Gender: Cognitive explanations-Gender Schema Theory

Question 1

Make 1 initial describing point about the gender schema theory of gender development

Answer 1

-it argues that childrens understanding of gender increases with age and develops through actively structuring their own learning

Question 2

The gender schema theory suggests children have an understanding of their gender and act in a gendered way at what age?

Is this earlier or later than Kohlberg suggested?

Answer 2

at age 2-3

this is much earlier than Kohlberg

Question 3

Define what a gender schema is

Answer 3

an organised mental representation made up of beliefs and expectations about sex and sex appropriate behaviour , derived from experience

Question 4

Make 2 points about the role of gender schemas

Answer 4

-they guide a persons understanding of their gender and gender appropriate behaviour
-as the child matures the schema becomes more complex

Question 5

Make 3 points about how gender schema is an active process

Answer 5

-at age 2 children begin to search the environment for information that encourages development of their schema

-they tend to pay more attention to information that is relevant to their gender and they disregard/misremember info that doesn’t fit their existing schema

• this results in children behaving in a gendered way much younger than Kohlberg suggested and by 6 , children have a fixed and stereotypical view of what’s appropriate for each gender

Question 6

Make 4 points about ingroups and outgroups

Answer 6

-children have a better understanding of the schema for their own gender (ingroup)
-they pay more attention to info relevant to their own gender identity rather than info about the opposite gender (outgroup)
-a strong sense of ingroup identity boosts the childs self esteem
-only when child is 8 do they develop elaborate schemas for both genders

Question 7

Who provides supporting evidence for the gender schema theory?

Answer 7

Martin and Little (1990)- found children under age 4 who showed no sign of gender stability or constancy demonstrated strong sex-typed behaviours

this contradicts Kohlbergs theory as gendered behaviour is occuring at a much younger age , however the findings are consistent with the gender schema theory and the idea of in groups and out groups

Question 8

What is a weakness of the gender schema theory?

Answer 8

-other explanations
cognitive theories of gender development don’t pay sufficient attention to the role of social factors such as direct reinforcement of gendered behaviour from parents
they also don’t explain why schemas develop and why they contain the info that they do , so is an incomplete explanation of gender development

Question 9

Give a further strength of the gender schema theory

Answer 9

+practical apps
research into the gender schema theory can explain why its difficult to change stereotypes even when children are exposed to counter stereotypes they may not remember them accurately
this suggests counter stereotypes may not be the best way to reduce gender stereotypes , but this research allows development to be made into a better way to do so

Question 10

Give another weakness of the gender schema theory

Answer 10

-emphasis is on nurture
the theory emphasises the importance of experience in the formation of gender schema , so it ignores biological factors such as genetics which have been suggested to be involved in gender development

-this suggests the theory is too simplistic and therefore incomplete