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Emma Watson and her UN speech about gender equality

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Emma Watson and her UN speech about gender equality

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'Men are insensitive'

'Women are bad drivers'

'All men love sports and sex '

'All women love shopping and gossiping'

How often have we heard these comments in our culture? Some people may feel angry when gender based comments are made, while others may agree to these comments as genuine differences between the sexes or some others may just crackle up seeing the lighter side of this battle between the sexes.

Difference between 'sex' and 'gender'

How then do we understand the important issue of sex and gender? Women's and men's gender identities follow from their specific female or male bodies. We need the distinction between "sex" as a biological category - genes, hormones, external and internal genitalia and "gender" as a socio-cultural word - learned characteristics, cultural expectations and behavioural patterns. This helps account for differences in the notion of 'masculinity' and 'femininity' in different cultures over time and space. The different views of how men and women behave in different cultures show that gender difference and identity is given not only by our biology but also from the views of our society. Gender views may change, while being male or female doesn't.

Common gender stereotypes in our culture

Let's examine what acting like a man and being ladylike means in our society and what might be some gender stereotypes in the Indian culture:

'It's a boy!', says the nurse and from then on, subtle stereotyping begins. Conscious and unconscious motives of having the family race continue through him bring joy. Guns and cars are bought for him, preferably blue and never pink! While growing up, if he cries he will be told 'don't cry like a girl!' He perhaps learns to suppress his emotions as he thinks it is 'girlish' to express them. It's likely that he'd be encouraged to act strong, to act brave, to be tough etc. Developing the 'right male interests' like sports, taking care of the outside work, managing money, learning to ride/drive, fixing the bulb etc. will most likely be encouraged in him. He would perhaps be discouraged from cooking and serving. He is likely to have fewer restrictions while going out. While choosing a career, he would be encouraged to be ambitious. He is likely to be discouraged from choosing careers like teaching, counselling etc. as they are seen to be 'softer' career options meant for girls. The question of balancing home & family could may not arise for him as it is assumed that his gender defines his primary role as bread winner.

On the other hand, if the nurse says 'It's a girl!', the equations tend to change from that minute. Her room is perhaps decorated with the supposed feminine colour pink and dolls are bought for her. In many communities in India, she could be considered inferior to a boy child. Conscious and unconscious motives of some day 'giving her away' and 'saving for her dowry/marriage expenses' may bring despair. While growing up, she will be allowed to cry and express herself emotionally. 'Good manners' like talking & laughing gently and not loudly, being delicate, being submissive to elders, not 'fighting like boys', being sacrificial, caring etc. is most likely to be taught to her. Developing the 'right interests' like cooking, dancing, singing, tiding up the house, serving etc. will most likely be encouraged in her. She may not be encouraged to go out as often as her brother and is likely to have many more restrictions. While choosing a career, she is likely to be discouraged from choosing careers such as civil services or defence services as she will not be able to 'balance' family & home later on. It is most often assumed that her gender would define her role & function at home as primarily home maker and mother.

Research on gender stereotypes

Perhaps gender stereotypes are a result of 'nurture' more than 'nature', as suggested by many research studies on this subject. A recent research study suggests that differences between individual girls or between individual boys are much greater than those between the "average" girl and the "average" boy. Yet we tend to generalize from the "average" girl or boy to individuals.

In our culture, the ideal male is perhaps seen as competent, stable, tough, confident, strong, accomplished, non-conforming, aggressive and is the leader. The ideal female is perhaps seen as warm, emotional, kind, polite, sensitive, friendly, fashionable, gentle, soft and is the follower. In urban contexts, these gender expectations and stereotypes could be more subtle and indirect.

Research also shows that these stereotypes create dangerous consequences that limit a person's full potential and well being. Men and women, because of these stereotypes, are forced to ignore their personality traits, temperament and unique characteristics that make them who they are. Instead there is always a tendency to conform to the cultural notions of 'masculinity' and 'femininity'.

There may be several men who are soft & gentle in their temperament, who love to cook and are often bombarded by our society for not being charismatic and extroverted. On the other hand, there may be several women who are naturally extroverted, brave and tough and they are bombarded by our society for not being gentle & submissive.

Also, the tendency to over generalize 'that all men are from mars' and 'all women are from venus' is all too common. Exaggerated differences between men & women, most of which are researched to be individual differences, are glorified and generalized as gender differences. The nature-nurture debate still continues as to the definitions of masculinity and femininity.

In his book, 'Men are from earth and women are from earth', G Soh challenges stereotypes and proves that there are more similarities than differences between men & women, even anatomically. Men & women have the same desires, wants, dreams and fears.

Going behind the layers of gender

Somehow, in all this chaos, our real self is often lost. Many of us realize this but wonder how to get out of these boxes that seem to be so deeply ingrained in us. We know we have the power to decide what makes sense for us, even if it requires us to look beyond our gender.

Perhaps the best way we can bring about change in our society is by becoming aware of our own biases and stereotypes in the way we see ourselves and others. Psychologists suggest that every human being has both masculine and feminine parts to themselves and the integration of both these parts lead to psychological wellbeing and balance.

If you'd like to think and brainstorm more about this subject, consider the following questions:

Who decides and defines 'masculinity' and 'femininity'?

How much of a role do both nature and nurture play in the above definitions?

Does gender define roles and functions at home, workplace & community?

