-few gender differences before early childhood

-preschool notice boys=physically aggressive and girls=relationship aggressive

-both help elevate status of the aggressor

-harms or threats to harm another person through intentionally manipulating peer friendships

-both biology and environment influence this but environment plays a stronger role in who expresses aggression

-studies w/ testosterone in humans show a relationship, but no causal conclusions/ Being agressive does lead to increased levels of testosterone

-parents, teachers, and peers are less tolerant of female physical aggression (boys will be boys, girls should be ladies)

-girls expect more guilt, more peer and parental disapproval, and fewer material gains from aggression than boys do

-most men and women are similarily aggressive

-need to work on operational def of aggression

-if women aren't aggressive, it suggests they are weak and can't defend themselves

-since women arent competitive it keeps them out of highly competitive profession

-makes aggressiveness a norm for men who might otherwise choose to control their frustration and anger

-**environment leads to aggression

-children--> no gender difference

-opposite for adults--> males more likely to help (def in risky situations)

-men and women equally likely to put stamped letter in mailbox (if lost)

-elementary boys start to hide neg. emotions (sadness) and girls hide disappointment (so don't hurt others feelings)

-adolescence girls report more sadness, shame, and guilt (comfortable with expressing feelings) while boys deny expressing feelings

-doesnt help us understand if one sex is more emotional just shows that men and women express different emotions in public

- self report findings: females more empathetic than males

- physiological measures used find no gender differences

- nonverbal expression , no gender differences

-may give inaccurate perception of themselves

-may not adequately explain feelings

-give report researcher what they want to hear

-infants one anger (boy) and one sad (girl)

- discussion of emotions is encouraged in girls and boys taught to control emotions

-gender similarities are found most of time

- both sexes get together and talk

-intimacy most important component for both

-self disclosure;revealing info about oneself to someone else

-females value more physical contact than males

-N. American norm is men not supposed to talk about private feelings with other men

Men talk more than women

-studies in elementary and college classrooms and find similar results. It begins in preschool and goes through adulthood

recorded faculty members in conversation

men spoke more minutes

asked if the perceived the contributions of each person to habe been equitable--> men more often believed they hadnt spoke even though they spoke 58-75%

-studies show that females use more emotional, polite, soothing, and supportive speech

-males use more direct, goal-oriented, and abrupt speech

-speech where you do not know what you are talking about, reduces your expertise/appearance of expertise, makes one less powerful, credible, and persuasive when using it

-women more likely to use b/c less powerful

-Includes uncertainty verbs, hedges, taq questions, and disclaimers

type of tentative speech; not a lot of certainty in speech

ex. It seems that the class will be interesting

-Seem to be apologizing for making an assertion at all

- ex: I kind of feel you should not be upset about this; well, you know, kind of, sort of, maybe

-intonation rises at the end

-Ex: its hot in here, don't you think?; Gass prices are horribe, aren't they?

-studies have found women and men in powerful roles us tag questions to get participation

- in general women have smaller zones than men

- larger space, more status, more power

-tell what other person is feeling; recieveing messages not sending them

- reviews do find that women are better at decoding information

-empathetic accuracy

- William Ickes

- finds that the gender differences only emerge when aware they are being evaluated on empathy, or empathy related gender role expectations are made salient

- similar cognitive ability

-females and males are similar in general intelligence -- IQ tests, general knowledge (history geography, and other basic info)

-different cognitive ability

- includes language skills, vocab, reading, comprehension, writing, spelling, grammar, word fluency

-females score somewhat higher on a small # of verbal tasks although overall differences are small

-parents are more verbal with daughters, expect girls to be better at reading, spelling, english

-area where women excel is studied less than math or spatial abilities

-different cognitive ability

-differences are small but favor males

-in elementary and middle school females perform somewhat better in math classes and males start to perform somewhat better in late adolescence

-different cognitive ability

-including understanding, perceiving, and manipulating shapes and figures

-important in everyday activites, such as playing electronic games, reading road maps, and arranging in a dorm room

-highly sensitive organ, whose only known function is sexual pleasure

-more than twice as many nerve fibers as a penis

-consists of erectile tissue that swells during sexual stimulation