kohlberg’s theory

• cognitive developmental theory of gender 


  based on the idea that a child’s understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age

  understanding of gender runs parallel to intellectual development as they mature biologically
• kohlberg suggested that gender development is thought to progress through 3 stages
• the ages suggested by kohlberg are approximate and reflect the fact that transition from stage to stage is gradual rather than sudden
• stage 1 - gender identity 


  at around age 2, children can recognise that they are a boy or a girl and possess the ability to label others as such at age 3
• stage 2 - gender stability 


  around age 4 the child understands that their own gender is fixed and they will be male or female when they are older

  • but are often confused by external changes in appearance such as long hair on men
• stage 3 - gender constancy 


  around ages 6-7, child recognise that gender remains consistent over times and situation and this understanding is applied to other people’s gender

  • they now are no longer fooled by changes in appearance and can acknowledge gender regardless
• imitation of gender roles 


  children aged 6-7 begin to seek out gender appropriate role models to identify with and imitate
• kohlberg - once the child has a fully developed and internalised concept of gender at the constancy stage. they embark upon an active search for evidence which firms that concept
• ✔️slaby and frey - presented children with split screen images of males and females performing the same tasks

  • younger children spent roughly the same amount of time watching both genders
  • children around 6 (constancy stage) spent longer looking at the model who was the same gender as them
• ✔️ monroe et al - found cross cultural evidence of kohlbergs theory in kenya, nepal and samoa

  • suggests that the sequence of stages may be universal
• X interviews with children aged 2-3 used to develop theory

  • tailored questions but young children may not have to vocabulary to express their understanding
  • therefore what they express does not truly represent their understanding
• X gender schema theory - suggests that children begin to absorb gender appropriate information as soon as they identify themselves as either male or female
• X bussey and bandura - found children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ about playing with gender appropriate toys and ‘bad‘ about playing with the opposite gendered toys

  • children begin to demonstrate gender appropriate behaviour before gender constancy is achieved
• X slt places more emphasis on external influences on child’s development than kohlberg

  • evidence suggests that boys have a much less flexible concept of gender role than females and boys show greater resistance to opposite sex activities than girls
  • differences are likely to be social/cultural in origin
• X biological approach sees gender development as genetically determined and governed

  • kohlbergs stages are heavily influenced by the changes in the developing child’s brain and increased cognition and intellectual capacity