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identification  The Freudian notion that children acquire gender identity by identifying with and imitating their same-sex parents.
gender-based beliefs  Ideas and expectations about what is appropriate behavior for males and females.
gender stereotypes  Beliefs that members of a culture hold about how females and males ought to behave; that is, what behaviors are acceptable and appropriate for each.
gender roles  Composites of the behaviors actually exhibited by a typical male or female in a given culture; the reflection of a gender stereotype in everyday life.
gender identity  The perception of oneself as either masculine or feminine.
gender-role preferences  Desires to possess certain gender-typed characteristics.
expressive characteristics  Presumably typical of females, these characteristics include nurturance and concern with feelings.
instrumental characteristics  Presumably typical of males, these characteristics include task and occupation orientation.
cognitive developmental theory of gender typing  Kohlberg's theory that children use physical and behavioral clues to differentiate gender roles and to gender-type themselves very early in life.
gender stability  The notion that gender does not change; males remain male and females remain female.
gender constancy  The awareness that superficial alterations in appearance or activity do not alter gender.
gender-schema theory  The notion that children develop schemas, or naive theories, that help them organize and structure their experience related to gender differences and gender roles.
self-socialization  The child's spontaneous adoption of gender-appropriate behavior.
androgynous  Possessing both feminine and masculine psychological characteristics.
multischematic  Possessing more than one cultural schema for responding to the environment as well as criteria for deciding what schema to use in a particular situation.







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