Gender - Cognitive Flashcards
(20 cards)
What are cognitive explanations of gender?
Cognitive explanations suggest that children’s understanding of gender develops through actively seeking learning experiences. They intellectually organise concepts about gender, rather than passively responding to stimuli or copying others.
Who proposed Kohlberg’s Theory of Gender Development?
Kohlberg (1966), influenced by Piaget’s cognitive development theory.
How does gender develop according to Kohlberg?
Through maturation, socialisation, and lessening egocentrism.
What is Stage 1 of Kohlberg’s Theory?
Gender Identity / Labelling (Age 2–3): Children are aware of their own gender and can label others, but they don’t understand gender permanence.
What is Stage 2 of Kohlberg’s Theory?
Gender Stability (Age 4–5): Children recognise their gender as fixed over time but are still confused by appearances.
What is Stage 3 of Kohlberg’s Theory?
Gender Consistency (Around age 6): Children understand that gender is consistent across time and situations.
What is Gender Schema Theory (GST)?
Mental representations of what sex is and what are stereotypically male/female behaviours, developed through cognitive processes.
When do children form gender schemas?
Around age 2–3, earlier than Kohlberg suggested.
What is the ingroup vs outgroup concept in GST?
Children focus on the ingroup (same gender) and learn behaviours appropriate for it, while avoiding the outgroup (opposite gender).
What was the method of Martin & Halverson’s (1983) research?
Showed children (age 5–6) pictures of males and females in stereotypical or non-stereotypical activities and asked them to recall activities and gender of person a week later.
What were the findings of Martin & Halverson’s (1983) research?
Children distorted memory to match their gender schema, indicating they have internal gender schemas that affect memory recall.
What was the method of Martin & Little’s (1990) research?
Studied children aged 3–5.5 years, judging their gender stage and testing preference for sex-typed toys and clothes.
What were the findings of Martin & Little’s (1990) research?
Even children before gender consistency stage showed strong preference for gender-typed behaviour, suggesting GST is more accurate than Kohlberg.
What was the method of Alexander & Hines’s (2002) research?
Gave toys to vervet monkeys and observed their preferences.
What was the conclusion of Alexander & Hines’s (2002) research?
Suggests gendered toy preferences may be biological and evolutionary, not just learned.
What is a weakness of cognitive explanations regarding young children?
Hard to be sure of internal cognitive processes and risk of researcher bias.
What is a criticism regarding the focus of cognitive explanations?
Ignores social and cultural factors, and SLT may better explain why boys show stronger sex-typing.
What is a reductionist criticism of cognitive explanations?
Ignores unconscious forces and biological factors.
What is a strength of cognitive explanations in practical applications?
Helps explain how stereotypes develop and can be used in early education to reduce gender bias.
What is a strength regarding internal mental processes in cognitive explanations?
Encourages understanding how thoughts influence behaviour and schemas act as cognitive shortcuts.
