Gender Development

What type of process is the determination of sex?

The determination of sex is a multi-stage biological process which provides the foundation upon which gender identity and bv are later shaped

What has the timeline of gender dv moved from?

simple explanations of just socialisation only to complex, integrated explanations inc cog and bio

What did early research notice?

that kids showed gender typed bv v early around 5yo so they asked if parents/social env shape gender

What did Sears et al (1957) do?

observed parent child interactions and measured how parents treated boys vs girls and reinforcement of bv

found boys and girls were rewarded for diff bvs and encouraged into diff activities

gender dfrs come from how children are raised

What emerged in the 1960s?

2 major theories

cog-dvlpmental theory (Kohlberg, 1966) - cdr actively think and construct gender which dvlps through stages - ACTIVE thinker

social learning theory (Michel, 1966) - gender is learned through reinforcement and punishment - PASSIVE thinker

What did Kohlberg do? (1966)

interviewed cdr of diff ages, asking questions like are you a boy or girl and also used hypothetical scenarios

What did Kohlberg find?

cdr go through stages

gender identity - 2-3yrs

gender stability - 4-5yrs

gender constancy - 6-7yrs

cdr actively construct gender understanding which then drives bv

What did Mischel do (1966)?

experimental studies where cdr observed models sa adults behaving in gendered ways

manipulated rewards vs punishments and found cdr imitate same sex models and bv increases when rewarded

gender is learned through reinforcement and modelling

What happened in the 1970s?

Maccoby & Jacklin (1974) argued that socialisation might be less imp than prev thought which sparked debate about biology vs env

What did Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) do?

massive review of existing studies and looked at aggression, spatial ability and social bv

found fewer gender dfrs than expected and socialisation alone cldnt expl everything

gender dfrs are more complex not just parenting

What did gender theories move towards in the 1980s?

integration and Huston, (1983) called for a more comprehensive approach inc biology, cognition and social factors

gender dv is multifactorial

What did Bandura and Bussey (1999) do?

Social Cognitive Theory which combines learning, cognition and biology

built on earlier experiments and studies observational learning, self-regulation and self-efficacy

found that cdr imitate models, eval their own bv and regulate themselves based on gender norms

What does Kohlberg’s Cognitive Developmental Stage Theory of Gender (1966) stress the role of?

cognitions: the product of self-driven processes, sa concepts of the body, the physical and social world, and general categories of rs

What does Kohlberg’s theory say cdr develop?

gender-related beliefs and bvs as the result of their own basic conceptions about the world

What are the 3 cog achievements in Kohlberg’s theory?

gender identity, gender stability and full gender constancy

What is gender identity?

children’s abilities to identify themselves as boys or girls

critical step in theory, and is accomplished when children are as young as 2/3

when they recognise their own sex, then cdr seek to do same-sex things, in turn finding that doing them is rewarding

theory assumes that sex-typed bv and attitudes emerge

What is gender stability?

understanding of lasting nature of gender, which happens around 4/5 years

Before this age, cdr show confusion about the continuous nature of going from boy to man or girl to woman - reflects a child’s cognitive limitation

What is gender consistency/constancy?

understanding that an indv’s gender is fixed, and remains constant even in the face of various superficial changes in appearance.

What is the gender schema theory? (Bem 1981)

child's own qualities are thought to play an active role in gender outcomes.

primary focus is on how cdr’s basic understanding of gender and their gender schemata (their own attitudes and kn abt gender) affect their interactions and processing of objects/people/events in the world.

