WELCOME TO THE PRESENTATION
INTRODUCTION
• Deaux and Major’s (1987) social interaction model for gender-related behavior.
• Three major components : Perceiver, Target and Situation.
• Perceiver: Person observing the behavior.
• Target: interaction of the person who is of interest to the perceiver.
• Situation: The given action that the perceiver will observe toward the target.
• Important to understand that gender roles are most often assigned by culture and observation.
Deaux and Major’s (1987) Model of Social Interactions for Gender-Related Behavior.
• The perceiver has gender expectations of the target:
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Box A - Represents the beliefs of perceiver toward gender. Are there gender
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stereotypes? In this case, specific to female MMA fighters.
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Is the target gender schematic or aschematic? Will the targets assumptions
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change as he gets to understand the sport and the role of women better
• Activation of Gender Schema:
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Box B - Is a gender schema activated in the targets mind? Attributes of perception
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become activated upon viewing the situation of her fighting. She is dressed as a
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woman but behaving like a man on the ground, fighting. She’s muscular which
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is more indicative of a mans body, not the softness of the typical female body.
• Perceiver then Responds toward Target:
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Box C - Reaction toward the MMA fighter will be dependent upon targets schema; whether
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it is schematic (specific to how women should behave) or aschematic, no suppositions
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on how a woman should behave in any situation.
• Perceiver now Interprets the Targets Behavior (actions):
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Box D – This represents the targets self system. Expectations of the target either conform to
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cognitive or behavioral confirmation. In this case, behavioral. She is not conforming
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to expected behavior of the female gender.
• This activates Perceivers Gender-Related Self Schemas:
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Box E – Related to Box B, and refers to how the perceiver relates toward the MMA fighter.
• Target Interprets Perceivers Behavior:
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Box F – MMA fighter interprets the perceiver’s behavior. Chances are she will be true to
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herself, and either choose self presentation or self verification.
• Self Acts:
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Box G – The MMA fighter will either do one of two things; she will react and either
continue or stop fighting based on the perceivers reaction.
• Modifying Conditions:
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Box H – This has to do with the characteristics of the situation that might, I repeat, might but
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not necessarily modify her behavior. This box is directly related to Box G.
• Perceiver Interprets Targets Action:
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Box I – Perceiver doesn’t approve (or does approve) the targets behavior (MMA fighting).
• Self Interprets own Actions:
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Box J – She likes being an MMA fighter which fits in with her own belief self-system and
will continue fighting regardless of what anyone thinks.
• It must be noted at this juncture in the presentation that there is a heavy overlapping of the
various sections of this theory.
• Note how various sections of the diagram are correlated to others.
• Will her parents behave differently?
• Will men react differently from women?
• During the question and answer period I would like to know your thoughts on these questions.
How did Deaux and Major add to the discussion of sex and
gender differences?
Points of Interest in this final section of the Presentation:
What did earlier theories suggest?
What are the differences in earlier theories?
How is the model researched by Deaux and Major different from earlier theories?
How is the model researched by Deaux and Major similar to earlier theories?
• The Deaux and Major (1987) model is controversial.
• No account for hormone levels.
• Supporting studies exist.
• First to emphasize proximal causes of gender differences including impact of situation.
• Perceivers influence link of cognitive and behavioral behaviors.
• Target can influence whether gender differences are linked to self verification and presentation.
• The situation influences observable differences of gender based on behavior constraints, if the
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situation calls for self-presentation or preservation, and how the commitment of ones views
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on the self perception.
Various Theories of Gender Differences
• Biological – Brain function, genes, hormones to explain gender differences
• Evolutionary – This is an extension of Darwin’s theories of evolution
• Psychoanalytic – Freud’s theory that gender roles acquired by identifying with the same sex
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parent. The more modern version of this theory emphasizes all relationships of the child.
• Social Learning – All behaviors, whether related to gender role or not, are learned through
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reinforcement, modeling and imitation of same sex gender roles of peers.
• Gender-role socialization – people, environment and objects determine childs behavior.
• Social role – Variant of gender role.
• Cognitive development – Child actively interprets the world.
• Gender schema – Children acquire gender roles by processing info into sex linked groups.
• Deaux and Major closely resembles Social Role and Social Interaction Theory.
• Differs significantly from Early Psychoanalytic Theory.
• Modern Psychoanalytic Theory more closely related.
• Has very little in common with Biological Theory.
• Little in common with Evolutionary Theory.
• Social and Gender Role Socialization share common themes.
• Cognitive development and Gender Schema also share common traits.
Thank you for Attending
To conclude, I want to use the direct words of the authors, “we view our model as supplementing,
although not supplanting prior theoretical models of gender.” (Deaux and Major, 1987, p. 369). I
Will now open the floor for questions, answers, and an interactive discussion. Thank you for
attending the presentation on this important topic on gender roles in society.
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