cognitive explanations: kohlbergs theory

• stage 1: gender identity?

  2-3 years, children able to identify themselves and others as boy/girl. dont realise that gender is fixed and says the same over time.
• stage 2: gender stability?

  4-5 years, now realise their gender stays the same over time, but cant apply this logic to other people in other situations, get confused by external changes in appearance. believe people change gender if they engage in activities that are associated with other gender.
• stage 3: gender constancy?

  6 years, recognise their gender and other peoples gender remains constant across time and situations. no longer fooled by changes in appearance. start to seek gender appropriate role models to identify with and imitate. gender stereotyping emerges at this age
• strength of kohlberg's theory?

  P - evidence suggesting gender stereotyping does emerge at age 6 like predicted.

  E - damon told children a story about a boy who liked to play with dolls and asked them to comment about it. 4 year olds said it was fine for george to play with dolls but 6 year olds thought it was wrong.

  E - had gone beyond understanding what boys and girls do to developing ideas about what they ought to do.

  L - children who achieved constancy have formed rigid stereotypes regarding gender appropriate behaviour.
• CA for strength of kohlbergs theory?

  P - research challenging the idea that an interest in gender appropriate behaviour only develops at age 6.

  E - bussey and bandura found that children as young as 4 reported feeling good about playing with gender appropriate toys and bad about doing the opposite.

  L - contradicts kohlbergs theory but supports gender schema theory, which suggests children begin to absorb gender appropriate info as soon as they identify themselves as boy/girl.
• limitation of kohlbergs theory?

  P - supporting research relies on unsatisfactory methods to assess gender constancy.

  E - bem criticised methodology used in many studies of the link between gender and cognitive development. key test of gender constancy in such studies is whether a child understands that gender stays the same despite changes in appearance and context. argued its little wonder younger children are confused by this as in our culture its how we demarcate one gender from another. identify men and women through their clothes and hair. in bem's own study, 40% of children aged 3-5 years able to demonstrate constancy if shown a naked photo of the child to be identified first.

  L - typical way of testing gender constancy may misrepresent what younger children actually know.
• another limitation of kohlberg's theory?

  P - other researchers suggested there may be different degrees of gender constancy.

  E - martin et al point out that when and how the children's understanding of their own and other peoples gender guides their thoughts and behaviours affects children's gender related behaviour is unclear. he suggests that there may be different degrees of constancy. an initial degree may orient children to the importance of gender- in choosing friends or seeking information. a second degree of constancy may heighten children's responsiveness to gender norm's like choosing appropriate clothes or attitudes.

  L - the acquisition of constancy may be a more gradual process and may begin earlier than kohlberg thought.