explanations of gender development

what did Kholberg’s (1966) theory suggest

it is a cognitive-developmental theory which suggests a child’s understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age

it draws on the idea that the way we think becomes more sophisticated with age

it therefore is a stage theory which children gradually progress through

what are the stages in Kohlberg’s theory

Gender identity

Gender stability

Gender constancy

what age is the gender identity stage

2-3 years

what occurs in the gender identity stage

children are able to correctly label their own gender and can correctly answer ‘which one is like you’ when shown a picture of a man or woman

they are not aware that sex is permanent so a boy may say when he grows up he will be a mummy

gender labels are based on outward appearances eg clothing and hair and children will change gender labels based on this

what age is the gender stability stage

4-6 years

what occurs in the gender stability stage

children understand their own gender is fixed over time and regardless of changes to outward appearance

children believe the gender of others may change if outward appearance does or if they engage in activities associated with the opposite gender

what age is the gender constancy stage

7+ years

what happens in the gender constancy stage

children understand that a persons sex/ gender is constant over time and in different situations/ despite superficial changes in appearance

they start to learn about gender appropriate behaviour which is now relevant as they know gender cant change

they will seek out gender role models to identify with

they will develop and internalise a concept of gender

what is piaget’s theory of conservation and how is it relevant to gender development thoery

conservation is the understanding that something remains the same in quantity even though its appearance changes, Piaget suggests this develops around 7

under 7 children believe if someone appears to be a girl (eg wearing a dress) their gender will fit this- lacking the ability to conserve

what is piagets theory of egocentrism and how does it apply to gender schema theory

egocentrism means a child cannot see from another persons perspective. Piaget suggests the egocentric child believes everyone else sees hears and feels the same as them. this also continues to age 7

This explains why before 7 children can’t differentiate between self and other- if a man grows his hair long he has changed into a girl as that is what the child thinks

AO3 for Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

There is research evidence that supports each of Kohlberg’s 3 stages

The way that children’s gender constancy is measured has been criticised

A criticism of Kohlberg’s theory is that Slaby and Frey found gender differences with boys tending to exhibit gender constancy before girls

A criticism of the theory is that slaby and frey found that gender constancy appeared at a younger age than Kohlberg suggested- as young as 5

Research does not support Kohlberg’s claims that children dont aquire information about gender appropriate behaviour until they achieve gender constancy

There is research evidence that supports each of Kohlberg’s 3 stages

Evidence for gender labelling comes from Thompson who found that 2 year olds were 76% correct in identifying sex whereas 3 year olds were 90% correct. This shows an increasing ability to label themselves, as predicted

Gender stability was researched by Slaby and Frey who asked children questions such as were you a little boy or a little girl and will you be a mummy or a daddy when you grow up. The answers showed they did not recognise sex as stable over time until 3-4 years old as Kohlberg predicted

Slaby and Frey also provided support for Gender constancy as they showed a film with women on the right and men on the left. Children high in gender constancy (established by prior questions) showed greatest interest in same sex models

This suggests, as Kohlberg predicted, increasing constancy leads to more attention to gender appropriate models, furthering gender development

The way that children’s gender constancy is measured has been criticised

For example McConaghy found that if a doll was dressed in transparent clothes, children 3-5 years judged gender by its clothes not its genitals. This supports that children use supernatural appearance indicators to determine gender. However Bem criticised this method arguing that this task is nonsense- children will follow cues used in society to determine gender which is commonly hairstyles and clothing, not genitals. This is what is taught to children and so this is what they have learned. Slaby and Frey’s methods have also been criticised. Martin and Halverson suggested children were adopting a pretend mode and answering in this manner, rather than based on what they really believed. Children can’t distinguish between real and pretend and so may need to be told to answer as if the task was real

These criticisms weaken the internal validity of the research findings into gender constancy, reducing the support offered by them to Kohlberg’s theory

A criticism of Kohlberg’s theory is that Slaby and Frey found gender differences, with boys tending to exhibit gender constancy before girls

Huston points out that it is relatively easy to get girls to take on masculine-type activities but boys generally resist (eg not dressing up as a girl) Social learning theory can explain this difference as role models which boys identify with tend to be more powerful and power is one of the factors which determines how likely someone is to identify with a role model. Therefore, girls are less likely to identify with their role models as they are less powerful. Furthermore, Langlois and Downs found boys are more likely to be punished than girls for gender inappropriate behaviour and so learn appropriate gender behaviour more rapidly