What does gender schemata affect?

child’s cog processes like perceiving, interpreting or remembering gender-related material, and have profound effects on developmental outcomes

What are schemas defined as?

naïve theories that guide info processing by structuring experiences, regulating bv and providing bases for making inferences and interpretations.

gender schemas are presumed to arise from indvs tendencies to categorise info, combined w/ the fact that gender categories are physically salient and are functionally used in the surrounding env

What do in grp/out grp schemas consist of?

contain info abt what the culture defines as being appropriate for or linked to m versus f

What is an own sex schema?

narrower, more detailed and specific version of in-grp/out-grp schemas consisting of the info cdr have about the objects, bv, traits and roles that characterise their own sex

schema is explicitly tied to the gender of the child who has it

What is the dual pathway gender schema theory? (Martin et al 2002)

earlier gender schema theories say cdr use schemas to guide bv but this version adds indv dfrs and 2 directional infl bt beliefs and bv

What are the 2 pathways in the DPGST?

attitudinal pathway - cdr have gender beliefs (schemas) which guide what they choose to do

personal pathway - what cdr do can change what they believe

What did researchers do when studying the AP?

asked cdr who plays with this toy or is this for boys or girls, then observed what toys/activities they chose

found that gender schemas direct bv - if a child believes dolls are for girls, girls play with dolls, boys avoid them

What did researchers do when studying the PP?

observed cdr engaging in non-stereotypical activities sa boys doing ballet and found that cdr who engage in activities become more flexible in their beliefs sa boy who does ballet thinks this is for both genders

experience can reshape gender schemas

Evaluate the DGPST

strengths - more realistic than earlier GST, expl flexibility in gender bv

limitations - still focuses heavily on cognition, doesnt fully expl bio infl, wider social structures

What does the DPGST propose?

that gender dv is shaped by a bidirectional rs between children’s beliefs and behaviours, allowing for both the reinforcement and modification of gender stereotypes.

What does the attitudinal pathway model demonstrate?

how cdr use gender schemas as cog filters to eval and guide their bv in gender-typed contexts

Evaluate the APM

S - expl how stereotypes guide bv step-by-step

L - overly cog and ignores emotions, social pressure sa peers

What does the personal pathway model suggest?

that cdr’s direct experiences w/ activities can lead to the modification of gender schemas, highlighting the role of bv in shaping beliefs

Eval the PPM

S - expl change and flexibility and accts for non stereotypical bv

L - assumes cdr will engage freely but in reality parents/peers may stop them

What are the cog foundations of the gender schema theory?

cdr need to identify themselves as boy or girls to motivate the processes of dvlping and enacting detailed info abt activities, objects and bvs that are related to their own sex.

cdr must also be able to identify others as members of the male or female categories.

cdr must be able to systematically link things like toys, activities, occupations, clothes and so on to males and females.

What is the social cog theory rooted in?

•learning theory (mechanisms: reinforcement and punishment) (Mischel, 1966)

What does the SCT (Mischel, 1966) say?

Learning and bv change occur because of what is encountered in the env

boys and girls come to behave differently bc the consq of given bvs differ for boys and girls. E.g., reward vs punishment

As a result, the mechanisms of reinforcement and punishment play a major role in what bvs boys and girls acquire

What is the core idea of the SCT (Bussey and Bandura, 1999)?

gender dv comes from an interaction of 3 things

triadic reciprocal determinism - bv, personal factors sa thoughts and beliefs and env sa parents and media

What was the foundation of B&B’s SCT?

Ba’s earlier work in bobo doll experiments where cdr watched adults bv then imitated bv esp when model was rewarded - cdr learn by observing and copying others

What did BB show using Bandura’s earlier idea?

3 main learning processes of:

imitation and modelling (cdr copy same sex models more) - gender bv is learnt through observation

experiencing consqs (reinforcement) - studies how cdrs bv is rewarded and punished - gender appropriate bv rewarded - bv shaped by RI

direct teaching - gender roles are explicitly taught where adults directly tell cdr thats for boys/girls

What is another additional key concept BB found?

self efficacy - cdr dvlp beliefs abt what they’re good at sa girls feel more capable in feminine domains

Evaluate BB’s SCT

S - expl how bv is learned, inc cognition and env

L - underestimates biological infls and can be deterministic (env ctrls bv)

What does BB’s SCT propose?

that gender dv occurs through the dynamic interaction of bv, cog processes, and env influences, primarily via modelling, reinforcement, and direct instruction.