Are there inborn traits in men or women that predispose them to make better or worse leaders?

Are both boys and girls intellectually gifted? Are some subjects or fields the preserve of one sex, which the others cannot aspire to?

Can the culturally defined roles of husband & wife be shared, interchanged and adjustable?

We'd like to hear your thoughts on this subject, feel free to post a comment or get to know more about us.

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'Men are insensitive' 'Women are bad drivers' 'All men love sports and sex ' 'All women love shopping and gossiping' How often have we heard these comments in our culture?

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Chloe Moretz heads out of The Nice Guy with a gal pal late last month in West Hollywood, Calif.

The 19-year-old actress made it a girl's night out after returning from Europe. Singer Pia Mia was also spotted at the venue.
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Chloe Moretz
Speaking with mag ( which she covers), Chloe opened up about seeking out roles that are blasting stereotypes.

"With movies like Kick-Ass, Carrie, and Let Me In, I was able to push boundaries at a really young age...now that I'm able to get projects funded, curate scripts, and make movies, it means a lot to me to go against gender norms," she shared.

Chloe added, "My biggest thing now is making gender-equalizing movies, where you can put a male actor or a female actor in that role, and it would work the same way."

10+ pictures inside of Chloe Moretz and Pia Mia out at The Nice Guy...

Sponsored Links by ZergNet

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Chloe Moretz Opens Up About Going Against Gender Norms in Movies

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Chloe Moretz Opens Up About Going Against Gender Norms in Movies Chloe Moretz heads out of The Nice Guy with a gal pal late last month in West Hollywood, Calif. The 19-year-old actress made it a girl's night out after returning...

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The Past, Present and Future of Gender Norms

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Will continuing to challenge gender norms and document their harmful impacts lead to their extinction - or evolution?

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"Be a man," "suck it up," and "don't cry" are only a few phrases handpicked from a plentiful basket of ego-damaging constructions built into today's society. Reinforcing rhetoric that feminizes emotional expression and masculinizes violence has the power to stunt empathy, drive dominance, and connect respect with fear. Boys are born loving creatures, but at a very young age they are taught the traits, diminutive language, and mindset that aligns them with society's concept of what it means to be a man.

The United States has designed an unrealistic definition of American masculinity. Every single day, there is a boy who feels inferior because he is unable to fit the standard. For some that manage to, it is only an exhaustive façade covering the truth of his likes, dislikes, emotions, priorities, and passions - he is constantly putting on a show for the rest of society. In the case of young boys, this happens in school, the ultimate microcosm of our country. School is a time in a child's life when he postures himself by finding a group of friends, a favorite class subject, sports, hobbies, and musical preferences. Ultimately, it's a time to discover who he is in the world.

Feminism only speaks of one lopsided perspective in the gender inequality story. There is a common misconception that men are a gender exempt from burdening expectations, stereotypes, and societal pressures; free from glass ceilings and slut shaming. But in truth, boys may be faced with a force entirely different, more complicated, and more painful - being told to fit into a hyper masculine and misogynistic mold. They must mask their emotions. If boys have a natural love for art, theatre, or singing they are immediately categorized, boxed up, and put on a shelf where children are called "gay" and "fag."

"There were perceptions about males in theatre and up until about 10th grade - I was a pretty quiet kid," 26-year-old Thomas Policastro of Long Island, N.Y. told Medical Daily. "I was hit with a couple of mocking jabs along the lines of 'real men don't do drama' in grades 7 and 8."

Policastro reflects back to middle school and high school theatre, when kids brought their stereotyping jabs along with their book bags to school. But he attributes his happy childhood to being surrounded by an accepting support system of family and friends who disregarded the ridicule. It's difficult to tease someone who doesn't care for the negative and embraces the positive.

The Battle for Boy Belongingness

No one can fault a child for walking school halls burdened by the natural desire to fit in, feel accepted, and be well-liked. Both the failure and success of trying to fit the mold of this male illusion can be linked to bullying, high male suicide rates, and even sexism. Cultivating a sense of belongingness among boys is the psychological fertilizer that grows gangs, cliques, and tightly knit friendships all the way into adulthood. It's the reason why the school cafeteria is the center for socialization, where who you sit with reflects the group you fit into.

Barbara Williams, who holds a master's degree in counseling psychology and mothers three boys aged 18, 15, and 12, recalls a memorable lunchroom experience with her youngest son: "In the beginning of the school year, Ethan was pushed off the school lunch bench by a boy from his basketball team and told he wasn't cool enough to sit there anymore. He didn't tell me for over a month. Then the boy shoved him very hard on the basketball court. Ethan told the coach and then it all came pouring out. What hurt him the most was that his friends didn't say anything or stand up to the bully."

Previous research looking into patterns of social bullying - also called relational aggression - among both boys and girls found that boys engaged in mean verbal behavior in attempts to exclude the target from the social group. It also found they were more physically aggressive than girls, which is no surprise. Harming others through damaging or manipulating relationships is often more derimental to a boy's self-esteem, whether it's done verbally, or by physically shoving the child out of the group.

It turns out that the boy who shoved Ethan is the youngest of nine, and comes from a long line of bullies. After his parents divorced, he was raised by a father with a history of getting kicked out of sporting events. Williams recognizes that "anger and anxiety don't just pop out of the blue." They come "from somewhere, whether it's problems at home or school."

