Lifespan Development

Application Assignment 6 – Worth 15 Points

1. This exercise is designed to help think about gender-role messages acquired through the socialization
process. Here are some examples of clichés about appropriate behavior for girls and boys:

 “Big boys don’t cry.”

 “Take it like a man.”
 “Boys will be boys.”
 “Girls can’t do math.”
 “Sugar and spice and everything nice.”

Describe how each of the clichés above might be harmful and/or useful.

I believe that the first one would be harmful because it is implying that boys cannot have emotions and when
boys hear this, they feel they have to hold many emotions in. That is especially not good because when you
bottle up your feelings, it can take a turn for the worst. The second one goes along with the first as it is harmful
to boys and men. Sometimes there are things that you can’t handle and it doesn’t matter your gender so this is
not good to say. The third one is harmful in a way that it puts an excuse for a behavior that would be considered
bad. You can’t just say that somebody is acting a certain way because of their gender, they are acting this way
because of their personality. The fourth one is very harmful as it brings girls down. Math doesn’t belong to a
gender at all, and any gender can excel in math. This happens so much to women in STEM and it is such a
harmful thing because it lowers confidence and makes women feel so low. The last one I am not as strongly
opinionated on because it doesn’t seem AS harmful as the others. However, it can be harmful as it is implying
that girls should be feminine which is dangerous. Girls can be however they want to be and phrases like this can
hurt that.

2. List the different types of play according to Parten. Provide an example of each type as demonstrated in
childhood and an example of how this type of play appears in adulthood.
 Example: Unoccupied play—child watches others in the room but without much attention; college
student relaxes after an exam by watching TV with little attention.

Unoccupied play- Child is watching another child play but is not attentive; student watches basketball game
with not much attention.
Onlooker play- Child is watching another child play with blocks but does not play with them or alone; college
student watches another student study but does not do the same.
Solitary independent play- Child plays with cars while the other children play house; the college student
watches Netflix while the other student reads a book.
Parallel play- The child plays cars, but not with the other children; the college student watches Netflix, but on
his own laptop instead of on the tv with the other students.
Associative play- The child plays cars with other children but is not as interested in the cars; the college
student watches the game with his peers but does not necessarily enjoy it.
Cooperative play- The child plays blocks with other children in order to build a tower together; the college
student works with the other students to put together a film for a class.