Cognitive explanations for gender development Flashcards
(23 cards)
Who came up with the stages of development?
Kohlberg
What did Kohlberg suggest about gender development in general?
Develops with age in a series of stages
What did Kohlberg suggest about how the understanding of gender is constructed?
Through experience and driven by brain maturation, socialisation and lessesing egocentrism
What does gender development run alongside?
Intellectual development
What are the stages?
- Gender Identity
- Gender stability
- Gender constancy
Describe gender identity:
- ages
- description
Age 2:
- child can correctly identify themselves as a boy or girl
Age 3:
- child can identify other people as boys/men or girls/women
- do not view gender as fixed so get confused with time & context
Describe gender stability:
- ages
- description
Age 4:
- can now understand that gender stays the same overtime
- but can’t apply this to other people in other situations
- get confused about external changes in appearance
e.g. may describe a man who has long hair as a woman
- also believe that people change gender if they engage in activities that are more often associated with a different gender
Describe gender constancy:
- ages
- description
Age 6:
- child understands that gender remains constant throughout time and context
- can also apply this to other people (less confusing about outward appearance)
- Also start to look for same sex role models to identify with and imitate
- once child has developed internalised concept of gender= look for gender stereotypical behaviour for evidence which confirms that concept
EVALUATION: Kohlberg’s theory
+ Research support
P: There is s evidence that suggests gender stereotyping does emerge around the age 6
E: Damon
- told children a story about George (a boy who liked to play with dolls)
- children asked to comment on the story
4 years= fine for George to play with dolls
6 years= wrong for George to pay with dolls
E:
6 years=
- had gone beyond understanding what boys and girls do
- had developed rules about what they ought to do (gender stereotyping)
L: suggests that children who have achieved gender constancy have formed rigid stereotypes regarding gender-appropriate behaviour
EVALUATION: Kohlberg’s theory
CA: Research support
P: Other research challenges the idea that an interest in gender-appropriate behaviour only develops around age 6
E: Bussey & Bandura
- found that children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ about playing with gender-appropriate toys + ‘bad’ about doing the opposite
E: contradicts what Kohlberg’s theory would predict
L: may instead support gender schema theory= suggests that children seem to absorb gender-appropriate information as soon as they identify themselves as either boy or a girl
EVALUATION: Kohlberg’s theory
- Methodological problems
P: supporting research relies on unsatisfactory methods to assess gender constancy
E: Bem
- has criticised methodology used in many studies of the link between gender and cognitive development
- key test of gender constancy in these studies= whether child understands gender stays the same despite changes in appearance and context
E:
- Our culture= we distinguish gender through appearance, clothes, hairstyle, etc
- Bem argued that in reality, the best way to identify males and females= physical differences such as genitalia
Bem showed that:
- 40% children aged 3-5= showed gender constancy if shown a naked photo of the child-to-be-identified first
= made their judgements on more than just clothing
L: suggests that the typical way of testing gender constancy may misrepresent what younger children actually know
EVALUATION: Kohlberg’s theory
- Degrees of constacy
P: Other researchers have suggested there may be different degrees of gender constancy
E: Martin et al
- praise Kohlberg’s theory for recognising that children’s understanding of their own and other people’s gender guides their thoughts and behaviours
However
- when and how this understanding affects children’s gender-related behaviour remains unclear
E:
Martin et al= suggests there may be different degrees of gender constancy
- Initial degree= may direct children to the importance of gender (e.g. choosing friends or seeking info) which may develop before the age of 6
- Second degree= may heighten children’s responsiveness to gender norms (e.g. choosing appropriate clothes or attitudes)
L: suggests the acquisition of constancy may be a more gradual process and may begin earlier than Kohlberg thought
Who came up with Gender schema theory?
Martin & Halverson
How does gender scheme share Kohlberg’s view?
children develop their understanding of gender by actively structuring their own learning, rather than passively observing and imitating role models
What is meant by ‘schema’?
‘packages’ of information that are formed from experience and help us to navigate around situations we come across in everyday life
What is meant by ‘gender schema’?
A generalised representation of everything we know in relation to gender and stereotypically gender-appropriate behaviour
Gender schema after gender identity:
- What did Martin & Halverson suggest?
- how does this contract Kohlberg’s view?
Once a child has established gender identity (around age 2-3) he or she will begin to search environment for info that encourages development of gender schema
Kohlberg suggested this only happened after they have progressed through all 3 stages, around age 7 with gender constancy
Gender schema determines behaviour:
- what are schemas likely to be formed around in young children?
- what do they provide?
- what happens by age 6?
- what does this mean?
- stereotypes
e.g. boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls - provide a framework that directs experience as well as child’s understanding of itself
- age 6= children have a fixed and stereotypical idea about what is appropriate for their gender
- children are likely to disregard information that does not fit with their existing schema
What does the context of ‘ingroup remembering’ mean?
- children have a better understanding of schemas which are appropriate to their own gender (ingroup)
- children are more attentive to info relevant to their own gender identity as opposed to the other gender (outgroup)
- only at age 8 do children develop scheme for both genders
- Ingroup identity also strengthens the child’s level of self-esteem
EVALUATION: Gender schema theory
+ Research support
P:Evidence to support key principles
E: Martin & Halverson own study
- children under 6= more likely to remember photos of stereotypically gender-appropriate behaviour than photo of gender-inappropriate behaviour when tested a week later
E:
- children tended to change the gender of the person carrying out the gender-inappropriate activity in the photo when asked to recall them so that the gender behaviour was now appropriate
L: provides support for gender schema theory which predicts children under 6 would do this (in contrast to Kohlberg’s theory)
EVALUATION: Gender schema theory
- Earlier gender identity
P: gender identity probably develops earlier than Martin & Halverson suggested
E:
- longitudinal study 82 children looked at onset of gender identity
- data obtained from twice-weekly reports from mothers on their children’s language from age 9-21 months
- alongside videotaped analysis of children at play
Key measures of gender identity= how and when children labelled themselves as a ‘boy’ or ‘girl’
E:
- Occurred on average at 19 months= almost as soon as children begin to communicate= suggesting children actually have a gender identity before this but just don’t communicate it
L: suggests that Martin & Halverson may have underestimated children’s ability to use gender labels about themselves
EVALUATION: Gender schema theory
+ CA: Earlier gender identity
P: May not be appropriate to argue about specific ages for Martin & Halverson’s theory
E: suggests that the key point is the shifts in a child’s thinking and that ages are averages rather than absolutes
E: possible that many children may move through stages quicker and slower than others
- it is the sequence of development that is more important
L: suggests that other research findings is not a fundamental criticism of the theory
EVALUATION: Gender schema theory
+ Cultural differences
P: gender schema can account for cultural differences in stereotypically gender-appropriate behaviour
E:
Traditional cultures= women should take a nurturing role and that men should pursue a career
- this will raise children who form scheme which are consistent with this view
Societies with less rigid boundaries on gender= children more likely to acquire more fluid gender schema
E:
- Martin & Halverson’s theory can explain how gender schema are transmitted between members of a society & how cultural differences in gender stereotypes come about
L: contrasts with other explanations of gender development such as psychodynamic theory= suggesting that gender identity is more driven by unconscious biological urges