This isn't a story about bullying, however; bullying is only a mask boys wear. It represents a long-held lineage of teaching aggressive and powerful patterns born out of the emotional silence, according to the widely read parenting book Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. Society needs to transform into one that provides role models who show boys emotion doesn't equate to weakness, and exerting dominance leads to fear rather than respect.

A Gender of Silence

They are the aggressors, the ones who slam fists against lockers and have fights on the school bus. We're raising large groups of the human population to lock themselves within their anger, and it isn't long before they become prisoners to it. We can break these barriers down easily; a dad who cries during a sad movie or recognizes the beauty of a flower teaches his son that it's okay to be sensitive, Williams said. She also points out, of course, that not everyone has a father. Those circumstances are when uncles, grandfathers, coaches, and teachers need to step in and recognize their responsibility to show that child a healthy model of masculinity.

"The problem we see with boys - they don't have an emotional literacy," Williams said. "They say 'I'm angry' or nothing at all. They don't have the tools to express exactly what they're feeling, and we created that problem as a collective society. Parents and schools need to take part in promoting self-expression."

That verbal expression, of course, should start with the parents. One study found mothers may be the best initiators of this emotional literacy, since they tend to use more emotional words with their children than fathers. However, they're also more likely to use those words in conversations with their daughters and not their sons. Changing this, so that mothers can talk to their sons in the same way, could teach boys how to express themselves without fear.

Teaching boys empathy and emotional awareness will help them navigate through social traumas as children and teenagers, which will equip them for the pressures they're bound to face in adulthood. Williams said her school district has already made great strides in encouraging both boys and girls to confront their emotions through the anti-bully, anti-drug, and anti-drinking and driving video lessons they're exposed to as early as sixth grade.

Without an outlet or opportunity to foster healthy emotional expression, any child, boy or girl, can be left with dead ends and a deafening sense of loneliness. Every day, at least three boys commit suicide in the U.S., according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Males dominate suicide statistics and it is no coincidence they are the gender more likely to suppress emotions. They resort to violence or extreme behaviors, desperate to express themselves, yet unable to fit the stereotype of what it means to be "a real man." The frustration can quickly build, fester, and ultimately manifest into shame and humiliation.

On the other side of the coin, girls are also hurting. Boys may have more successful suicide attempts, but girls resort to less lethal avenues, with pills and self-mutilation. We constantly search for ways to improve misconceptions on gender, but feminism has monopolized the podium. Women publicize their unhappiness with gender inequalities because they have been given the tools to weave together beautiful, expressive words. But who will stand up and speak for our boys? It's time we did something about it.

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Male Gender Stereotypes Are Ruining Boys' Futures

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"Be a man," "suck it up," and "don't cry" are only a few phrases handpicked from a plentiful basket of ego-damaging constructions built into today's society. Reinforcing rhetoric that feminizes emotional expression and masculinizes violence has the power to stunt empathy, drive dominance, and connect respect with fear.

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Traditional gender roles have existed in human societies for thousands of years. Many cultures have restricted women's roles to focus on children and the household. It was not believed women needed education or to be involved in public life. Thankfully, that's changed. Plenty of women throughout history have bucked the norms and defied gender roles to leave behind impressive legacies and history. The 25 women in this list (nowhere near complete - there are thousands of women who deserve to be here) were extraordinary for their times. Whether it be effectively ruling over the Roman Empire, pushing forward the boundaries of cytogenetics, or actively participating on countless battlefield, these women were pioneers and changed the hearts and minds of those around them. By refusing to accept traditional norms of what a woman should or shouldn't do, they started dismantling the gender roles they so arduously fought against. Derive some inspiration from these 25 women who defied gender roles and made history.

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25 Women Who Defied Gender Roles and Made History

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Traditional gender roles have existed in human societies for thousands of years. Many cultures have restricted women's roles to focus on children and the household. It was not believed women needed education or to be involved in public life. Thankfully, that's changed.

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Gender Role Facts: Proving they are unnecessary

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Gender Role Facts: Proving they are unnecessary

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Remember the good old days when men were men and women were women? You know, when the manliest of men wore their hair long and curly with their best high heels.

Oh, maybe you were imagining a slightly different picture of modern gender? Consider the earring. Associated exclusively with women for about 200 years, guys have recently started to reclaim them. "In the last two decades," Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told The Huffington Post, "men have gotten in touch with their inner pirate."

While there are real biological differences between the sexes, gender is generally considered to be a social construction -- it can be pretty much whatever we want it to be, and we've wanted it to be a lot of things over the years. Below, find some ways our perception of gender presentation has already changed from the past to present.

Pink used to be a "boy color" and blue a "girl color," and before that every baby just wore white.

Not so long ago, parents dressed their babies in white dresses -- due to the fact they could be bleached -- until about age six. Yes, even the boys.

Pastels came into style when a 1918 retail trade publication attempted to nail down the rules: pink for boys and blue for girls. "Being a more decided and stronger color, [pink] is more suitable for the boy," the article stated, "while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." Whether or not people listened (and blatantly sexist rationale aside), they at least seemed to accept a much wider variety of color options for their infants until sometime around 1940, University of Maryland historian Jo B. Paoletti notes, when preferences switched to the color divide we're familiar with today.

High heels were originally created for men and seen as "masculine" for a century.

