Kohlberg's theory

From what age does Kohlberg’s theory state that children develop gender at?

2 years old

What did Kohlberg believe gender was the result of?

Inner cognitions

How many stages did Kohlberg propose?

3

What was the name of the first stage & when does this develop?

Gender identity (age 2-3 years)

What happens in the gender identity stage?

• A child can label their own & other people’s sex as ‘male’ or ‘female’

• However, they believe you can reassign a person’s sex to them, as it’s only a label

• They are easily fooled by external appearance (e.g. thinking a woman with short hair is a man)

What was the second stage of Kohlberg’s theory & what age does this develop?

Gender stability (age 4-5 years)

What happens in the gender stability stage?

• Children realise that sex stays the same over time (e.g. if they’re a girl, they’ll always be a girl), but don’t understand that it stays the same across all situations & are still egocentric in many ways

• They are still fooled by changes in external appearance

What was the name of the third stage of Kohlberg’s theory & when does this develop?

Gender constancy (age 6-7 years)

What happens in the gender constancy stage?

Children obtain a full understanding of gender, knowing that it stays the same despite changes in external appearance (e.g. a male dressed in female clothing is still biologically male)

In addition to gender development following 3 stages, what was an additional assumption that Kohlberg stated?

The stages of cognitive development were universal & children would progress through them at similar ages

Describe and evaluate Kohlberg’s theory of gender development (16 marks)

Write your AO1 paragraph

• Kohlberg’s theory of gender development proposes that children begin to develop gender around age 2, as they start categorising the world into gender-appropriate behaviours. He argued that children’s understanding of gender increases in line with their cognitive abilities, meaning as children grow older, their cognitive abilities become more sophisticated & so does their understanding of gender. Kohlberg believed this occurs in 3 stages.

• Stage 1: gender identity (age 2-3 years) - children can label themselves & others’ sex as ‘male’ & ‘female’ but do not understand that sex is fixed & are easily fooled by external appearance (e.g. thinking a woman with short hair is a man). Stage 2: gender stability (age 4-5 years) - children understand that sex stays the same over time (e.g. if they’re a girl, they’ll always be a girl) but not across situations & are still egocentric & fooled by external appearance. Stage 3: gender constancy (age 6-7 years) - children obtain a full understanding of gender, knowing that it stays the same despite external appearance (e.g. a male dressed in female clothing is still biologically male).

• Kohlberg proposed these stages are universal, occurring in the same order & at similar ages across cultures, although ideas of masculinity & femininity may vary depending on social norms.

Describe and evaluate Kohlberg’s theory of gender development (16 marks)

Write your strength AO3 PEEL (Slaby & Frey)

• Point: One strength of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development is there is empirical evidence in support of the sequence of stages.

• Evidence: For example, in Slaby & Frey’s study, children were presented with split-screen images of males & females performing the same tasks.

• Explain: Results found that younger children spent roughly the same amount of time watching both sexes. However, children in the gender constancy stage spent longer looking at the same-sex model.

• Link: Overall, this increases the external validity of Kohlberg’s theory by highlighting that children who have acquired constancy will actively seek gender-appropriate models.

Describe and evaluate Kohlberg’s theory of gender development (16 marks)

Write your strength AO3 PEEL (Monroe)

• Point: One strength of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development is that the stages proposed appear to be universal.

• Evidence: For example, Monroe found cross-cultural evidence to suggest that Kohlberg’s theory is valid in countries, such as Kenya, Samoa & Nepal.

• Explain: This is advantageous as it means that Kohlberg’s theory avoids cultural bias & is a valid explanation for gender development.

• Link: As such, this suggests that Kohlberg’s theory is applicable to both individualistic & collectivist countries, increasing the generalisability of the findings.

Describe and evaluate Kohlberg’s theory of gender development (16 marks)

Write your limitation AO3 PEEL (Bussey & Bandura)

• Point: One limitation of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development is that the gender constancy stage is not well supported.

• Evidence: For example, Bussey & Bandura found that children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ about playing with gender-appropriate toys & ‘bad’ about doing the opposite.

• Explain: This suggests that Kohlberg’s theory is undermined by the observation that many children demonstrate gender-appropriate behaviour before the stage of gender constancy is achieved.

• Link: Overall, this contradicts what Kohlberg would predict & instead may support the gender schema theory.