Cognitive explanations of gender development: Kohlberg's theory Flashcards
What did Kohlberg suggest about gender development?
Accepted Piaget’s ‘theory of moral development’ that suggested a child’s understanding of gender develops in 3 stages. One’s understanding of gender becomes more sophisticated with age.
Name the 3 stages of cognitive gender development.
Gender labelling
Gender stability
Gender constancy
Describe the gender labelling stage.
2 - 3.5
Correctly identify own gender, believe it can change.
Understanding based on outward appearance only (clothes, hair).
Pre-operational: (Piaget) lack of internal logic.
Describe the gender stability stage.
3.5 - 4.5
Realisation that their gender remains stable over time but not situation. Egocentric - cannot apply this logic to other people in other situations.
Find external appearance changed confusing due to lack of conservation: cannot understand that despite appearance changes, the basic properties of something remains the same.
Describe the gender constancy stage.
4.5 - 6
Recognise gender stays consistent over time and situations.
Seek gender appropriate role models.
Have understanding of biological differences.
(AO3) Describe research evidence for Kohlberg’s theory of gender development.
Slaby and Frey. 55 children interviewed between 2 and 5.5. Gender concept interview. Identity - ‘is this doll a girl or boy’, ‘are you a girl or boy’. Stability - ‘could you ever be a mommy or daddy’. Consistency - ‘could you be a boy/girl if you wore boy/girl clothes’. Responses given matched stages of Kohlberg.
(AO3) Describe methodological issues with research into gender development.
Interviewing children. Easily swayed by leading questions. Very susceptible to demand characteristics and social desirability bias. Children may also lose concentration (more demand characteristics - get me out of here). Low validity.
(AO3) Describe variations/adaptations in gender development theory.
Gender differences: males develop gender constancy earlier. Explained by SLT as boys identify more with powerful male role models. Also boys more likely to be punished for gender inappropriate behaviour.
Age differences: gender constancy may develop earlier than suggested. May be due to changes in society since establishment of theory.
(AO3) What did Bem argue about the causes of gender development?
Argued it is genital knowledge, not gender constancy that drives development. Found that when provided with genital knowledge, most children could then recognise that gender stays constant. Shows that children previously could not recognise this because they did not know what other sex’s genitals looked like, or the importance of it in gender development. Challenges Kohlberg.
