Psychological explanations

• how does the cognitive approach explain gender development


  the cognitive approach to gender considers the development of our thought patterns and cognitions:

  children's understanding of gender (appropriate roles, behaviours and attitudes) become more sophisticated with age as we biologically and cognitively mature
• how does gender develop

  it develops through a series of 3 universal stages:

  all children go through them

  the ages are approximate

  the transition between stages is gradual
• what 3 stages did Kohlberg develop

  stage 1: gender identity

  stage 2: gender stability

  stage 3: gender constancy
• explain gender identity stage

  age = 2-3 years

  able to identity if they are a girl or a boy

  can label gender of themself and others, but their undertsanding is based on external appearance only
• explain gender stability stage

  age = 4-5years

  realise that their gender is consistent over time for themself (a girl becomes a lady)

  However their perception of others is dominated by external appearance, e.g a man with long hair = described as female
• explain gender constancy stage

  age = 6 years

  gender is constant and consistent across time and situations, for themself and others

  they are no longer affected by changes to outward appearances
• how does Kohlberg explain the importance of role models

  his belief was that once children discover and understand their gender (stage 3) that they them actively seek out role models to identify with

  (DIFFERENT to other explanations on models)
• when do children learn gender appropriate behaviours

  it's only when we seek role models that children learn gender appropriate behaviour
• what evidence supports Kohlberg's theory (% one)

  + 76% of 2 year old labelled their own gender correctly and 90% of 3 year olds:

  supports the stages and ages of gender development and when gender identity occurs
• what evidence supports Kohlberg's theory (doll)


  + children shown a doll with male genitals visible through a dress, children under 5 = doll to be female due to external appearance:
• how does this support Kohlberg's theory

  This supports Kohlberg's theory as at 4-5yrs old children are in stage 2: gender stability, which explains children are unable to determine the gender of others due to external appearances
• what is a weakness with Kohlberg's explanation (assessment)

  - issues with the way Kohlberg assessed the children:

  theory was developed using interviews with children who were 2 or 3, so may not have the vocabulary required to express their understanding
• why is this an issue

  This is an issue because they may have a more complex understanding of gender but just cant express it, Kohlberg made the assumption that a lack of expression meant a lack of understanding
• what is a weakness with Kohlberg's explanation (validity) - why

  - evidence that age for gender constancy is younger now than what Kohlberg suggested originally

  Perhaps due to social media influences, so children get more information about gender at an earlier age
• why is this a weakness of this explanation

  it lacks temporal validity as modern society may alter stages of gender identity, so may not apply to children's development now
• what is a weakness with Kohlberg's explanation (differences)

  - Gender Differences: some evidence that boys exhibit gender constancy before girls, it's also easier to get girls to take on masculine behaviours, than for boys to take on feminine behaviours
• how is this an issue - other explanations

  This can be explained by SLT: a boy is more likely to be punished for gender inappropriate behaviour than girls; therefore they learn gender appropriate behaviour quicker.

  Perhaps Kohlberg's ideas were incomplete as SLT principles are also involved and Kohlberg's theory doesn't achknowledge or explain this difference
• what is the idea behind SLT for explaining gender development

  learning by imitation:

  it suggests that gender development is where boys copy males (fathers) and girls imitate females (mothers) to learn their gender identity, so typically it follows their sex identity
• what is the difference between direct and indirect (vicarious) reinforcement for learning gender identity

  direct = child is rewarded for behaviour

  indirect = witnessing someone else get a reward for gender appropriate behaviour, then they imitate to get the same reward
• what is identification


  children are more likely to imitate a model if they identify with them (aspire to be like them)
• what models are children most likely to identify with

  + similair age and gender

  + show love and friendliness

  + display power/higher status
• what are the mediational processes

  attention - watching behaviour

  retention - remembering

  reproduction - tries themself

  motivation - reward
• what are examples of the mediational processes for gender

  males = aggression

  females = caring
• what does Bandura mean by self direction

  Bandura believes that children are not shaped only by environmental forces, but they can also direct themselves = self direction

  once a child has internalised their gender appropriate behaviours, their own behaviour isn't dependant on external rewards
• does SLT argue that gender development is nature or nurture - why


  nurture:

  gender development is determined by environmental, social factors instead of biology and genes
• who investigated SLT for gender development

  Fagot (1978)
• what was Fagot's aim

  Aim = to see if parents treated males and female toddlers differently when they were playing at home
• what were the procedure's of Fagot's study

  she observed 24 toddlers aged 20-24months playing at home with parents with various toys

  recorded instances of reinforcement (verbal encouragement) and punishments
• what were the results of this study - girls

  girls:

  + reinforced for dressing up, asking for help, staying near the parent

  - discouraged from playing roughly, jumping, climbing
• what were the results of this study - boys

  boys:

  + reinforced for playing with sex appropriate toys: bricks, trucks

  - discouraged from playing with dolls
• what can you conclude from this study

  this shows that parents respond differently to the behaviour of male and female toddlers, encouraging them to behave in ways that they see as gender appropriate
• what are 2 strenghts of SLT

  + evidence to support modelling

  + SLT can explain changes in gender roles over time
• what evidence is there that supports modelling

  film clips were showed to children aged 8-9:

  in the film boys and girls were seen selecting either an apple or a pear (both neutral items)

  later the children were seen selecting the same fruit that their same sex model has chosen in the film
• what does the apple/pear study support

  + supports SLT as it shows children will imitate the behaviour shown by a same sex model
• what is a however point to this study

  However the children only modelled same sex behaviour if the behaviour shown was not counter to gender stereotypes - suggests they can still be affected by existing stereotypes
• how have gender roles in society changed over time

  there seems to be less of a clear distinction between what people regard as sterotypical masculine and feminine behaviour in society today, than 1950s
• how does SLT explain changing gender roles in society

  it could be a change in social expectations and cultural norms, which means that new types of gender behaviour is modelled and reinforced
• can this change be explained by biology


  furthermore, this is unlikely to be explained by biology as there is no shift in people's basic biology that could explain this change in roles
• what are 3 weaknesses of SLT

  - SLT lacks explanations for aspects of gender development

  - direct tuition may be more important than SLT

  - SLT focuses too much on social interactions
• how does it lack aspects of gender development

  for example, it doesn't explain why/how children show different stages of gender development as they age