This is a criticism as it suggests Kohlberg’s theory is incomplete as social learning theory processes are also involved

A criticism is that Slaby and Frey found that gender constancy appeared at a younger age than Kohlberg suggested- as young as 5

This may be because in the time since Kohlberg formulated his theory children’s lives have become very different- they are exposed to different kinds of gender information through the media and may develop their understandings of constancy at a much earlier age

This is not a direct challenge to the theory as it supports the idea that thinking about gender does change over time. However, it suggests that adjustments are necessary to the age at which this happens

Research does not support Kohlberg’s claims that children do not begin to acquire information about gender appropriate behaviour until they achieve gender constancy

Martin and little found that children under the age of 4 showed no signs of gender stability, let alone constancy, but did display strong gender stereotypes about what boys and girls were permitted to do

This shows that they have acquired information about gender roles before Kohlberg suggested, in line with the predictions of gender schema theory, which may provide evidence for this being a more valuable model/ theory

what is the gender schema theory

Takes a cognitive approach to gender development

First introduced by Bem but developed by Carol Martin and Charles Halverson

what is a schema

a cognitive framework of beliefs and expectations that help to organise and interpret information in the brain

They are developed based on experience

what are gender schemas

gender schemas are an organised set of beliefs and expectations related to gender that help us to make sense of new information

They allow understanding of gender appropriate behaviour

what are the factors that differentiate the gender schema theory from Kohlburg’s theory

1.they argue that the process of acquiring gender relevant information and taking in info about appropriate behaviours happens before gender constancy- they claim gender labelling is sufficient

2. they also suggest the acquisition of stereotypes/ schema affects later behaviour, especially in terms of memory and attention

what is an ingroup

people identify with those the same gender as them

they positively value this group and negatively evaluate the out group

this is done to improve self esteem

what is the meaning of resilience of gender beliefs

An important aspect of GST is that it can explain the power of gender beliefs

children hold fixed attitudes about gender as they ignore information is inconsisent with their ingroup information

How do peer relationships impact gender schema theory

Play with other children leads children to believe that all girls have the same interests and all boys have the same interests

they believe children of the opposite sex should be avoided because they are ‘not like me’ and are therefore less fun to play with

what is a second reason why children avoid playing with those of the other gender

there are potential consequences associated with different social relationships eg peers will tease the, for playing with members of the other sex

when do children develop gender schemas of the other sex

the age of 8-10 - only now do they match the complexity of the same sex schemas

what age does gender constancy develop according to the gender schema theory and what happens at this stage

Around 7 years

Children’s understanding of ‘what children like me do’ becomes more elaborated and this rule is treated as absolute

what happens at late childhood/ early adolescence

it is understood that ‘rules’ are just social conventions and gender-role schemas become more flexible

what do teenagers do according to the gender schema theory

abandon the automatic assumption that their own gender is preferable and a significant majority of teenagers define themselves as androgynous

AO3 for gender schema theory

Research supports the prediction from gender schema theory that children begin acquiring info about gender schemas at around 2-3 years old

There is evidence that children can label their gender earlier than 2-3 years of age

There is research support to show that gender schemas may lead children to memory distortions

Gender schema theory can explain why children are frequently sexist despite the best efforts of parents (eg barbie dolls for boys and toy guns for daughters)

There is research evidence to show that children do seem to pay greater attention to information that is consistent with gender schemas and that they remember this information better

It is likely that the importance of schemas and other cognitive factors are exaggerated within the theory

Research suggests the prediction from gender schema theory that children begin acquiring information about gender schemas at around 2-3 years old

Martin and Little found that children under the age of 4, who showed no signs of gender stability or constancy, demonstrated strongly sex- typed behaviours and attitudes about what boys and girls are allowed to do (sex role stereotypes)

This supports that gender identity is sufficient for a child to identify themselves as a boy or girl and take interest in behaviours that are appropriate for their gender. Therefore, they have acquired information about gender roles before Kohlberg suggested, supporting the proposals of gender schema theory

There is evidence that children can label their gender group earlier than 2-3 years of age

Zosuls et al recorded samples of childrens language and observed them play and concluded that children were using gender labels by the age of 19 months. Bandura and Bussey found that children show gender-typed preferences even earlier than this

This is seen as a challenge to gender schema theory as it contradicts the idea that gender identity is formed at 2-3 years old

