Gender Schema Theory

• The Gender Schema theory developed by Martin and Halverson argues that children’s understanding of gender changes with age. This theory shares Kohlberg’s view that children develop their understanding of gender by actively structuring their own learning rather than passively observing and imitating role models
• Schemas are mental constructs that develop from experience and are used by the cognitive system to organise knowledge and certain topics. Gender schemas are our generalised expectations of everything we know in relation to gender and stereotypically appropriate gender behaviour. Martin and Halverson believe that once a child has established gender identity around 2-3 years old he or she will begin to search the environment for information that encourages the development of gender schema
• For young children schema is formed around stereotypes such as ‘boys play with trucks’. This provides a framework that directs experience and the child’s understanding of themselves. ‘I’m a boy so I play with trucks’. By 6 years old children have a fixed and stereotypical idea for what’s appropriate for their gender, therefore children are likely to disremember and disregard information that doesn’t fit with their existing schema
• Children tend to have a better understanding of schema appropriate to their own gender, the ingroup, which supports the idea that children pay more attention to information relevant to their gender rather than the other gender, the outgroup. Once children are around the age of 8 years old they develop elaborate schemas for both genders
• Freud’s developmental theory sees children pass through 5 biologically driven psychosexual stages. The third stage, the phallic stages is when gender development occurs between the ages 3-6 years. Prior to reaching the phallic stage children have no concept of gender and during this stage the focus of pleasure for the child switches to the genitals. This leads to children experiencingthe Oedipus or the Electra complex, which are crucial in the formation of gender identity.
• The Oedipus complex occurs during the phallic stage and is when boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and harbour jealousy for their father who stands in the way of the boy possessing his mother. However, the boy realises his father is more powerful and fears his father will castrate him for his feeling towards his mother causing castration anxiety. The conflict is resolved by the boy giving up his love for his mother and identifying with his father.
• The Electra complex occurs during the phallic stage and is when girls experience penis envy. They see themselves and their mother as competitors for their father’s love, which leads to the girl developing a double resentment towards their mother. First the mother is a love rival and the daughter blames the mother for having no penis.
• The concept of the Electra complex came form Carl Jung who suggested that over time girls accept that they will never have a penis, therefore substituting penis envy with the desire to have children so they identify with their mother
• The crux of Frued’s theory is that children of both sexes identify with the same gender parents as a means of resolving their respective complexes. This involves children taking on board the gender identity of the same gender parent, which is internalisation. This means both boys and girls receive a ‘second hand’ gender identity all at once at the end of the phallic stage
• Freud illustrated the concept of the Oedipus Complex using the case of Little Hans. Hans was a 5 year old boy with a fear of being bitten by a horse, which stemmed from an incident seeing a horse collapse and die in the street. However, Freud’s interpretation was that Han’s fear of being bitten represented his fear of castration and he suggested that Hans had transferred his fear of his father onto horses via the unconscious defence mechanise of displacement