Explanation - Gender Development

Question 1

Operant conditioning

Answer 1

Behaviour shaping is due to reinforcement and punishment. People repeat is rewarded and don’t when punished. The way babies are treated, smith and Lloyd found women more likely to offer a boy a hammer than a girl. Boys praised for bravery, girls for being pretty.

Question 2

Evaluation - strengths ✅

Answer 2

Experiments - makes it more scientific than the psychodynamic which uses the Oedipus and Electra complexes. Lab is reliable replicable and you observe
Supporting research - Bandura shows children more likely to imitate same sex

Question 3

Evaluation - weaknesses ❌

Answer 3

Lacks ecological validity - gender development is caused by biological and an artificial lab doesn’t represent real life. In banduras demand characteristics as children felt they had to play with toys. No generalisation
- suggests gender behaviour is learned through observation and reinforcements arming theory doesn’t take into account the e.g. Men more aggressive
- ignores biological, gender is cause by our bio, the presence of the Y chromosome that encourages sex organs to develop. E.g. David Reiner, gender is not learnt
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Question 4

Social learning theory

Answer 4

Uses principles of vicarious reinforcement and observations. Behaviour can be adopted by children at an olde age, you are more likely to imitate the same sex models. Bandura proved this. We observe and reproduce. Children encouraged to imitate the aw sex parent and preform stereotypical behaviour.