AO3

• Gender schemas develop without constancy:

  Martin and Little found that preschool children had no gender stability but did have strong gender stereotypes for what males and females could do. This shows they had acquired information about gender roles before Kohlberg suggested it was possible, so supports gender schema.
• There is evidence supporting the idea that gender schemas may actually change or distort memory. For example, Martin and Halverson found that children are more likely to remember gender-consistent as photos that have been displayed to them. Schemas may also impact the cognitive processing of gender-relevant information in such young children, as they have been shown the change the main characters in gender-inconsistent photographs to meet their own personal ideas and perceptions of gender constancy. This provides significant support for the influence of gender schemas.
• Research support - Campbell et al (2000)

  • observed young children and compared the amount of time they watched same sex models and the opposite gender
  • He found that childern did watch the same sex role modles for longer. This supports the in group idea proposed by Martin and Halverson