cognitive explanations Flashcards
Kohlberg general ideas
our understanding of gender develops with age due to biological maturation - gender develops through 3 stages
what are the 3 stages of understanding gender and their ages
- gender identity (2-3)
- gender stability (4-6)
- gender constancy (6-8)
gender identity description
children can correctly identify themselves as a boy/girl and at 3 can identify the gender of others
gender stability
understand their gender is fixed over time
gender constancy description
children understand their gender is fixed over time and can apply this to other peoples gender - they start to display gender behaviours as they seek out same sex models to identify with
meaning of conservation and how does this apply to gender
something is the same but looks different e.g. 2 different size cups with the same amount of water - under stand this in gender constancy that people may look different but the same gender
strength of Kohlberg - research and counterpoint
Damon 1977 told children a story about George a boy who liked to play with dolls, the children were then asked to comment on the story - 4 year olds said it was fine but 6 year olds said it was wrong = shows children have achieved gender constancy have begun to show stereotypical behaviour
C = Archer and Lloyd found children as young as 2-3 would ridicule their peers for playing with non stereotypical toys
Limitations with Kohlbergs research he used for his theory
highly flawed methodology - he developed his theory based on interviews conducted on children as young as 2/3 - he failed to acknowledge that young children may lack the vocabulary required to show their understanding - can’t articulate what they really believe = his research lacks internal validity
strength of kohlbergs theory (cross-cultural)
supported by cross-cultural research - Munroe found children in countries such as Samoa, Kenya and Nepal appeared to progress theorugh the 3 stages the same as how Kohlberg described it (biological match)= gives the theory credibility and universiality
definition of schema
a mental concept that informs a person about what to expect from a variety of experiences and situations, they are developed through experiences as we interact with our environment and are stored in memory in order to accelerate cognitive processing
definition of a gender schema
a set of beliefs and expectations developed through experience that are explicitly related to gender - these influence a persons gender behaviour
what is different with gender schema theory to kohlbergs theory
gender schema theory believes that gender identity alone provides children with enough motivation to pay attention to and inherit gender typical behaviour
what did Martin and Halverson suggest
at around 2-3 children begin to look for rules and create gender schemas through observing children and through reinforcements recieved from parents
according to gender schema theory what happens between the ages of 4-6
children learn associations for their own gender, children learn to assimilate knowledge that fits their gender schema and ignore knowledge that doesn’t - they create in group schemas about their own gender which develops first and out group schemas about the opposite gender
what happens between the ages 8-10
a childs opposite sex schemas match the complexity of their own (out group schema)
according to gender schema theory what happens by late childhood and early adolescence
children understand that rules are just social conventions and their gender-role schemas become more flexible - teenagers abandon the automatic assumption that the behaviours of their own gender are preferable - a significant amount of teenagers define themselves as androgenous
research support for gender schema theory (Martin and Halverson)
martin and halverson 1983 found that children under the age of six were more likely to remember photographs of gender consistent behaviour than photographs of gender inconsistent behaviour when tested a week later - they tended to change the sex of the person carrying out the gender inconsistent behaviour = info similar to our in group shcemas is accepted and others is rejected
research support for gender schema theory (martin and little)
martin and little 1990 found that children under the age of 4 who showed no evidence of gender stability or constancy do strongly show stereotypes = may be a better explanation that kohlberg
limitation of gender schema theory
cant explain why some people show non-stereotypical behaviour, they most likely experience an environment with rigid gender stereotypes so we would expect them to reflect these attitudes but some dont - research shows those who show gender inconsistent behaviour change their schemas so it becomes more acceptable = cant establish causality
strength of gender schema theory
provides a good explanation why children tend to hold fixed and rigid gender attitudes from a relatively young age - children are exposed to heavily stereotypes gender behaviour in their environment which is used to develop shcemas - info that is consistent with this is used to strengthen these schemas and inconsistent info is ignored = the theory can explain important aspects of young peoples thinking about gender