Persian soldiers wore high-heeled shoes in the name of necessity when riding horseback, since shooting an arrow from a saddle was easier with a heel to secure the foot in its strap. As the European elite became fascinated with the unfamiliar culture, men adopted the horsemen's masculine footwear for their own (totally impractical) use around 1600. After the (gasp!) lower classes began sporting heeled footwear, the leisure class responded as only they could -- by making the heel higher.

But when women began adopting the style as well, men's shoe heels became stockier and shorter, while women's became thinner and higher. "Most of the time," Steele told HuffPost, "when something begins to be associated with the feminine, it gets kind of 'contaminated' for men." By the end of the 18th century, she noted, men were over the whole heeled shoe thing. If only they could've looked past the gender divide, they'd have seen a way to longer-looking legs and a perkier butt.

At one time, secretaries and schoolteachers were all guys.

The term "women's work" is based on the idea that women are intrinsically less qualified for all but certain roles in the workforce; but what those roles are, exactly, has changed a bit over time. At the turn of the last century, an estimated 85 percent of clerical jobs were filled by men earning twice the salary of their female counterparts. These men usually used the job as an entry-level managerial position in their climb up the white-collar ladder.

As more women entered the workforce, the field began to shift. But female secretaries rarely made the jump from office peon to executive, and a "secretary" came to look like the smartly dressed girls we see on "Mad Men." Around the same time, teaching schoolchildren was also a male-dominated profession, until the work became "feminized" and men backed away, slowly, into the bushes.

Lace used to be manly. And womanly. So long as you were upper-class.

Much like the high-heeled shoe, lace was popularized in the European market around the 16th century as a status marker, Steele told HuffPost. The stuff was so intricately crafted that just an inch and a half of Valenciennes lace (one particularly labor-intensive variety) took 14 hours to produce -- and it came with a price to match.

It was acceptable for men to wear lace through the 18th century, Steele explained, but the style died out around the 19th century. "A lot of decoration in clothing was interpreted as meaning 'aristocratic, upper class'" she explained, "and it becomes redefined around 1800 as meaning 'feminine.'" The same goes for the business of shopping for clothing fabric. "Men shopped quite happily for clothing right through the 18th century," she explained.

Even men used to cry when they wanted to seem sincere.

A man's stoicism has always been a point of pride, up there with biceps and ability to drink his weight in beer -- right? Nope.

"Tearlessness," wrote historian Tom Lutz, "has not been the standard of manliness through most of history." Although men may be biologically inclined against crying, the act has been used over centuries by both genders to signify sincerity, pleasure or even heroism. Odysseus cries throughout the Iliad. Jean-Jacque Rousseau, Lutz wrote, considered crying part of our natural state. In the 18th century, crying was so normalized and even expected that "if you didn't cry at the theatre ... you were some kind of lower class boor," he told the Orange County Register. Even American hero Abraham Lincoln cried at certain moments during his public speeches.

Cheerleading started out as a boys' club, because it was too "masculine" for girls.

"The reputation of having been a valiant 'cheer-leader' is one of the most valuable things a boy can take away from college," reads a 1911 article in The Nation. Similar to actually playing collegiate sports, leading cheers for the team helped prepare students for leadership roles later in life, argued Mary Ellen Hanson in her history of American cheerleading.

The first cheerleader is said to be University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell, who convinced the crowd to follow his chanting lead during an 1898 game. His legacy was carried on by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan -- all cheerleaders. It wasn't until the 1920s and 1930s that women were really included (and not until the 1960s that it became female-dominated) since the sport was previously deemed too "masculine" for them, helping develop powerful, unladylike voices. Plus, they'd hear too much cursing hanging around all those manly male cheerleaders.

Respectable dudes used to wear their hair long, too.

It wasn't just a Beatles shag, either -- the Merovingian kings of the early Middle Ages in Europe rocked long locks, and many others at the time followed suit. Men of the lowest classes, however, wore short hair or were made to shave it completely as a symbol of their low status.

Later on, 17th century men began wearing long wigs. Sure, it could have been because tons of people had syphilis, causing their hair to fall out in embarrassing patches, but long, thick hair became a status symbol anyway. King Louis XIV was particularly known for wearing a wig with rich, wavy tresses that were the envy of all the land, probably.

Both men and women can get kind of baby-crazy -- it just happens to men later in life.

Research by two Kansas State University psychologists in 2011 found that the urge to procreate -- often known as "baby fever" -- is strongest in women at younger ages, and decreases as they age. For men, however, likelihood of baby fever increases with age. "It's like men and women are converging over time," one of the researchers told LiveScience. "Gender role norms didn't do much as far as explaining people's desire to have a baby."

Results of a 2013 survey of 81 women and 27 men in Britain suggested that while men were slightly less likely to express desire for children, they were more likely to feel depressed, jealous, or angry if they didn't have any.

The art of brewing beer was pioneered by women.

Yes, the manliest man drink for manly men was primarily brewed, according to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, by the ladies. Brewing beer was seen as a domestic chore for much of history, like making bread and other things that came from grain, until the economy shifted into an industrial-based one and commercial breweries (run by men) took off. As a sad side effect, unique regional brews died out as large-scale production limited available varieties of beer.

There's even a word, likely originating during the 12th century, for female brewers: "brewster."

All photos via Getty.

