Gender Differences in Personality Assignment

Psych Discussion Response
Original Question:

Gender Differences in Personality

Forum Assignment for the Week:

This week, our discussion is about male and female differences in personality.What male and female differences in personality have you observed and where do you think they come from (e.g., are they learned, inborn, etc.)? NOTE: If you believe more than one personality theory explains male/female differences, give concrete examples. Link the theory you choose solidly to the personality differences you describe to provide evidence of your thorough comprehension of your selected theory by your accurate application of it rather than just picking a theory by name and listing characteristics believed by the general public to differ between genders. You must describe how the theory you choose explains specific differences.

Reply to the following response with 200 words minimum. (please make response as if having a conversation, respond directly to some of the statements in below post.)

According to the text book, different cognition performance between males and females are limited. Females generally show advantages in verbal fluency, perceptual speed, accuracy and fine motor skills. Conversely, males outperform females in spatial, working memory and mathematical abilities. The gender schema theory simply states that culture and social expectations weight heavily in the perception of gender abilities and behavior. The social roles approach to male-female differences reveals gender relevant activities are tied to the demands of social situations (Friedman & Schustack, 2012).

To build on that, social behaviors that differ between the two sexes are essentially embedded in the social roles, including gender roles that will influence the behaviors exhibited. Masculinity and femininity perceptions are also influenced by environmental factors or demands. Gender is an important influential factor that determines many traits to an individual’s personality, though perception and expectations are not always reliable. With our ever-growing society and modern developments, this is particularly an important variable. Same sex couples can adopt children, during that child’s developmental stages; they will observe and associate gender and roles. This applies to all different types of households and what they encompass. One parent, two parents, same or different sex parents, single child, siblings, and the list is endless. Individual personality development is subject to a myriad of variables that it is challenging to choose one theory directly that describes personality development more than another. I believe that Erik Erickson’s theory of life-long development that INCLUDES society and its influences assist with developing either feminine or masculine traits (Friedman & Schustack, 2012).

One real world example of how the Gender Schema Theory and Erik Erikson’s theory applies in the development in children and their discovery of male vs female roles. Children will learn and adjust their own behavior as a boy or girl based off their culture or what occurs in their own household. This will begin before a child is even born. Once a pregnant mother discovered the sex of her baby, she will announce the gender to her friends and family and as “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl”. From that moment on, color themes are chosen for decoration and clothing, typically blues and greens for a boy and pinks for a girl. As a young girl observes and learns from her parents (environment), she begins to notice her mother in the kitchen, always cooking and cleaning. The young girl will begin to associate cooking with gender as part of her schema. Eventually, this girl will likely take interest to cooking or even categorize cooking as an act of feminine behavior. This type of experience can also apply to young boys who shadow their father or old brother. Eventually, this type of association will lead to stereotyping and the separation between gender and their role. Each stage of life, environmental/social influences, and gender association or perception all play a role in the developmental process of personality.

References

Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research, 5thed. Boston, MA: Pearson: Allyn & Bacon.

Gender Differences in Personality Assignment

Gender Differences in Personality Assignment

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.