Kohlberg's theory

Question 1

One strength of Kohlbergs stage theory

Answer 1

Research support via Damon
-Told children a story about George who liked to play with dolls.
-Four year olds said it was fine for Geroge to play with dolls whereas six year olds believed it was wrong
-Shows at 6 years you begin to create gender stereotypes, of others appropriate behaviour

Question 2

What is a limitation of Kohlbergs stage theory

Answer 2

Bassey and Bandura found that children as young as four reported that they felt good about playing with gender appropriate lipgloss whereas they felt bad about playing with gender inappropriate toys
-Shoes gender stereotypes develop earlier than 6

Question 3

What is another limitation of Kohlbergs theory

Answer 3

Bem argues it has metholodgical issues
-Argues that children under the age of 3 fail gender constancy tasks due to its design not lack of constancy
-Children may intuitively know that gender identitiy is biological e.g by genitals
-Found that 40% of children from 3-5 could demonstrate constancy if shown naked photo of a child
-In our culture we idnetify gender through clothes so this may confuse children but this doesnt mean they havent reached constancy

Question 4

What is a further limitation of Kohlbergs theory

Answer 4

May be different degrees of constancy
Martin argued that the first degree is used to help choosing friends and this may develop before six
-The second degree is in which the child is imcreasingly responsible to gender norms e.g choosing appropriate clothes/attitudes