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9 Facts That Prove Traditional Definitions Of Gender Roles Are Bullsh*t

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Remember the good old days when men were men and women were women? You know, when the manliest of men wore their hair long and curly with their best high heels. Oh, maybe you were imagining a slightly different picture of modern gender? Consider the earring.

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Express your opinion about gender roles and whether or not they need to exist. Do they serve a useful purpose or are they just stereotypes?

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Women in Film - A (sort of) Response to Jack Howard

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After seeing the new Studio Ghibli film, When Marnie Was There (in cinemas now), I got thinking about how the portrayal of women in film affects the number of women making films and decided to respond to Jack Howard's interview with Jodie Foster on this very topic. Here are my thoughts!

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Alice Eagly (1987) offers yet another explanation of gender development that is based on socialization. Eagly's social role theory suggests that the sexual division of labor and societal expectations based on stereotypes produce gender roles. Eagly (1987) distinguishes between the communal and agentic dimensions of gender-stereotyped characteristics.

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Credit: dreamstime

When playing with their toddlers, fathers are more assertive while mothers are more compliant, a new study found. These differences could help ingrain gender stereotypes in children early on, the researchers said.

Psychologists observed 80 sets of parents interacting with their young children in two situations: a 15-minute play session with toys in the lab, and a 10-minute snack break where parents fed kids cheese, crackers and raisins. All sessions were videotaped, and scientists later coded the interactions to calculate how often certain types of behaviors occurred.

The researchers found that both fathers and mothers acted very similarly during snack time, which the scientists dubbed "caregiving sessions." However, when parents played with books and toys with their kids, the researchers noted a marked difference between the way that fathers interacted with children and how mothers interacted with kids.

"Fathers model higher levels of instrumental and assertive behavior, whereas mothers model higher levels of facilitative or cooperative behavior," wrote the researchers, led by Eric W. Lindsey of Penn State Berks University in Pennsylvania, in a paper published June 2 in the journal Sex Roles.

For example, fathers issued more imperatives (such as "Put the toy in the bag") and polite commands ("Why don't you try pushing that") than mothers, while mothers gave more play leads, such as "Wanna look at the book?" or "Let's see what's in this bag."

"In their responses to children's initiations mothers were more likely to comply than fathers, whereas fathers were more likely to reject or ignore children than mothers," the researchers wrote.

The children in the study were all between 15 and 18 months old. Interestingly, in both situations the researchers noted no differences in the ways the children acted based on their gender.

The scientists suspect the parent gender differences occurred only during play time, and not in the caregiving sessions, because all parents were more assertive during snack time.

"Children were more involved in determining the direction of interaction during the play context, whereas parents were more 'in charge' during the caregiving context," the psychologists wrote. "Thus, it appears that even at a very young age both girls and boys are sensitive to contextual differences in interactional settings and adjust their behavior according to [the] nature of the situation."

Ultimately, these subtle gender differences between how mothers and fathers act could be imparting important lessons to children about what it means to be male and female. The kids might pick up on the fact that daddies are more assertive and mommies are more passive and incorporate that into their own behavior over time.

"Such differences may teach children indirect lessons about gender roles and reinforced gender typed patterns of behavior that they then carry into contexts outside of the family," the researchers wrote.

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When playing with their toddlers, fathers are more assertive while mothers are more compliant, a new study found. These differences could help ingrain gender stereotypes in children early on, the researchers said. Psychologists observed 80 sets of parents interacting with their young children in two situations: a 15-minute play session with toys in the lab, and a 10-minute snack break where parents fed kids cheese, crackers and raisins.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The self-schema refers to a long lasting and stable set of memories that summarize a person's beliefs, experiences and generalizations about the self, in specific behavioral domains.[1] A person may have a self-schema based on any aspect of themselves as a person, including physical characteristics (body image), personality traits and interests, as long as they consider that aspect of their self to be important to their own self-definition. When someone has a schema about themselves they hyper focus on a trait about themselves and believe what they say to themselves about that specific trait. A self schema can be good or bad depending on what that person talks to themselves about and in what kind of tone.

For example, someone will have a self-schema of extroversion if they think of themselves as extroverted and also believe that their extroversion is central to who they are. Their self-schema for extroversion may include general self-categorizations ("I am sociable."), beliefs about how they would act in certain situations ("At a party I would talk to lots of people") and also memories of specific past events ("On my first day at university I made lots of new friends").

The term schematic describes having a particular schema for a particular dimension. For instance, a person in a rock band at night would have a "rocker" schema. However, during the day, if he works as a salesperson, he would have a "salesperson" schema during that period of time. Schemas vary according to cultural background[2] and other environmental factors.[3]

Once people have developed a schema about themselves, there is a strong tendency for that schema to be maintained by a bias in what they attend to, in what they remember, and in what they are prepared to accept as true about themselves.[citation needed ] In other words, the self-schema becomes self-perpetuating. The self-schema is then stored in long-term memory, which both facilitates and biases the processing of personally relevant information.[4] Individuals who form a self-schema of a person with good exercise habits will then in return exercise more frequently.[5]

Self-schemas vary from person to person because each individual has very different social and cultural life experiences. A few examples of self-schemas are: exciting or dull; quiet or loud; healthy or sickly; athletic or nonathletic; lazy or active; and geek or jock. If a person has a schema for " geek or jock," for example, he might think of himself as a bit of a computer geek and would possess a lot of information about that trait. Because of this, he would probably interpret many situations based on relevance to his being a computer geek.

