The Social Psychology of Female-Male Relations

The Social Psychology of Female-Male Relations: A Critical Analysis of Central Concepts covers the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals in social interaction and explicitly considers women and men in relation to one another - as individuals, as representatives of social categories, and as significant social groups.
Chapter One lays out the parameters of the social psychology of female-male relations. Chapter Two contains two major insights: that gender identity is a complex, multifaceted construct and that the structure and degree of differentiation of gender identity develop and change over the life course. Chapters Three and Four present a relatively general cognitive social-psychological framework for two important constructs, sex stereotypes and gender-related attitudes. Chapter Five offers a critique of analyses that explain the behavior of women and men in close, personal relationships in terms of sex differences in the individual dispositions of the participants. Chapter Six presents a strong and straightforward critique of the current usage of the term sex role to describe a global set of behavioral prescriptions that apply to all women and to all men. Chapter Seven presents a comprehensive review of research on gender-related patterns of behavior in task groups that cannot be found elsewhere. The concluding chapter summarizes points made in earlier chapters and offers a set of notes toward a theory of female-male relations.
Social scientists (especially, psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists) doing research on women, on men, or on women and men in relationships or in social interaction.

Contenu

Contents
Contributors
Preface
Chapter One
Toward a Social Psychology of Female-Male Relations
Introduction
The Context of This Book
Framework for a Social Psychology of Female-Male Relations
References
Part One. Gender and the individual
Chapter Two. Gender Identity: Development and Consequences
Introduction: Definitions and Concepts
Infancy
Early and Middle Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
Developmental Course of Gender Identity: A Summary
Are There Other Gender Identities Possible besides Masculine and Feminine?
References
Chapter Three. Gender Stereotypes
Introduction
Research Assessing Gender Stereotypes
A Cognitive-Social-Psychological Framework for the Construct, Gender Stereotype
The Structure of Gender Stereotypes
The Process Issues of Gender Stereotypes
Concluding Note
References
Chapter Four. Gender-Related Attitudes
Introduction
What's Been Done: Assessing Attitudes and Demonstrating Evaluation Bias
A Framework for Conceptualizing Gender-Related Attitudes
Content-Structure Issues Concerning Gender-Related Attitudes
Process Issues Concerning Gender-Related Attitudes
Where Do We Go from Here?
References
Part Two. Gender and Interpersonal Relationships
Chapter Five. Women and Men in Personal Relationships
Introduction
Toward a Framework for the Social-Psychological Analysis of Personal Relationships
The Causal Contexts of Gender-Related Patterns in Personal Relationships
A Critical Analysis of the Accumulated Literature on Women and Men in Personal Relationships
Concluding Comments
References
Chapter Six. Men and Women in Role Relationships
Introduction
The Concept of Social Role
The Concept of Gender Role
Three Major Social Roles
Comparisons among Roles
Interactions among Roles
Consequences of Roles
Conclusions
References
Chapter Seven. Women and Men in Task Groups
Introduction
Research on Groups without Designated Leaders
Research on Groups with Designated Leaders
Leader Selection
Conclusions and Future Directions
References
Chapter Eight. Male-Female Relations: A Summing Up and Notes toward a Social-Psychological Theory
Introduction
From Here to There: Emerging Themes and Directions
Notes toward a Social-Psychological Theory of Male-Female Relations
What Will Be (?)
References
Author Index
Subject Index