A01 gender schema theory Flashcards
Who came up with the gender schema theory
Martin and halverson
Basis of gender schema theory
That gender dev is seeking to acquire info about ones own gender rather than learning through punishment and reinforcement
It’s a cognitive psych approach
2 factors that differentiate gender schema theory from kohlbergs theory
Acquiring gender relevant info happens before gender consistency/constancy is achieved. Gender labelling is sufficient enough for this to happen
They go further by suggesting how the acquisition of stereotypes/Thema affects later behaviour, especially in terms of memory and attention
What are the 3 sections
Schemas
Ingroup and outgroup schema
Resilience of gender beliefs
Talk about schema
Main concept
Kids learn schemas related to gender from their interactions with other as well as media
Thus they learn about what toys are appropriate for each gender what a clothes etc.
Schemas are naive theories about what’s appropriate to what gender
Talk about Ingroup and outgroup schema
In groups schema
Group with which a person identifies
Once a child has identified a group this leads them to positively evaluate their own group and negatively evaluate the outgroup
This motivates the child to be like their own group to avoid behaviours of the other group
Also leads them to acquire Ingroup schemas
According to theory, from an early age kids focus on Ingroup schemas and avoid behaviours related to outgroup schemas
Talk about resilience of gender beliefs
Can explain the power of gender beliefs
Gender beliefs lead kids to hold very fixed gender attitudes cz they ignore any info they encounter that isn’t consistent with Ingroup info
E.g. If a boy sees a film with a male nurse the info is ignored cz the man isn’t behaving consistently wit the boys Ingroup schema
So they don’t alter their existing schema
Therefore, gender schema have a profound effect on what is remembered.