Another person with the " healthy or sickly" schema might consider themselves a very health conscious person. Their concern with being healthy would then affect everyday decisions such as what groceries they buy, what restaurants they frequent, or how often they exercise. Women who are schematic on appearance exhibited worse body image, lower self-esteem, and more negative mood than did those who are aschematic on appearance.[6]

The term aschematic means not having a schema for a particular dimension. This usually occurs when people are not involved with or concerned about a certain attribute. For example, if a person plans on being a musician, a self-schema in aeronautics will not apply to him; he is aschematic on aeronautics.

Childhood creation

Early in life, we are exposed to the idea of the self from our parents and other figures. We begin to take on a very basic self-schema, which is mostly limited to a "good child" or "bad child" schema-that is, we see ourselves in unambiguously positive or negative terms.[7] It is in childhood that we begin to offer explanations for our actions, which reasoning creates the more complicated concept of the self: a child will begin to believe that the self caused their behaviors, deciding on what motivations to offer as explanations of behavior.[7]

Most people have multiple self-schemas, however this is not the same as multiple personalities in the pathological sense. Indeed, for the most part, multiple self-schemas are extremely useful to people in daily life. Subconsciously, they help people make rapid decisions and behave efficiently and appropriately in different situations and with different people. Multiple self-schemas guide what people attend to and how people interpret and use incoming information. They also activate specific cognitive, verbal, and behavioral action sequences - called scripts and action plans in cognitive psychology - that help people meet goals efficiently. Self-schemas vary not only by circumstances and who the person is interacting with, but also by mood. Researchers found that we have mood-congruent self-schemas that vary with our emotional state.[8]

The self's relationship with and understanding of the body is an important part of self-schema. Body schema is a general term that has multiple definitions in various disciplines. Generally, it refers to a person's concept of his or her own body, where it is in space, what it looks like, how it is functioning, etc.

Our body image is part of our self-schema. The body image includes the following:[9]

The perceptual experience of the body

The conceptual experience of the body-what we have been told and believe about our body, including scientific information, hearsay, myth, etc.

The emotional attitude towards the body

Our body schemata may transcend the realities of what our bodies actually are-or in other words, we may have a different mental picture of our bodies than what they physically are. This is evidenced when individuals who lose limbs have phantom limb sensations.[10] Individuals who lose a limb may still feel like they have that limb. They may even feel in that limb sensations from other limbs.

An example of someone having a self schema or belief, is if someone has a contorted belief of what their body looks like which can lead to body dysmorphia. If they think of themselves as or have been told that they are "too fat," or "too skinny," they will believe that. They will also believe that this contorted version of themselves is actually them. People who possess this self schema might tell themselves negative things to make them feel bad about themselves.

Individuals afflicted with both physical and mental illness have more negative self-schemata. This has been documented in patients suffering from such illnesses as depression and irritable bowel syndrome. Sufferers tend to identify themselves with their illness, unconsciously associating the negative traits of the illness itself with themselves.

1. ^ Markus, Hazel (1977). "Self-schemata and processing information about the self". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 35 (2): 63-78. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.2.63. ISSN 1939-1315.

2. ^ Ramírez-Esparza, N., Chung, C. K., Sierra-Otero, G., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2012). Cross-cultural constructions of self-schemas: Americans and Mexicans. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(2), 233-250.

3. ^ Leite, C., & Kuiper, N. A. (2010). Positive and negative self-worth beliefs and evaluative standards. Revista De Psihologie, 56(3-4), 219-230.

4. ^ Petersen, L., Stahlberg, D., & Dauenheimer, D. (2000). Effects of self-schema elaboration on affective and cognitive reactions to self-relevant information. Genetic, Social, And General Psychology Monographs, 126(1), 25-42.

5. ^ Banting, L. K., Dimmock, J. A., & Lay, B. S. (2009). The role of implicit and explicit components of exerciser self-schema in the prediction of exercise behaviour. Psychology Of Sport And Exercise, 10(1), 80-86.

6. Jahee, J, & Lennon, S.J. (2003). Body Image, Appearance Self-Schema, and Media Images. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 32, Retrieved March 3, 2009, from ^ "Body Image, Appearance Self-Schema, and Media Images -- Jung and Lennon 32 (1): 27 -- Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal". Archived from the original on 2009-04-27.

7. ^ a Blakeslee, Thomas R (1996). Beyond the conscious mind: Unlocking the secrets of the self. New York, NY: Plenum Publishing Corporation. pp. 19. ISBN 0-306-45262-6. b

8. ^ Brown, Jonathon D., and Shelley E. Taylor. "Affect and the Processing of Personal Information: Evidence for Mood-Activated Self-Schemata." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 22 (1986): 436-452.

9. Gallagher, Shaun (1995). Body schema and intentionality. In N. Eilan, A. Marcel, & J. L. Bermudez (Eds.), ^ The body and the self. (1-28). USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

10. Altabe, M. & Thompson, J. K. (1996). Body image: a cognitive self-schema construct. ^ Cognitive therapy and research, 20(2), 171-193.

Wilderdom, (2003 Oct 21). Role of schemas in personality. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from Wilderdom - a project in natural living & transformation Web site: http://wilderdom.com/personality/L11-1RoleOfSchemasInPersonality.html

Kristin Valentino, Dante Cicchetti, Fred A Rogosch, Sheree L Toth. (2008). True and false recall and dissociation among maltreated children: The role of self-schema. Development and Psychopathology, 20(1), 213-32. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1601417001).

