The AP® Psychology exam focuses not only on how adults think and act, but also how children develop and come into their own identities. A crucial part of identification is gender typing.

What is Gender Typing?

Gender typing is the process that a child goes through to become aware of his or her gender. It is important to note here that the definition of gender is being male, female, or another identification in between. Gender is defined by social constraints rather than the biological male or female designation. Gender deals more with how society dictates a man or a woman should look or act. Sex, however, is biological.

Therefore, gender typing is how a child attributes his or herself with a gender. Whichever gender it is may be the same as the biological sex that the child was born with. For example, a male child may attribute himself to the male gender by growing up and wanting to be the stereotypical man. Because of society, the child may play with trucks and avoid societally dictated “girly” toys when growing up.

Gender vs. Sex

The gender, however, may also be different from the child’s sex. A biological baby girl may grow up thinking that she feels that she belongs as a man and not a woman. Here, the phenomenon where the person is called transgender.

Gender typing is when the child adopts behaviors, values, or characteristics of others that he or she believes are part of his or her gender. So that little boy will look at other men around him and copy the behavior. In society he sees that the men around him go hunting; therefore, the boy may have the urge to go hunting.

Gender typing is very dependent on societal dictations, meaning that if it is widely accepted that girls play with dolls, then many girls will play with dolls as children to define their femininity.

Another part of gender typing is from the perspective of an outsider looking in. Gender typing is also the expectations of an individual about another person’s gender and identity. For example, when baby showers are thrown there are certain color designations for each gender. These are called schemas, which as concepts that are usually general and overarching that help children make sense of the world. In the example we would say the schema is that blue is usually designated for a boy and pink is usually for a girl at a baby shower. The expectation is one that is very common in society, and when the expectation is not followed, then there are questions from other people about why the custom was not followed.

Why is Gender Typing Important to AP® Psychology?

Gender typing is very important in that it is a current issue in today’s society. The idea that society dictates how you feel about your gender is restricting to some. An example of a restriction is when people say that boys do not cry. The idea of unemotional men has been taught to boys for centuries through the social learning theory. The social learning theory is when certain social behaviors that we learn through observation that are reinforced or punished. The idea that boys must not cry is constructed through observation by the children who do not see males cry. Emotional behavior is punished by people looking down on weeping men. The social learning theory teaches the men to prescribe to the gender type of the stoic man.

Real life examples of gender typing and how these examples become an accepted behavior may appear on the free response questions in the AP® Psychology exam. When this happens the social learning theory is essential to mention as well as the difference between sex and gender. The nuance will show your examiners that you understand how gender typing works in society and child development.

Whenever gender typing appears on the free response portion of the AP® Psychology exam you will most likely need the following terms: gender identity, schema, and assimilation. These terms will allow you to impress your examiner by showing that you understand how children prescribe to societal pressures of gender.

On the AP® Psychology Exam you can expect to encounter gender typing in both sections of the exam, especially because gender identity is such a current issue. The most common question that is asked on the multiple choice section on the AP® Psychology exam from the gender typing topic is the difference between sex and gender. In this case do not be fooled by the nuances. Sex is biological and gender is dictated by society as well as the individual.

One example of gender typing on the AP® Psychology exam is in the following question. It is the second question that asks how gender development will affect which courses Matt will be picking for next year. One way that a student could answer that is by saying how Matt may not be comfortable taking stereotypically feminine classes, because society’s gender typing dictates that he should want to take a manly class like woodshop.

Also on the multiple choice section, the difference between assimilation and accommodation will appear. It is important to gender typing, because it shows how people adjust to new behavioral status quos within gender typing. If the new idea is that to be a female you must wear a giant hat at all times, then some may buy into the gender typing. Being able to blend into the masses like that is called assimilation. Accommodation, however, is when the schemas that were originally in place are changed. In the example the idea of a woman without a hat representing the ideal woman would be replaced with a woman with a hat.

Key Takeaway for Gender Typing In AP® Psychology

Gender typing is important to completely understand for the AP® Psychology exam, because it may appear in both the multiple-choice section and the free response section of the AP® Psych exam. Gender typing is how a child develops into his or her gender as well as how others have expectations as to what pertains to each gender. Keeping in mind the duality to the definition will serve you well on the exam.

Also, there are many ideas in the gender typing concept that can be attributed to real life. When that happens, bear in mind that using a term to describe the phenomenon will earn you more points on the free response questions. For example, if the experimental subject begins to act like the other people in the experiment, then you would use the term assimilation to earn points.

Be sure to keep gender typing in mind as you study for your AP® Psychology exam. If you cover the topic thoroughly, then the exam will be over before you know it.

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