when some of the first textbooks came out on gender identity and gender roles. Research was done on intersex children, who are born with characteristics of both sexes. It was then determined that there is just as great a role of society on gender identity as biology is. Sex-related differences in thinking and cognition are sometimes looked at through standardized testing, which has its limits in actually looking at how real-life problems are solved. In addition, there have been biases found in existing research. Even so, males seem to be better at aiming, while females are better at fine motor skill and coordination. Men can visualize geometry better, while women are better at verbal memory and object location memory. Women read body cues and facial cues better than males and have better verbal memory and spelling abilities. Men in Africa who can travel furthest from their tribe without getting lost have better spatial abilities. This too can be biased so that there is reinforcement for those individuals that have learned to do something well. This selfselects those that are good at a task. According to perspectives more related to the social and cultural sides of gender identity, there are gender schemas, which are gendered cultural ideals of boys and girls that determine their preferences. Think of pink clothing for girls and blue clothing for boys. These things begin in infancy. Gender stereotypes get reinforced even more as children get older, which can lead to sexism. It leads to the ideals of girls staying at home and boys going out to the workforce. Much of these things have changed over the years and are altered further when dealing with homosexual couples. The person in the same-sex relationship who behaves more closely like those of their opposite gender is called a congenital gender invert. This type of person has more problems feeling comfortable in society.
GENDER CONCEPTS IN CHILDREN There have been a lot of theories about how children develop the concept of gender. One question is: do infants understand gender? Children likely seek information about the meaning of gender and what it means to them. This is how they learn to socialize. 148