Cervone, D., & Pervin, L. (2008) Personality Theory and Research. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. (2008). Social Psychology Seventh Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Bartoli, Angela (2008, Jan. 14). Self schema. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from Angela M. Bartolli, Psychology Web site: http://webspace.ship.edu/ambart/PSY_220/selfschemaol.htm

3-S, (2003). What is a self-schema?. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from The Spiritual Self-Schema Development Program Web site: https://medicine.yale.edu/spiritualselfschema/

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Toggle the table of contents From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The self-schema refers to a long lasting and stable set of memories that summarize a person's beliefs, experiences and generalizations about the self, in specific behavioral domains.[1] A person may have a self-schema based on any aspect of themselves as a person, including physical characteristics (body image), personality traits and interests, as long as they consider that aspect of their self to be important to their own self-definition.

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Explained really well!

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You must have javascript enabled to view this website. Please change your browser preferences to enable javascript, and reload this page. Gender Roles and Gender Differences

In addition to the influence on gender behaviors of biological factors, there are four principle psychological explanations of gender-linked behavior patterns: Freudian theory's process of identification, cognitive social learning theory, gender-schema theory, and Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory. The process by which children acquire the values, motives, and behaviors viewed as appropriate for males and females within a culture is called gender typing. Children develop gender-based beliefs, largely on the basis of gender stereotypes; the latter are reflected in gender roles. Children adopt a gender identity early in life and develop gender-role preferences as well. GENDER-ROLE STANDARDS AND STEREOTYPES Both within and across different cultures we find great consistency in standards of desirable gender-role behavior. Males are expected to be independent, assertive, and competitive; females are expected to be more passive, sensitive, and supportive. These beliefs have changed little over the past twenty years within the United States and apparently around the world as well. There is some variation in cultural gender-role standards both within the United States and across cultures, however. Within the United States, standards vary depending on ethnicity, age, education, and occupation. For example, African American families are less likely to adhere to strict gender-role distinctions when socializing their children, whereas Mexican-American families are more likely to highlight gender differences. Divergence between cultures is also clearly seen in Margaret Mead's study of differences between three primitive tribes. In two tribes both men and women displayed what the Western world considers to be either feminine or masculine characteristics. In a third tribe the genders reversed the traditional Western roles. However, even within groups, individual differences in the strength of stereotypes often outweigh group characteristics. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT Of the many presumed differences between the behaviors of males and females, some are real, some are found only inconsistently, and some are wholly mythical. Girls are more physically and neurologically advanced at birth. Boys have more mature muscular development but are more vulnerable to disease and hereditary anomalies. Girls excel early in verbal skills, but boys excel in visual-spatial and math skills. Boys' superior mathematic abilities, however, reflect only a better grasp of geometry, which depends on visual-spatial abilities. Boys are more aggressive, and girls more nurturant. Boys have more reading, speech, and emotional problems than girls.More equivocal are gender differences in activity level, dependency, timidity, exploratory activity, and vulnerability to stress. There are no gender differences in sociability, conformity, achievement, self-esteem, or verbal hostility.Although differences exist, it is important to remember that the overlap between the distributions is always greater than the differences between them. In addition, noting the existence of the differences does not tell us why they exist. It is clear that girls and boys have many different experiences and opportunities as they develop, which may lead to divergent outcomes or highlight existing differences. Developmental Patterns of Gender Typing Children develop gender-typed patterns of behavior and preferences as early as age 15 to 36 months. Girls tend to conform less strictly to gender-role stereotypes than do boys, possibly because there is greater pressure from parents and teachers for boys to adhere to the masculine role. Girls may also imitate the male role because it has greater status and privilege in our culture. Although some boys and girls receive support for cross-gender behavior, most are encouraged to behave according to traditional stereotypes. Stability of Gender Typing A longitudinal study found that adult heterosexual behavior could be predicted from gender-typed interests in elementary school. Greater stability was found when a characteristic was related to culturally accepted standards; culturally nontraditional childhood behaviors tended to emerge in divergent forms in adulthood. Thus gender-typed interests tended to remain stable from childhood to maturity.Research indicates that gender roles fluctuate across the life course as adults change to meet the demands of new situations and circumstances, such as childrearing. Whatever their roles up to this point, women tend to show more expressive characteristics in parenthood and men more instrumental characteristics. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN GENDER DIFFERENCES Hormones, Social Behavior, and Cognitive Skills Biological factors that are thought to shape gender differences include hormones and lateralization of brain function. Hormones may organize a biological predisposition to be masculine or feminine during the prenatal period, and the increase in hormones during puberty may activate that predisposition. In addition, social experiences may alter the levels of hormones, such as testosterone. Brain Lateralization and Gender Differences Gender differences in the organization of the brain may be reflected in the greater lateralization of brain functioning in males, which may help explain male success at spatial and math skills. It may also explain female tendencies to be more flexible than males and to withstand injury to the brain more effectively. Biology and Cultural Expectations Androgenized female fetuses may become girls who behave more like boys and have more traditionally male interests. Such girls are also better at visual-spatial tasks than other girls. However, environmental factors are also influential in boys and girls developing nontraditional gender-based abilities and interests. COGNITIVE FACTORS IN GENDER