gender schema

• martin and halverson - children’s understanding of gender increases with age
• children develop their own understanding of gender by actively structuring their own learning

  • rather than passively observing and imitating role models
• schemas are mental constructs that develop via experiences and are used by our cognitive system to organise knowledge around particular topics
• gender schema is a generalised representation of everything we know in relation to gender and gender appropriate behaviour
• martin and halverson - once a child has established gender identity around ages 2 and 3 l, they will begin to search the environment for information that encourages development of gender schemas

  • contrasts kohlbergs theory that this process only begins after they have progressed through all stages at age 7
• for young children, schemas are likely to be formed around stereotypes and these provide a framework that directs experience and child's understanding of themselves

  • eg. boys play with cars, girls play with dolls and they stick to playing with these because of their identified gender
• by age 6, child has a fixed and stereotypical idea about what is appropriate for its gender
• due to fixed stereotypes of gender in children, they are likely to disregard information that doesn't fit in with their existing schema
• children have a better understanding of the appropriate schemas of their gender because they pay more attention to information that is relevant to their gender identity
• around 8, children develop elaborate schemas for both genders instead of just one
• ingroup = own gender
• outgroup = opposite gender
• X it is assumed the gender schema theory that it should be possible to change children's behaviour by changing their schemas but it is difficult to do so as certain beliefs are held

  • reflected in marriages where couples have strong views on equality in the home but research shows this rarely has effect on their behaviour - kane and sanchez
• X may not be sufficient attention paid to the role of social factors such as parental influence and the role of rewards and punishments the child receives for their gendered behaviour
• TICK - stangor and ruble suggested that gender schema and gender constancy describe 2 different processes

  schema - how organisation of information affects memory

  • explains why gender-inconsistent information is forgotten

  constancy - linked to motivation, once children have a firmly established concept of what it means to be a girl or boy, they are motivated to find out more about their gender identity
• TICK can account for the fact that children tend to hold fixed gender attituded as information that conflicts with existing schema would be ignored in favour of information that fits in with the gendered stereotype

  • eg. a woman being a racecar driver would be interpreted as a secretary
• TICK children display a strong ingroup bias for how they process information because they pay more attention to the information that is relevant to their own experience
• TICK martin and halverson found that children under 6 were more likely to remember photos of gender-consistent behaviour than gender-inconsistent behaviour when tested a week later

  • children tended to change the gender of the person carrying out the gender-inconsistent activity in the photos when asked to recall them
  • supports the idea that memory may be distorted to fit in with existing gender schema
• TICK martin and little - children under 4 who showed no signs of gender stability or constancy, demonstrated strongly sex-typed behaviours