Cognitive explanations of gender development, Kohlberg’s theory, gender identity, gender stability and gender constancy; gender schema theory.

how do cognitive explanations believe gender develops?

-think it happens actively-as children process information from the environment and mature, they become more able to consider what gender is, and learn the gender expectations for themselves and those around them

what do cognitive theorists think gender is influenced by?

childhood experience and intellectual development

>different to SLT which suggests passive observation occurs

what are the two cognitive explanations for gender development?

-Kohlberg's stages

-gender schema theory

how did Kohlberg believe gender developed?

-in a series of stages through processes of brain maturation, socialisation and reducing egocentrism

-a childs mental concept of gender becomes more sophisticated with age

what did Kohlberg blame for differences in male/female behaviour?

they are due to cultural norms about what it is so be masculine or feminine

what three stages did Kohlberg propose?

gender identity

gender stability

gender constancy

how old are children in the gender identity stage, and what are their beliefs on gender?

-2/3 years old

-can identify their own sex, and identify other peoples sexes

-believe sex can change e.g depending on the clothes someone wears

-may begin to show preference for playing with children their own sex

how old are children in the gender stability stage, and what are their beliefs on gender?

-3/4 years

-are aware their own gender is fixed over time

-are unaware this applies to others

-become confused abour non-normative gender apperances of others

how old are children in the gender constancy stage, and what are their beliefs on gender?

-4/7 years

-understand everyone's gender is consistent over time/ situations

-may still regard a boy in a dress as unusual

-children begin to seek out role models they can imitate and identify with

^develops understanding of how to behave appropriately within gender

RESEARCH STRENGTH: what evidence is there to support Kohlberg's stages?

Slaby and Frey 1975

-used interviews on children aged 2-5 to assess stage of development

-showed a film of male and female models performing the same action on other ends of the screen

-recorded how long children looked at each model, finding stage of development was associated with age, and those in constancy looked at same-sex model for longer

-supports idea of observable stages, and that children do look for same-sex models to learn values from, increasing validity

RESEARCH LIMITATION: how do methodological issues in research limit Kohlberg's theory?

-Kohlberg used interviews with children, sometimes only as old as two and three

-didnt consider young children may not have the vocabulary to sufficiently communicate how they feel, and may have a more complex understanding then can be vocalised

-limits internal validity

what is a schema?

a mental framework that organises and interprets information, and influences how we view the world

developed from experience

who developed gender schema theory?

Martin and Halverson 1981

what did Martin and Halverson suggest about gender schemas?

they are mental representations of what sex is, and what are stereotypically male and female behaviours

-this informs how we should behave to do so appropriately, and helps us interpret the environment and know what is expected of others

what does gender schema theory suggest about how gender identity develops?

-children around 2-3 years begin to develop gender schemas, and they moniter the environment for examples of gendered behaviour, and is assimilated if consistent with existing knowledge

-if behaviour is inconsistent, it may be ignored so schemas dont need to be altered- they need to be able to predict behaviour; stereotypes allow them to do this

what are in-groups and out-groups, and how are they reinforced?

-In-group= the gender the child belongs to, and identifying with groups increases self-esteem

^much stronger understanding of stereotypical behaviour for own gender first

-Out-group= opposite gender to child, so deeper attention is given later than that of the ingroup

-they are reinforced by adult behaviour as children look to the environment for information to build schema- e.g labelling toys as for boys only, or telling a child to stop acting like a girl

RESEARCH EVIDENCE: which research supports the existence of internal gender schemas?

Martin and Halverson 1983

-showed children between the ages of 5/6 pictures of males and females doing sex-consistent activities or sex-inconsistent activities

-a week later children were asked to recall the activities and sex of models in pictures

-found in recall that children switched the sex shown to match up with the gendered activity

-suggests they do have schemas, and they can act as default expectations

RESEARCH SUPPORT: which research supports the early formation of gender sterotypes and behaviour?

Martin and Little 1990

-children aged 3-5.5

-judged childrens preference and knowledge for sex-typed toys, clothes and novel items the experimenter said was for boys or girls (e.g stapler)

-they found even the youngest children had strong sex-typed preferences and knowledge of clothes and toys, even before reaching gender constancy

-suggests gender sterotypes from early

-also suggests kohlberg's stages occur earlier than predicted

RESEARCH LIMITATION: which research suggests gendered behaviour may be a result of instinctual drives?

Alexander + Hines (2002)

-demonstrated that male vervet monkeys were significantly more likely to play with masculine toys like cars, and vice versa with females, without prior knowledge

-suggests preference may be innate and have an evolutionary basis

-also supported by fact the vast majority of cultures have similar expectations of male and female behaviour- if schemas were the full explanation, we'd expect greater variability

LIMITATION: why may alternative explanations be better for gender development?

-explanations like SLT may explain the stronger sex-typing in bots than girls due to increased social pressure, or the psychodynamic theory that the oedipus complex is more formative

-cant explain all gender development alone

STRENGTH: why does a focus on cognition seem like a sensible approach?

-we are aware of our own thoughts and how ours and other peoples behaviour matches gender norms- shows it is not a passive process as suggested by SLT

-gender identity may also change, which it could not if solely from psychodynamic explanations (deterministic)

-also see how childrens ideas about gender development in a similar way suggested by Kohlberg- has face validity