Response:
Child
development involves many different aspects in order to facilitate strong
growth. Infants are perhaps most able to learn and expand ways of thinking,
etc. due to the numerous neurotransmitters that connect to form dendrites to
assist in making various developmental connections for the child. One thing
that is truly important in the growth of a child is the actual information they
learn and connect with, for example, one will most likely develop in positive
ways when surrounded by a positive environment, as one would most likely
develop negatively if from a negative environment. This idea strongly relates
to the idea of nature and nurture, which simply recognizes that nurture
includes the care and attention to the baby as it increases their chance to be
in a better environment, or nature. This correlates to the article as it states
that at a year and half years old, "even before the child ever has the ability to understand their own gender
identity, infants will focus longer on images that challenge typical roles,"
such as a male putting on lipstick. This spectacular example of society's
pressure of certain stereotypes such as women being the housewife and men putting
on lipstick. This automatic correlation is an advancement that truly does affect
the developmental stages of a child.
This child brain development relates to our class
discussion about society's stereotypes and how certain groups, such as women
and minorities are "controlled" by the white, affluent men in the
media. The example in the article depicts the child recognizing the male and
female because of their associated gender identification. This can be cloudy,
especially in today's world where there is LGBT community members who often do
not fall under the stereotype and, in fact, usually portray the opposite gender.
It is extremely interesting to see that the child's mind is already being
transformed and establishing stereotypes, even before they can comprehend themselves,
thus depicting the great influence of one's surroundings and on how one views
the world. Another example might be a muscular person who usually would be seen
as male and a more slender figure would be seen as a woman in the child's eyes.
This recognition challenges society and its ideas of gender roles, which
personally need to be changed to be broader topic. A student from Brown
University, where the article was published, named Emma Bratton stated, "Gender
norms are really limiting, and so the fact that something is learned so early
that is so limiting to gender identity in general is troubling to me.” I agree
with her in that there are strict lines in gender identity, whereas one should
not been categorized by the actions, such as putting on lipstick, but by their
individual characteristics, which are specific to individual people and groups.
Video #1:
An example of self-recognition. This occurs after the infant recognizes the gender stereotypes.
Video #2:
This video discusses children and their recognition of gender role stereotypes. They used dolls to portray a woman and a man and asked them questions which clearly portrayed the gender stereotypes.
Picture #1:
As referenced in the article.
Picture #2:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQzfoAN7cIXNDWNXDhYZk-9Z1hGZ2BtZHrareVnAEPvVLiEXAyrV8J48kA
A mature and immature
neuron, which includes the dendrites (the branch-like figures), the axons
(sends signals to other neurons), and the synapses (or the space between the
two neurons), and the neurotransmitters (chemical messengers that travel
through synapse).
Picture #3:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLuF_Hzue1K8j5j98b_DgC6WE0tx_qRxXI5nx9UtvGamSTNs2FSd4JsgMAu4hkYHhrR_Af16VeVpuYxBFQKNdKShG65kHAV533Zj4XD8iP1mTffUFU313V_BNkYHCKPdqvVQsXOkfL6o/s1600/gender.gif
The various gender
roles as depicted in the media.
Picture #4:
An example of a female
to male transgender, who may be difficult for an infant to distinguish.
