Cognitive Explanations: Kohlberg's Theory Flashcards
What was Kohlberg’s theory?
- Based on the idea that a childs understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age
- But the link with age is not because of experience- it comes as a result of biological maturation, as the brain matures so does thinking
- Gender development is thought to progress through three stages
What are the 3 stages of Kohlberg’s theory?
- Gender Identity
- Gender Stability
- Gender Constancy
What is stage 1 of Kohlberg’s Theory?
Gender Identity
- Around age of 2 Kohlberg proposed that children are able to correctly identify themselves as a boy or girl- this is gender identity
- At 3 years most children are able to identify other people as boys/men/girls or women
- Their understanding of gender tends not to stretch much beyond simple labelling
- Often children of this age group do not view gender as fixed e.g. a 2 & 1/2 year old boy may be heard to say ‘when i grow up i will be a mummy’
What is stage 2 of Kohlberg’s Theory?
Gender Stability
- According to K at age 4 children acquire gender stability- with this comes realisation that they will always stay the same gender
- Children of this age cannot apply this logic to other people in other situations
- They are often confused by external changes in appearance- they may describe a man who has long hair as a woman & also believe that people change gender if they engage in activities that are more often associated with a different gender
- e.g. a women being a builder
What is stage 3 of Kohlberg’s Theory?
Gender Constancy
- Appears in final stage of development
- Kohlberg claimed that around age of 6 children recongise gender remains constant across time & situations
- & this understanding is applied to other peoples gender as well as their own
- No longer fooled by changes in outward appearance, although may regard a man wearing a dress as unusual, child is able to understand that he is stil a man ‘underneath’
- GC is also significant in that children of this age begin to seek out gender appropriate role models to identify w & imitate
Once a chid has a fully developed & internalised concept of gender at the constancy stage, they embark upon an active search for evidence which confirms that concept
A tendancy towards gender stereotyping begins to emerge at this age
Give one strength of Kohlberg’s theory.
Research Support
- Evidence suggests that gender stereotyping does emerge around the age of 6 (gender constancy stage) as he predicted
William Damon (1977)
- Told children a story about George, a boy who liked to play with dolls
- The children were asked to comment on the story
- 4 Year olds said it was fine for George to play with dolls if he wanted to
- But six year olds thought it was wrong for George to play with dolls
- They had gone beyond understanding what boys & girls do, to developing rules about what they ought to do (gender stereotyping)
This would suggest that children, who have as predicted, achieved constancy have formed rigid stereotypes regarding gender-appropriate behaviour
Give a cross cultural study to further support Kohlberg’s theory.
- Munroe, Shimmin, & Munroe (1984)
- Studied children in Kenya, Belize, Nepal, & Samoa.
- Researchers examined how children from these cultures developed gender identity, stability, & constancy.
Findings: - Children across all 4 cultures demonstrated same progression & order of gender development as Kohlberg predicted:
- Sequence of gd was consistent across all cultures,
- Cultural differences did not significantly affect the order in which children reached these stages, supporting Kohlberg’s claim that gender development is tied to cognitive growth rather than cultural learning alone.
Suggests that cognitive development of gender is universal, not just Western.
What other research challenges the strength that an interest in gender appropriate behaviour only develops around the age of 6?
Kay Bussey & Albert Bandura (1999)
- Found that children as young as 4 reported ‘feeling good’ about playing with gender appropriate toys & ‘bad’ about doing the opposite
- This contradicts what Kohlberg’s theory would predict, but may support gender schema theory which suggests that children begin to absorb gender-appropriate information as soon as they idenitfy themselves as either a boy or a girl (gender identity)
Give one limitation of Kohlberg’s theory.
Overemphasis on Cognitive Factors
- The theory largely ignores influence of social learning (e.g., reinforcement, imitation) & biological factors (e.g., hormones, genetics) in shaping gender development.
- It does not fully explain why some children develop gender-atypical identities,
- which suggests additional factors beyond cognitive maturity are involved.
ignores the possible influences of parents & friends, & disregards the nature of these interactions
Give another limitation of Kohlbergs theory.
- The research methods used
- Much of Kohlberg’s evidence is based on interviews with young children, who may not have fully understood the questions or expressed their understanding clearly.
- This raises concerns about the validity of his findings.
