. Sex differences (Psychology) 2. Gender identity. 3. Nature and nurture. I. Title. BF692.2 .L555 2001 155.3′3–dc21 2001033505 ISBN 1-4106-0279-6 Master e-book ISBN In loving memory of my aunt and uncle, Mitzi and Ed Levy, who lived their lives to the fullest and who faced illness with dignity and courage. Contents Preface xiii CHAPTER 1: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE ANYWAY? 1 The Study of Sex Differences 4 Combining the Results of Many Studies: Meta-Analysis 9 What Do Meta-Analyses Tell Us About Sex Differences? 11 Are There Sex Differences in Personality? 11 Are There Sex Differences in Risk Taking? 13 Are There Sex Differences in Social Behaviors? 15 Aggression 15 Helping Behavior 15 Conformity and Susceptibility to Persuasion 16 Group Behavior and Leadership 17 Are There Sex Differences in Nonverbal Behavior and Nonverbal 18 Perceptiveness? Are There Sex Differences in Sexuality and Mate Preferences? 20 Are There Sex Differences in Occupational Preferences and Interests? 23 Are There Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities? 23 Are There Sex Differences in Physical Abilities? 24 Beyond Meta-Analyses: Other Possible Sex Differences 25 Sex Differences in Mental and Behavioral Disorders 25 Sex Differences in Emotional Experience 27 vii viii Contents Sex Differences in the Self-Concept 28 Sex Differences in Children’s Friendship Patterns 29 Summary 30 CHAPTER 2: MASCULINITY AND FEMININITY: GENDER 33 WITHIN GENDER The Search Commences: Terman and Miles’s Early Work at Stanford 34 The Analogy Between Masculinity-Femininity and Intelligence 34 The Bipolar Assumption 36 What Is Masculinity-Femininity Related To? 40 Masculinity and Femininity as Separate Dimensions 41 Cracks In Terman and Miles’s Edifice 42 The Rise of Androgyny: Masculine Instrumentality and Feminine 43 Expressiveness Putting Androgyny to the Test 45 Masculinity, Feminity and Psychological Adjustment 48 Whither Androgyny? 49 But Don’t Masculinity and Femininity Make Sense to Most of Us? 51 Components of Masculinity and Femininity 51 Masculinity and Feminity as “Fuzzy Concepts” 52 Deconstructing and Reconstructing Masculinity-Femininity 54 Recapitulatlon 54 Resurrecting Masculinity-Femininity: Gender Diagnosticity 55 What Is GD Related To? 58 Is There a “Deep Structure” to Masculinity-Femininity? 62 Summary 64 CHAPTER 3: THEORIES OF GENDER 65 Levels of Explanation Applied to Gender 65 Contents ix Biological Theories 68 Evolutionary Theory 69 Genetics and Prenatal Hormonal Factors 76 Structural Differences Between Male and Female Nervous Systems 80 From Nature to Nurture 82 Social Learning Theories 83 Cognitive Theories of Gender 84 Kohlberg’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory 85 Gender Schema Theories 86 Social Psychological Theories of Gender 88 Gender Stereotypes 88 Social Role Theory 90 Gender Stereotypes as Self-Fulfilling Prophecies 92 Stereotype Threat 92 Self-Presentation Theory 93 Summary 94 CHAPTER 4: THE CASE FOR NATURE 96 Animal Experiments 96 Humans with Unusual Early Exposure to Sex Hormones 98 CAH Females 98 Androgen-lnsensitive Males 99 Reductase-Deficient Males 100 Effects of Estrogen: DES Children and Turner’s Syndrome Women 101 Females Exposed to DES 101 Turner’s Syndrome 102 x Contents Correlational Studies of Hormones and Behavior in Humans 103 Testosterone and Human Behavior 103 Physical Characteristics Related to Prenatal Testosterone 106 Other Hormones and Gender-Related Behaviors 107 “Natural Experiments” and Sex Reassignment 108 Biology and Human Sex Differences 109 The Case For Biological Influences 111 Physical Aggression 111 Visual-Spatial Ability 113 Sexual Behavior 115 Demonstrating Biological Influences on Individual Differences in 119 Masculinity and Femininity: Behavior Genetic Studies Summary 122 CHAPTER 5: THE CASE FOR NURTURE 123 Learning to “Do Gender” 125 Boys’ and Girls’ Toy Preferences 126 Parental Treatment and the Social Learning of Gender 126 Teacher Influences 130 Peer Influences 132 Learning Gender After Early Childhood 133 Modeling Gender 133 Learning Gender from the Mass Media 135 Self-Socialization of Gender 137 Gender Knowledge 138 Gender Knowledge and Sex-Typed Behavior 