Gender Schema Theory

• A Gender Schema is an organised set of beliefs and expectations related to gender which are derived from experiences
• Gender schemas guide a person's understanding of gender-appropriate behaviour
• Martin & Halverson found evidence to support gender schema theory
• Martin & Halverson showed 5-6 year olds pictures of sex-consistent & inconsistent behaviour and found that children distorted memories to fit their schemas
• Inconsistent behaviours will be ignored or forgotten as they don't fit the child's script
• A Script is the child's idea of activities and actions that fit the stereotypes of their gender identity, built through schemas
• Children have a better understanding of their 'in-group' than their 'out-group' because once they have established gender identity they search the environment for information encouraging gender schemas
• Children develop understanding of gender by actively structuring learning and it increases with age
• Gender schema theory states that children learn pre-programmed schema at around 2-3 years
• Little & Martin found evidence to support gender schema theory and limit Kohlberg's theory
• Little and Martin found that children under 4 who showed no signs of gender stability or constancy demonstrated strong sex-typed behaviour
• Stangor & Ruble proposed that gender constancy and gender schema are two different processes as schemas describe organisation of memory whilst constancy describes motivation to carry out gender-appropriate behaviour
• Gender schema theory is limited as there may be overemphasis on the role of the individual when social factors e.g. parents and surrounding environment e.g. school may also affect this
• Gender schema theory ignores the role of reward and punishment