DIFFERENCES Kohlberg's Cognitive Developmental Theory Cognitive factors in children's understanding of gender and gender stereotypes may contribute to their acquisition of gender roles. Two cognitive approaches to gender typing have looked at when children acquire different types of gender information and how such information modifies their gender-role activities and behaviors. Kohlberg's three-stage cognitive developmental theory of gender typing suggests that children begin by categorizing themselves as male or females, and then feel rewarded by behaving in gender-consistent ways. To do this, they must develop gender identity, gender stability, and gender constancy. Gender-Schema Theory: An Information-Processing Approach Gender schema theory suggests that children develop naive mental schemas that help them organize their experiences in such a way that they will know what to attend to and how to interpret new information. According to this theory, we should expect individual differences in how gender-schematic children will be. A Comparison of Cognitive Development and Gender-Schema Theories According to the cognitive developmental theory, we should not see gender-typed behavior until after gender constancy is reached (around age 6). However, gender-typed toy and activity preferences are seen much earlier and show a preference for same-sex playmates later. These findings suggest that the link between the acquisition of gender concepts and behavior varies depending on gender understanding and kind of behavior. INFLUENCE OF THE FAMILY ON GENDER TYPING Parents' Influence on Children's Gender-Typed Choices Families actively play a role in gender-role socialization by the ways in which they organize the environment for the child. Boys and girls are dressed differently, receive different toys to play with, and sleep in bedrooms that are furnished differently. Parental Behavior toward Girls and Boys In addition, girls and boys are viewed and treated differently by their parents, particularly their fathers. Boys are thought to be stronger and are treated more roughly and played with more actively than girls as early as birth. As children get older, girls are protected more and allowed less autonomy than boys, and girls are not expected to achieve as much in the areas of mathematics and careers as are boys. Modeling Parents' Characteristics As predicted by cognitive social learning theory, parental characteristics influence gender typing in terms of the role models that are available for the child to imitate. Parental power has a great impact on sex typing in boys, but not in girls; femininity in girls is related to the father's masculinity, his approval of the mother as a role model, and his reinforcement of participation in feminine activities. Parental Absence or Unavailability Because the father plays such a critical role in the development of children's gender roles, his absence has been related to disruptions in gender typing in preadolescent boys and to problems in relationships with peers of the opposite sex for adolescent females. Studies show that the effects of a father's absence on his daughter's interactions with men are long-lasting, extending to marital choices. Gender Roles in Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents There is no evidence of differences in the gender roles of boys and girls raised in gay or lesbian families. Most children of such families grow up to have heterosexual sexual orientations. EXTRAFAMILIAL INFLUENCES ON GENDER ROLES Books and Television Many extrafamilial influences affect gender-role typing. Male and female roles are portrayed in gender-stereotypic ways in television and many children's books. Males are more likely than females to be portrayed as aggressive, competent, rational, and powerful in the workforce. Females are more often portrayed as involved primarily in housework or caring for children.Females are less likely to be leading characters on TV, and male characters are over represented in children's books-although some change toward more equal treatment has occurred in recent years. Children who are heavy TV viewers hold more stereotyped views; however, this may be due to their interpretations of what they see based on previously held stereotypes. A few attempts to use television to change gender stereotypes have been successful, but the effects typically have been modest and short-lived. Peers, Gender Roles, and Self-Esteem Peers also serve as an important source of gender-role standards. Children who have masculine or androgynous characteristics are likely to have higher self-esteem than those who have traditionally feminine characteristics.Children are likely to react when other children violate gender-typical behaviors, and boys' cross-gender behaviors are more likely to meet with negative reactions from peers. Reactions from peers typically result in changes in behavior, particularly if the feedback is from a child of the same sex. This pattern of responsiveness may lead to gender segregation, which, in turn, provides opportunities to learn gender-typical roles. In self-socialization, children often spontaneously adopt gender-appropriate behavior. Schools and Teachers Teachers also treat girls and boys differently. Due to the emphasis in school on typically feminine characteristics such as quietness, obedience, and passivity, girls tend to like school better and perform better than boys in the early grades. Even in preschool, boys receive more criticism from teachers, who often react to children in gender-stereotypic ways. The implication of young boys' perceptions of school as gender-inappropriate may be lowered motivation and interest in school activities, leading to the higher rate of learning problems found in boys during the early grades.The kinds of conforming and dependent behaviors encouraged in girls may be detrimental for their later academic success. The lack of public awareness of research findings, such as that in most areas of math girls do as well as boys, may prevent parents and others from encouraging girls to excel in these areas. ANDROGYNY Most people are not strictly feminine or masculine but androgynous, that is, they possess both masculine and feminine characteristics. Children who are more androgynous make less stereotyped play and activity choices.Research interventions and the experience of nontraditional preschools indicate that children's gender stereotypes can be reduced. Similarly, children of nonconventional parents who place a high value on gender egalitarianism are less gender typed in their beliefs about possible occupations for males and females, although they are no different from other children on play preferences and knowledge of cultural sex typing. In other words, they are multischematic, holding more than one gender schema for responding to the world.

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While most people realize that stereotypes are untrue, many still make assumptions based on gender. There are many stereotypes we may all be guilty of, such as assuming that all women want to marry and have children, or that all men love sports.

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How to avoid gender stereotypes: Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jordan at TEDxZurich

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