AP Psychology Gender Development Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

🧠 Quick Study Guide: Gender Development

• 👶 Sex vs. Gender: Sex refers to biological characteristics (chromosomes, anatomy), while gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities.
• 🎭 Gender Roles: These are the societal expectations for how men and women should behave, think, and feel. They are culturally influenced and can vary widely.
• 🤔 Gender Identity: This is an individual's deeply held, internal sense of being male, female, both, neither, or somewhere along the gender spectrum. It's distinct from biological sex.
• 💡 Gender Schema Theory (Bem): Proposed by Sandra Bem, this theory suggests that children learn gender roles from their culture and then organize information around gender (schemas). They develop a mental framework for what it means to be male or female.
• 👪 Social Learning Theory (Bandura): This theory posits that gender roles are learned through observation, imitation, and reinforcement. Children observe parents, peers, and media, then imitate gender-typed behaviors that are reinforced.
• 🧬 Biological Influences: Hormones (e.g., androgens, estrogens), genetics, and brain differences can play a role in some gender-typed behaviors and predispositions, though their exact impact is complex and interacts with environmental factors.
• 🗣️ Cognitive Development Theory (Kohlberg): Lawrence Kohlberg suggested children progress through stages of understanding gender:
  • 1️⃣ Gender Identity (2-3 years): Child can label themselves and others as male or female.
  • 2️⃣ Gender Stability (3-4 years): Child understands gender is stable over time (e.g., a boy will grow into a man).
  • 3️⃣ Gender Constancy (4-7 years): Child understands gender is constant across situations and external changes (e.g., a boy wearing a dress is still a boy).
• 🌍 Cultural Impact: Gender roles, expectations, and expressions are not universal; they vary significantly across different cultures and historical periods, highlighting the strong influence of nurture.

📝 Practice Quiz: Gender Development

1. Which concept refers to an individual's internal sense of being male, female, both, or neither?

1. Gender role
2. Biological sex
3. Gender identity
4. Sexual orientation

2. According to Social Learning Theory, how do children primarily acquire gender roles?

1. Through innate biological predispositions
2. By observing and imitating others, followed by reinforcement
3. Through a series of cognitive stages of gender understanding
4. By developing mental frameworks (schemas) for gender information

3. A child who believes that a boy wearing a dress temporarily becomes a girl has not yet achieved which aspect of gender understanding?

1. Gender identity
2. Gender stability
3. Gender constancy
4. Gender schema

4. Sandra Bem's Gender Schema Theory primarily emphasizes the role of what in gender development?

1. Hormonal influences
2. Observational learning and reinforcement
3. Cognitive frameworks for organizing gender information
4. Parental disciplinary styles

5. Which of the following best describes the difference between 'sex' and 'gender'?

1. Sex is determined by societal expectations, while gender is biological.
2. Sex refers to biological characteristics, while gender refers to socially constructed roles and identities.
3. They are interchangeable terms with no significant difference.
4. Sex is about sexual attraction, while gender is about biological classification.

6. Societal expectations for how men and women should behave are known as:

1. Gender identities
2. Gender schemas
3. Gender roles
4. Sexual orientations

7. Which of Kohlberg's stages of gender understanding typically develops first?

1. Gender constancy
2. Gender stability
3. Gender identity
4. Gender schema