Kohlberg's Cognitive Developmental Theory

• Children actively construct knowledge about gender by observing and interacting with their world. ¹⁸

• There are three stages of understanding gender:

  • Gender identity (2-3 years): Children categorize themselves and others as boy or girl, but don't believe gender is permanent. ¹⁹

  • Gender stability (3-4 years): Children understand that gender remains stable over time, but non-typical appearance causes confusion. ¹⁹

  • Gender constancy (5-6 years): Children understand that gender is invariant across situations and begin to attend to gender roles. ¹⁹

Empirical Evidence: Gender Identity, Stability, and Constancy

• Studies using pointing tasks show that 24-28 month olds can label themselves and others by gender, but don't yet label toys and activities as gender-typed. 【7,8】

• By 4 years, children tend to understand gender stability but not constancy. ¹⁹

• By 5 years, nearly all children pass gender constancy tasks. ⁷

Gender Role Stereotypes

• Gender role stereotypes emerge early, even before gender constancy is achieved.

• Toddlers (24 months) show awareness of gender stereotypes for household activities, with girls demonstrating more stereotyped behaviors than boys. 【14,15,16】

• Gender stereotypes about occupations are established by 3-4 years old, with girls having more fixed stereotypes than boys. 【17,18】

• Stereotypes about personality and emotion are evident from around 5 years old and well-established by 8-9 years. 【19,20】

Gender Typed Behaviors

• Gender-typed toy preferences are observed in children as young as 9-17 months, prior to their ability to label gender identity. ⁷

• Boys are more likely than girls to have intense interests, and most of these interests are gender-typed. ⁹

• Preference for same-gender peers emerges in the toddler years and increases until age 6, reinforcing gender-typed behaviors. ²⁰

• In adolescence, gender role beliefs and behaviors either intensify or become more flexible, with girls more likely to explore gender role flexibility. ²¹

Social Cognitive Theory

• Social cognitive theory explains gender development as being constructed from social experiences, cognitive processes, motivational processes, and behavioral processes. 【25,26,27,29,30,31】

• Children learn from observation and their understanding of gender is influenced by social experiences, such as observation, tuition, and evaluative reactions from others. 【27,28】

• Cognitive, motivational, and behavioral processes, such as attention, retention, reinforcement, and self-regulation, also shape gender development. 【29,30,31】

Gender Schema Theory

• Gender schemas are children's mental representations of gender, which develop as soon as they can label gender identity (18 months to 2 years). 【34,35】

• Gender schemas filter information and directly motivate behavior, in contrast to Kohlberg's theory where gender constancy was a prerequisite. 【34,35】

Biological Approaches

• Biological approaches examine how sex-related variation in physical development relates to gender development, particularly focusing on sex differences in play preferences, physical aggression, and activity levels. 【37,38,39】

• Prenatal hormone exposure, such as increased testosterone, has been linked to male-typed play and interests, but the complex interactions between biological, social, and cognitive factors are not yet fully understood. 【38,39,40】