139 Social Influences on Gender Knowledge 143 Contents xi Consequences of Gender Stereotypes 144 Enacting Stereotypes 144 Self-Fulfilling Prophecies and Behavioral Confirmation 145 Stereotype Threat: When Negative Stereotypes Undermine 147 Performance Broader Social Factors: Social Roles and Status Differences 148 Coda 151 Summary 151 CHAPTER 6: CROSS-EXAMINATIONS 154 “Nature” and “Nurture” Debate the Evidence Presented in Chapters 154 4 and 5 Summary 184 CHAPTER 7: GENDER, NATURE, AND NURTURE: LOOKING 186 TO THE FUTURE Causal Cascades and Causat Thickets 188 Gender as a Complex Causal Cascade 188 Causal Cascades and the Nature-Nurture Debate 191 Cascades, Fulcrums, and Social Interventions 193 Causal Cascades and the Two Faces of Gender 196 Gender, Nature, and Nurture: Some Real-Life Concerns 199 Rearing Girls and Boys 200 Childhood Gender Segregation: Can It Be Reduced? 202 Gender in the Classroom 203 Solutions for Problems Faced by Girls and Boys in the Classroom 204 The Value of Same-Sex Schooling 205 Sexual Harassment and Assault: Are They Male Problems? 207 Husbands and Wives: The Nature and Nurture of Close Relationships 208 xii Contents Rearing Children 208 Divisions of labor 209 Harmony, Disharmony, and Divorce 210 Child Custody 211 Gender in the Workplace: Parental Leave, Day Care, and “Mommy 212 Tracks” Political Animals: Men and Women Who Govern 215 Women and Men in the Military: The Battles of the Sexes 217 Coda 220 Summary 220 References 221 Author Index 253 Subject Index 263 Preface I don’t know about you, but throughout my life I have been puzzled by the behavior of both men and women. When I go to the gym, I am bemused by men’s animated conversations about football games and cars, and when I go to the local gift shop, I am equally bemused by women who endlessly discuss how “darling” various ceramic figurines are. I don’t think I am alone in finding both men and women somewhat inscrutable, each in their own way. And I’m certainly not alone in pondering the nature and nurture of gender. Most of us try hard to understand what makes individual boys, girls, men, and women “tick,” so most of us constantly grapple with gender, either consciously or unconsciously. We live and work and play with members of both sexes, and inevitably, we love and loathe individual males and females. If nothing else, the topic of gender carries immense egocentric appeal, for we all possess gender, in one form or another. And of course, the topic of gender is intimately tied to other favorite topics—like love, sex, and romance. In a more serious and political vein, our personal views of gender are linked to other important attitudes—about affirmative action, sexual harassment, women in the military, and a host of other topics. For all these reasons, gender is a “hot” topic—in everyday conversations, on talk shows, and in popular books. Gender is also a hot topic among scientists. It has long been the focus of a veritable cottage industry of empirical research in the social and biological sciences. And after decades of concerted effort, scientists now have a lot to say about the causes and consequences of gender. The book you are about to read— Gender, Nature, and Nurture—presents a straightforward and accessible summary of scientific findings on gender. It offers a balanced, fair-minded account of what science currently does and does not know about the behavior of males and females, and it describes the major theories that attempt to explain gender differences, gender similarities, and gender variations. Because Gender, Nature, and Nurture is, on one level, a “primer” of gender research, it is ideally suited for classes on the psychology of women, the psychology of men, sex roles, and gender. It can also serve as a stimulating accompaniment to introductory psychology and critical thinking classes, for it addresses a host of mainstream topics in psychology (personality, social behavior, cognitive abilities, biological psychology, behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology) from the vantage point of a single unifying theme— gender. Students who read the book will exercise their critical thinking skills as they evaluate competing theories and