Cognitive Explanations - Gender Schema Theory

Question 1

Who has gender schema theory advocated by?

Answer 1

Martin and Halverson

Bem

Question 2

What does gender schema theory see gender identity alone as providing?

Answer 2

Children with the motivation to assume sex typed behaviour patterns

Question 3

What is the difference between this theory and Kohlberg’s?

Answer 3

For initial understanding of gender to develop, children need not understand that gender is permanent

Question 4

In what way is this approach similar to SLT?

Answer 4

It sees children learning ‘appropriate’ patterns of behaviour by observation

Question 5

In what way is the theory similar to Kohlberg’s?

Answer 5

Sees children’s active cognitive processing of information as also contributing to sex typing

Question 6

What is a gender schema?

Answer 6

An organised group of related concepts, begins to develop at age 2-3, and once children have gender identity they accumulate knowledge about the sexes, organising this into gender schemas

Question 7

What do schemas provide a basis for?

Answer 7

Interpreting the environment and selecting appropriate forms of behaviour and thus children’s self-perceptions become sex-typed

Question 8

What are in-group and out-group schemas?

Answer 8

In-group = formed concerning attitudes and expectations about one’s own gender
Out-group = schemas about the other gender
Toys, games and even objects become categorised as ‘for boys’ and ‘for girls’

Question 9

What does Maccoby believe?

Answer 9

Gender is clearly an either/or category, children understand very early on that this is a key distinction and it serves as a magnet for new information
Alternatively - adults and other children emphasise gender differences in countless small ways

Question 10

What happens once a schema is established?

Answer 10

Many experiences are assimilated and children show preference for the same-sex playmates and for gender- stereotyped activities, actively ignoring the other gender

Question 11

What do schemas undergo?

Answer 11

Developmental change as children’s general cognitive abilities develop

Question 12

What is the first stage in the gender schema theory?

Answer 12

Pre-schoolers learn distinctions about what kinds of activities and behaviours go with each gender by observing other children and through reinforcements received by parents e.g. ‘ men have short hair’
They learn gender scripts and sequences of events that go with each gender

Question 13

What is the second stage in gender schema theory?

Answer 13

From age 4-6 children learn subtle and complex sets of associations for their own gender, what children of the same gender like, how they play and talk. Not until 8-10 do children develop schemas of the opposite gender matching the complexity of the same-sex schema

Question 14

What is the third stage in gender schema theory?

Answer 14

When gender constancy develops at age 5-6, children’s understanding of ‘what people like me do’ becomes more elaborated. This rule is treated as absolute.

Question 15

What is the fourth stage in gender schema theory?

Answer 15

By late childhood and early adolescence, it is understood that rules are just social conventions and gender-role schemas become more flexible. teenagers abandon the automatic assumption that what their own gender does is preferable and a significant minority of teenagers define themselves as androgynous

Question 16

What was Masters et al’s research?

Answer 16

Found that children aged between 4-5 selected toys by their gender label rather than which gender was seen playing with the toy, illustrating the application of gender schema

Question 17

What was Martin and Halverson’s research?

Answer 17

Asked children to recall pictures of people finding that children under aged 6 recalled more gender consistent ones e.g. a male footballer than non-gender consistent ones - in line with gender schema predictions

Question 18

What was Martin and Little’s research?

Answer 18

Found that preschool children have gender stereotypes about what is appropriate for boys and girls even before they develop much understanding about gender - supporting idea of the formation of gender schema

Question 19

What was Campbell’s research?

Answer 19

Found that even the youngest infants (3-18 moths) had a preference for watching same-sex babies and by 9 months boys showed an increased tendency to pay attention to boys-toys . Shows that young children pay more attention to their same-sex group, supporting the idea that gender schema form early on

Question 20

What was Poulin-Dubois et al’s research?

Answer 20

Found girls as young as 2 years old could choose a doll to carry out stereotypical male or female jobs demonstrating schema for gender-appropriate tasks. By 2.5 boys showed the behaviour too, suggesting that young children learn from models on the basis of their own sex

Question 21

What was Aubry et al’s research?

Answer 21

Performed a longitudinal study into preferences into gender-related items. Once a belief had taken hold that an item was for the opposite sex, a reduced preference for that item developed, illustrating how gender schemas affect behaviour.

Question 22

What is a strength of the theory?

Answer 22

It explains why children’s attitudes and behaviours concerning gender are rigid and lasting. Children focus only on things that confirm and strengthen their schemas and ignore behavioural examples that contradict the theory

Question 23

What else does gender schema theory explain?

Answer 23

Why children are more likely to model gender - appropriate behaviour rather than imitating a same-sex model, demonstrating non-gender appropriate behaviour

Question 24

What is a weakness of the theory?

Answer 24

While much research supports it - there are some studies suggesting that children act in a gender-typical way before they develop gender schemas

Question 25

What was Eisenberg’s opposing research?

Answer 25

Found that children aged 3-4 justified their gender-specific choice of toys without reference to gender stereotypes

Question 26

What was Schaffer’s opposing argument?

Answer 26

Argues the influence could be in the opposite direction - children monitoring their own and others behaviour to develop gender schema

Question 27

What else does the theory predicts for which there is both supporting and contradictory evidence and what is the contradictory evidence?

Answer 27

That children should display behaviour consistent with perception of their own gender
Campbell et al found that 2 year old boys and girls who possessed high levels of gender knowledge did not display preferences to play with gender specific toys

Question 28

What else weakens the theory?

Answer 28

When children perform activities not normally stereotypical of their gender, like a boy cooking, they adjust their thinking so the activity becomes acceptable. This implies that thinking is affected by behaviour whereas cognitive schema theory predicts the opposite

Question 29

In what way is the theory reductionist?

Answer 29

Although it offers a plausible explanation compromise between social learning and cognitive developmental theories, it neglects the influence of biological factors, assuming that all gender-orientated behaviour is created through cognitive means