3.3 Cognitive Explanations Of Gender Development: Kohlberg

Question 1

What did Kohlberg’s theories support?

Answer 1

cognitive theories of gender development

Question 2

what did kohlberg’s cognitive theory of gender development draw on?

Answer 2

draws on his own levels of moral development that there are biologically predetermined stages we all go through when forming new ideas (think of plasticity)

Question 3

Describe the first stage of Kohlberg’s cognitive theories of gender development?

Answer 3

include name, age, explanation and effect on gender development
Gender Labelling (2 to 3 years) - children label themselves and others as male or female (boy or girl), children are able to identify other people’ gender before their own
children label genders based on appearance only, e.g. hair length
explanation: Piaget called this preoperational thinking.
- it lacks internal logic, abstract thinking
- it is not consistent because its based on external factors that can change
effect on gender development: by the end of this stage, children have a schemata for simple masculine and feminine characteristics

Question 4

Describe the second stage of Kohlberg’s cognitive theories of gender development?

Answer 4

include name, age, explanation and effect on gender development
Gender Stability (4 to 7 years) - children realise gender is stable over time, they have no realisation that gender is stable across situations e.g. if a man wears a dress, he can become a women
explanation: before around age 7, Piaget noticed children have no concept of conservation
- conservation is the idea that individuals retain the same internal properties no matter what behaviour or appearance they show externally e.g. children < 7 shown a doll with a dress and a penis identify it as female (McConaghy, 1979)
effect on gender development: at the end of this stage, children start to realise that gender and appearance are seperate, so anyone can perform any behaviour even when it isn’t stereotypical

Question 5

Describe the third stage of Kohlberg’s cognitive theories of gender development?

Answer 5

include name, age, explanation and effect on gender development
Gender constancy (7 years plus (into adulthood)) - children start to develop gender constancy , the belief that gender is entirely independent of time, place or appearance.
children begin to show preferences for gender-appropriate behaviour
explanation: gender-appropriate behaviour preference is the result of understanding gender can’t change (if it can change, there’s no harm in performing the actions of either gender as it might one day be yours)
effect on gender development: gender is fixed in the child’s mind
children will reject gender-inappropriate behaviour after this stage

Question 6

Who added to Kohlberg’s (1981) cognitive theories of gender development theory?

Answer 6

Martin and Halverson (1981)

Question 7

What changes did Martin and Halverson propose to Kohlberg’s cognitive theories of gender development?

Answer 7

Learning of gender-relevant info happens before gender constancy
- gender labelling is enough to self-identify as a boy/girl
- children will show preferences for gender-appropriate behaviour here
the gender schema you will form will have effects on your psychological functioning later in life - especially cognitive abilities like memory or attention span

Question 8

define conservation

Answer 8

refers to the ability to understand that, despite superficial changes in appearance, basic properties of an object remain unchanged.
this ability appears around the age of six or seven. conservation is discussed in more detail, as part of Piaget’s theory.

Question 9

define gender constancy

Answer 9

is the recognition that your gender is a constant, not just across your lifetime but also in different situations.
young children, according to Kohlberg, believe that gender may vary from time to time and depending on, for example, the clothes a person wears

Question 10

define pre-operational, can you give an example

Answer 10

a stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development where a child’s logic lacks internal consistency, for example a child might believe that thress make wind because the branches wave about. There is some logic to this, but it doesn’t explain how you still get wind when there are no trees

Question 11

describe Kohlberg’s theory as a cognitive explanation of gender development

Answer 11

cognitive development - emphasises the role of thinking in gender development
development occurs in stages due to changes in biological maturity
stage 1: gender labelling (about 2-3 years) - gender based on appearance, can change if appearance changes, linked to Piaget’s pre-operational thinking (conservation)
stage 2: gender stability (about 4-5 years) - gender stays same over time, children lack ability to conserve and still swayed by appearance, e.g. dress worn, even if genitals showing (McConaghy)
stage 3: gender constancy (about 6 years) - gender constancy across time and situations, now ready to learn gender appropriate stereotypes

Question 12

evaluate Kohlberg’s theory as a cognitive explanation of gender development

Answer 12

research support - gender labelling (Thompson, gender identification improves by 3 years), gender stability(Slaby and Frey, children didn’t recognise stability of traits over time at age 4) and gender constancy(S & F also, high scores on stability/constancy correlated with interest in gender appropriate models)
methodological criticisms - children judge using appearance because most salient cue (Bem), children answering in ‘pretend’ mode (Martin and Halverson)
gender constancy may appear at age 5, possibly related to availability of gender information in media (S & F)
gender difference, boys showed gender constancy earlier, explained by social learning theory (male models more powerful), needs to be incorporated into Kohlberg’s theory.
gender constancy not required for learning gender behaviour - learned earlier than predicted (Martin and Little)