There is research support to show that gender schemas may lead children to memory distortions

Martin and Halverson found that children under 6 were more likely to remember photographs of gender consistent behaviour (eg male firefighters) than photographs of gender inconsistent behaviours (eg a male nurse) when tested a week later. Children tended to change the sex of the person carrying out the gender inconsistent activity when asked to recall them. For example, when shown a boy holding a gun (consistent) or a boy holding a doll (inconsistent) children then described what they saw as a girl holding a doll

This supports that memory may be distorted to fit with existing gender schemas as proposed by the theory

Gender schema theory can explain why children are frequently sexist despite the best efforts of parents (eg barbie dolls for boys and toy guns for girls)

Information that conflicts with existing schema, such as the idea of a woman working on a building site, would be discounted or ignored in favour of information that confirms ingroup schema, such as a woman working as a secretary. However, Hoffman reports that children of mothers who work have less stereotyped vires of what men and women do, suggesting that children do not have entirely fixed views but are receptive to some gender inconsistent ideas. This has important implications for efforts to reduce gender stereotypes. It means that even when children are exposed to counter stereotypes they do not remember them accurately

This suggests that the use of counter stereotypes may not be the best way to reduce children’s gender schemas, instead practical approaches to changing stereotypes should involve direct experience of people who do not fit stereotypes

There is research evidence to show that children do seem to pay greater attention to information that is consistent with gender schemas, and that they remember this information better

Bardbard et al told 4-9 year olds that certain gender neutral items (eg burglar alarms, pizza cutters) were boy or girl items. Participants took greater interest in the toys labelled as ingroup. One week later, they were able to remember more details about ingroup objects

This suggests that children do actively seek information about what their ingroup does to develop their gender schema by paying more attention to such information, as proposed by the theory

It is likely that the importance of schemas and other cognitive factors was exaggerated within the theory

As with Kohlbergs theory, sufficient attention may not be paid to the role of social factors such as parental infulence and the role of rewards and punishments that a child receives for their gendered behaviour. For example, if a boy is punished for playing with dolls, he may be less likely to do so in the future

For this reason, the theory doesn’t really explain why gender schemas develop and take the form that they do

Who created the psychodynamic approach to gender development

Freud

what are the stages of freuds psychosexual theory and what age do each take place

Oral 0-18mths

Anal 18 mths- 3 yrs
Phallic 3-6 yrs

Latent 6yrs- puberty

Genital puberty onwards

what is the oral stage and the consequence of unresolved conflicts in this stage

Focus of libido in the mouth- being breastfed and weaned

will pick up and such objects

could have conflict due to under or over feeding leading to smoking, biting nails, being sarcastic and critical

what is the anal stage and the consequence of unresolved conflicts in this stage

focus of libido on anus due to potty training and controlling excretion

too strict or too lax potty training can cerate conflict

leading to anally retentive (perfectionist and obsessive) or anally expulsive (thoughtless and messy) personalities

what is the phallic stage and the consequence of unresolved conflicts in this stage

Focus on the genitals- becomes aware of gender differences

Superego develops through resolution of Oedipus or Electra complex

Conflict can lead to a phallic personality- narcissistic and reckless

freud suggested this may lead to homosexuality

what is the latent stage and the consequence of unresolved conflicts in this stage

sexual desires remain dormant

earlier conflicts and issues are repressed and so children can’t remember much of their early years.

no conflicts

what is the genital stage and the consequence of unresolved conflicts in this stage

beginning of mature adult sexuality. Sexual desires become conscious alongside onset of puberty

conflict leads to difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

When did freud suggest gender identity develops

During the Phallic stage (3-6 years old) as children become aware of their own genitals and the physical differences between males and females

gender identity is further shaped by the unconscious conflicts of this stage

What is the Oedipus complex

Applies to boys. Suggests boys develop a sexual interest for their mother, resulting in jealousy hatred and rivalry towards the father

The boy thus fears that his father will discover his feelings towards his mother and punish him by removing his penis (castration anxiety)

At this point, the boy has a conflict between lust for his mother and hostility and jealousy to his father

how does a boy resolve the oedipus conflict

gives up the desire for his mother and identifies with his father through a process called identification

This allows him to incorporate his father into his own personality and internalise his male gender

If a boy does not resolve the oedipus complex, he will be confused about his sexual identity and may become homosexual