Cognitive explanations of Gender development

• Cognitive explanations of gender development

  Cognitive psychologists propose that gender development occurs when children change how they think about gender. Two cognitive

  explanations of gender development include Kohlberg’s theory and gender schemas theory.
• what are the 4 parts of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

  • Kohlberg’s theory is a staged theory of gender development.

  • It is based on the idea that a child’s understanding of gender (including what counts as appropriate gender behaviours/attitudes)

  becomes more sophisticated with age.

  • This is because his theory is driven by biological maturation – as children's’ brains biologically mature, so too does their thinking.

  • The age of the child therefore determines how they processes information about gender.
• Kohlberg’s stages of gender development include:

  -Gender identity (2-3 years)

  -Gender stability (4-6 years)

  -Gender constancy (7+ years)
• Describe Kohlberg’s stages of gender development in Gender identity

  -At approx. 2-3 years, a child develops an awareness of their own and others’ gender.

  -They label (identify) themselves and others as either a boy or girl.

  -identification of gender is based on superficial characteristics such

  as hair length.

  -children at this stage would label people with short hair as boys and people with long hair as girls.

  -Children at this stage also do not understand that gender is permanent.
• Describe Kohlberg’s stage of gender development: Gender stability

  -At approx. 4-6 years, a child learns to understand that their own gender is permanent.

  -the child understands that they will always be a boy or

  a girl (despite if any outward appearance changes)

  -children of this age cannot apply this logic to other people

  -They are often confused by external changes in others’ appearance
• Kohlberg’s stage of gender development : Gender constancy

  -At approx. 7+ years, a child understands that the gender of both themselves and others is unchanged despite changes in outward appearance or behaviour.

  -Once gender constancy is achieved, a child is thought to seek out same sex role models through socialisation.

  -This involves children observing and imitating behaviours from role models they identify with i.e. the same sex.

  -According to Kohlberg, children therefore do not actively start processing gender information until they reach the gender constancy stage.
• Evaluation of Kohlberg’s cognitive theory of gender development

  -it is supported by research evidence

  -research shows that understanding of gender develops earlier than Kohlberg suggested.

  -it may have been developed out of findings that lacked validity.

  -it focuses on description rather than explanation.
• Gender schema

  Gender schema refers to mental representations of experience and understanding regarding gender and gender-related behaviours
• Gender schema theory

  suggests that a child’s gender development reflects the increasing complexity of the schemas they develop around what constitutes appropriate behaviour for each gender.

  These schemas are acquired and developed through

  interaction with others after they establish their gender identify at approximately 2-3 years of age.

  Gender schema theory therefore views children as playing an active role in their gender development from an early age.
• Although gender schema theory proposes a continuous theory of gender development (i.e. it is not a staged theory), it can be broken

  down in the following way:

  Development of in-group and out-group schemas

  Development of gender stereotypical schemas

  Accommodation of schemas
• Development of in-group and out-group schemas:

  • Children first identify with a gender group (e.g., boy or girl).
  • They consider people of the same gender as their in-group and the opposite gender as the out-group.
  • In-group and out-group schemas include general ideas about gender (e.g., girls have long hair, boys have short hair).
  • Children positively evaluate their in-group and negatively evaluate their out-group (e.g., boys prefer boys over girls).
  • This leads them to align more with their in-group than with their out-group.
• Development of gender stereotypical schemas:

  • After identifying their in-group and out-group, children seek information about gender-appropriate behaviours.
  • They engage in activities associated with their gender and reject those linked to the opposite gender.
  • Their understanding of gender at this stage is simplistic and rigid (e.g., a girl may reject non-pink objects).
  • Children are more likely to remember information that fits their gender schema and forget or distort what doesn't.
  • For example, a girl might recall a woman cooking and ironing but forget she mowed the lawn.
• Accommodation of schemas:

  • As children gain more experiences, their gender schemas become more complex and flexible.
  • Their expectations of gender behaviour become less rigid (e.g., boys can like pink too).
  • This happens through accommodation, where they adapt to new gender-related information.
• Summarise the similarities between Kohlberg’s theory and gender schema theory

  • Both theories focus on how children develop an understanding of gender.
  • They agree that gender understanding influences behaviour.
  • Both suggest children actively seek gender-related information
• Summarise the differences between Kohlberg’s theory and gender schema theory:

  • Kohlberg’s theory emphasizes developmental stages, with gender constancy achieved around age 6-7.
  • Gender schema theory argues children form gender schemas as early as age 2-3, shaping behaviour immediately.
  • Kohlberg focuses on cognitive development, while gender schema theory emphasizes the role of schemas in shaping behaviour early on.
• Evaluation of the gender schema theory

  • it is supported by research evidence.
  • it is able to account for cross-cultural research findings into gender development.
  • theory as an explanation for gender development is that it may suffer from beta bias.
  • it focuses solely on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate.