Cognitive Explanations: Kohlberg's Theory

Question 1

What is the basic idea behind Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 1

-A child’s understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age and can be categorised by 3 stages the child gradually goes through.

Question 2

What is the first stage of Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 2

• Gender Identity, age 2.
• Children are able to correctly identify their own sex and often they can recognise whether someone else is a man or a woman based on external feature such as clothing or hair length.
• Children in this stage usually don’t realise that their own sex is consistent over time.

Question 3

What is the second stage of Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 3

• Gender Stability, age 4.
• The child begins to recognise that their own sex will remain the same over time, however they cannot apply this logic to others (often confused by changes in appearance and people not conforming to the typical gender roles that they have internally established)

Question 4

What is the third stage of Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 4

• Gender Constancy, age 6.

- The child can now apply their ideas of sex not changing over time to other people.

Question 5

What other thing is said to happen in the third stage of Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 5

-Once they have a established a firm understanding of gender, they seek out role models who can affirm their beliefs.

Question 6

What evidence is there to dispute the accuracy of Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 6

(+)Slaby and Frey (1975) split screen images of males and female performing the same tasks, younger children watched them equally while children in the gender constancy stage were more likely to observe the same-sex role model. Supports idea of role models in final stage.

(+)Munroe et al (1984) found evidence of Kohlberg’s theory in other cultures such as Kenya and Nepal

(-)Bussey and Bandura (1992) found that children as young as 4 have reported feeling good about engaging in ‘gender-appropriate’ activities and bad about the opposite. Kohlberg’s theory suggests this wouldnt happen until the constancy stage where a child would try to reaffirm their own ideals on gender.

Question 7

What other ways can this theory be critiqued?

Answer 7

• Kohlberg was conducting interviews on children as young as 2 or 3 years old, it is very likely that this reduces the internal validity as the children often don’t have the appropriate vocabulary/understanding to express what they believe.
• This theory doesn’t really account for personal differences or experiences- suggests that all children go through the same process.
• Although this theory clearly shows 3 stages, it doesn’t explain why they occur, making this an incomplete explanation.

Question 8

How can this theory be related to Piaget’s research?

Answer 8

• Piaget’s research looks into how children can be described as ‘egocentric’ until around the age of 6 or 7, this essentially means that the child things everyone else sees the world the way they do.
• Because of this, it is possible that Kohlberg’s observations are due to a lack in the child’s object permanence rather than an underdeveloped understanding of gender.