SLT

• what are the parts of slt affecting gender development?

  indirect reinforcement

  mediational processes

  direct reinforcement

  direct tuition

  self direction
• how does indirect reinforcement affect gender development?

  • children observe others behaviour and learn the consequences
  • by observing gender behaviours and the consequences, children learn what is appropriate for each gender
  • they learn what is worth repeating through observation and vicarious reinforcement and are likely to only repeat behaviours of people they identify with (same sex)
• how do the mediational processes affect gender development?

  provided the gender behaviour surpasses the mediational processes and the reward is greater than the punishment they will imitate the behaviour
• what are the mediational processes?

  attention, retention, motivation, reproduction
• how is gender maintained through direct reinforcement?

  if a child is rewarded for certain gender behaviours they are likely to learn and repeat it or not

  eg, a boy may see another boy getting attention from wearing a dress but when he tries, he gets punished by being teased- thus maintaining the sterotypical male gender
• what is direct tuition?

  explicit instructions telling someone whats right or wrong
• how does direct tuition affect gender development?

  if a boy is explicitly told a toy is 'a boys toy' his gender views will be reinforced because he deems it appropriate to continue playing with 'boy toys'
• what is self direction?

  the auntonomy to direct yourself once you have learnt something
• how does self direction affect gender development?

  once children have internalised gender-appropriate behaviours they are no longer reliant on rewards or punishments to guide them and can direct their own behaviour, maintaining their gender behaviours
• evidence to support modelling

  banduras bobo doll study (in basic SLT)

  Perry and Bussey: showed clips to children choosing fruit, later the boys selected the fruit they saw a boy pick up (vice versa)

  • but this was only the case when the model fitted gender sterotypes eg, a boy wearing a dress = no imitation (suggesting modelling is limited due to existing sterotypes)
• evidence for the importance of direct tution

  Martin et al

  boys played with toys labelled 'boys toys' even if they saw a girl model playing with them but they didnt play with toys labelled 'girls toys' even if they saw a boy model playing with them

  • suggesting direct tution is more important than modelling than previously thought
• importance of self direction

  Bussey and Bandura

  • asked children to approve/disapprove of others playing with gender consistent or inconsistent toys
  • they disapproved of others but did not disapprove of themselves for inconsistant behaviour
  • older children however disapproved of both
  • shows how self regulation increases with age
• problems with social learning theory on gender

  not incorperating the biological influences