Cognitive explanations for gender development

• Identify the two cognitive explanations for gender development

  Kohlberg’s theory and the gender schema theory
• Identify/outline the 1st stage of the kohlberg theory

  The gender identity stage – occurs between 2-3 years. In this stage, the child can identify what gender themselves and other people are (i.e. boy or girl).

  However, they do this by focusing on superficial characteristics such as hair length i.e. long hair = girl, short hair = Boy. Children at this stage do not understand that gender is permanent e.g. a boy may think he can grow up and become a mummy.
• Identify/outline the 2nd stage of the kohlberg theory

   The gender stability stage – occurs between 4-6 years. In this stage, the child now understands that their own gender is permanent despite any appearance changes e.g. if a boy grows his hair long, he still recognises that he is a boy. they cannot apply this logic to other people e.g. if another boy grows his hair long, he will then he is now a girl. They also believe that people change gender if they carry out activities associated with the opposite gender (e.g. a female builder may be identified as a man).
• Identify/outline the 3rd stage of the kholberg theory

   Gender constancy stage – occurs at 7yrs onwards.

  In this stage the child now understands that the gender of both themselves and others remains the same despite changes in appearance/behaviour.

  This results in them engaging in socialisation i.e. they seek out same-sex role models whom they identify with and observe and imitate their behaviours. this means that, according to Kohlberg, children do not actively process gender information until they reach the gender constancy stage i.e. 7yrs of age.
• Kholberg - staged theory of gender development

  Kohlberg proposed a staged theory of gender development that comprises of 3 stages: gender identity, gender stability and gender constancy.

  The gender identity stage occurs between 2-3yrs of age and refers to when a child can identify their own and others gender based on superficial characteristics such as hair length. They do not recognise that gender is permanent.
• Outline gender stability stage

  The gender stability stage occurs between 4-6yrs of age and refers to when a child learns to understand that their own gender is permanent despite any changes in appearance but cannot apply this logic to other people.
• gender constancy stage the gender constancy stage

  occurs at 7+yrs of age and refers to when a child understands that their own and others gender is permanent and then actively start to process gender information by seeking out same-sex role models whom they then observe and imitate. Kohlberg therefore suggested that a child’s understanding of gender becomes more complex with age. This is because of biological maturation i.e. as children’s’ brains biologically mature, so too does their thinking about gender.
• Supporting evidence - kohlberg

  researchers found children aged 4 and above could accurately identify whether they were a boy/girl and whether they would be a mum/dad when older. strength as it supports the proposal that understanding of gender stability occurs at this age range i.e. they begin to understand their gender is permanent. they also found that children aged 7 and above would spent more time observing images of same-sex role models rather than adults of the opposite sex. strength - supports the proposal that children seek socialisation during the gender constancy stage. + cred.
• limitation of Kohlberg’s theory is that it is based off evidence that has methodological flaws.

  This is because Kohlberg identified the stages through

  interviews with young children. This is a limitation because young children may have lacked the vocabulary to fully express their understanding of gender. This means their understanding may be more complex at a younger age than suggested, it is just that they cannot verbalise this. Therefore questions credibility.
• Limitation-Kohlberg theory-gender development occurs earlier

  Kohlberg proposed children do not start to actively process gender-related information until they reach the gender constancy stage/7rs of life. limitation -evidence suggests that children demonstrate sex-stereotypical behaviour before this younger boys refuse to play with dolls-they have actively processed what is and what it not expected of their gender. instead findings would better support gender schema theory-children actively process gender related information-when can identify whether they are a boy/girl at 2yrs of age.
• limitation of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

  is that it focuses on description rather than explanation.

  E.g. Kohlberg’s theory provides information on how children are likely to think about gender at different stages but fails to explain why this change happens other than vaguely stating it is due to biological maturation of the brain. This is a limitation because it limits the ability of the theory when it comes to explaining gender development. Therefore questions credibility.
• Explain what is meant by gender schema

  Gender schema refers to mental representations/understanding about gender based on experiences.
• Outline gender schema theory - continuous theory

  The gender schema theory proposes a continuous theory of gender development whereby a child’s understanding of gender becomes more complex as they develop their gender schemas. It proposes that children begin to actively process gender-related information as soon as they are able to identify their gender at 2-3 years of age. This is because they identify with their in-group (those of the same gender) and seek information from them regarding what is gender appropriate behaviour
• Outline the gender schema theory - results

  This is because they identify with their in-group (those of the same gender) and seek information from them regarding what is gender appropriate behaviour.

  This results in children positively evaluating their in-group and negatively evaluate their out-group (i.e. boys will favour other boys over girls).
• Outline the gender schema theory - ignores/ rejects

  They also ignore or reject behaviours associated with the other gender (e.g. boys refusing to play with dolls), and tend to forget or distort any information that does

  not fit their gender schema (e.g. children watching women cooking and mowing the lawn are more likely to remember the woman cooking). This means that children’s gender schemas start off as being simplistic and rigid. However, through experience, children adapt their gender schemas to become more flexible (e.g. boys recognise that they can like the colour pink too).
• Strength of the GS theory - SE

  children pictures saw ppl carrying out either sex-stereotypical activities that were consistent with their GS (man mowing the lawn) or non sex-stereotypical activities that were not consistent with their GS (woman fixing car). when they tested the children a week later - better at remembering the images that were consistent with GS. gender inconsistent pictures, children would distort images by recalling that it was the expected sex who carried out the activity (man was fixing a car, not Fem).strength-supports children distort infor. To fit their GS. + cred.
• What is a strength of the gender schema theory supported by cross-cultural research?

  A strength is that it has received supporting evidence from cross-cultural research. For example, in Papua New Guinea, researchers found that gender behaviors differed significantly between tribes. In one tribe, women were more dominant than men, which contrasts with Western societies. This supports the theory because different cultural experiences lead to the development of different gender schemas, which results in varied gender behaviors. This adds credibility to the theory.
• Strength of GS theory is that its more appropriate than kholbergs theory

  children start to actively process gender-related information once they can identify their gender at 2yrs of age whereas Kohlberg’s theory proposes that children do not start to actively process gender related information until 7+ years of age. strength of the GS theory as its proposal is better supported by evidence e.g.children as young as 2 can be seen engaging in sex-stereotypical behaviour (e.g. boys refusing to play with dolls) so they must have processed this gender-related information. adds cred
• Limitation - focus nurture only

  limitation is that the gender schema theory focuses solely on the nurture aspect of the nature-nurture debate, emphasizing how environmental experiences shape gender schemas. This is limiting because biological factors also play a role in gender development. For example, atypical sex chromosome patterns, like in Klinefelter's syndrome, can lead to atypical gender behaviors, such as a shy and passive temperament in males. Many researchers now propose a biosocial approach, combining both biological and environmental factors, questioning the theory's credibility.
• identify similarities between the two cognitive theories of gender

  Both are cognitive theories of development i.e. emphasise the role of cognitive factors in gender development. Both highlight the importance of environment experiences e.g. Kohlberg’s focus on socialisation during the gender constancy stage and gender schema theory’s focus on forming and adapting gender schema through environmental experiences.
• Differences cognitive

  Kohlberg’s is a staged theory whereas GS theory is a continuous process. Kohlberg’s theory-children progress through the 3 stages of gender identity, stability and constancy. the GS theory-children continuously develop their understanding of gender by adapting their schemas. The GS theory-children begin to actively process gender-related info. at a younger age. Kohlberg stated children do not actively start processing gender-related info. until 7yrs of age whereas gender schema theory states it occurs at 2 years of age when child identify their gender