Gender Flashcards
What are the cognitive explanations to gender?
Kohlberg’s Constancy Theory
Martin and Halverson’s Gender Schema Theory
What is Kohlberg’s theory?
Child’s understanding of gender comes in stages
Gender identity 2-3
Gender stability 4-6
Gender constancy 7+
What is the gender identity stage?
Ages 2-3
Able to correctly identify themselves and others
Not aware that gender is permanent
What is the gender stability stage?
Ages 4-6
Aware they will stay the same sex
Do not recognise gender is stable on other people
What is the gender constancy stage?
7+
Recognise gender remains constant for everyone
May start to develop gender stereotypes
Who supports Kohlberg’s theory?
Slaby and Frey
Munroe
How did Slaby and Frey support Kohlberg?
Presented split-screen images of males and females preforming the same task
Children in gender identity watched both sexes
Children in gender constancy spent looking at the same sex models
How did Munroe support Kohlberg?
Found stages of gender development in other cultures (Kenya, Nepal and Samoa)
Stages are biological development
What are the weaknesses of Kohlberg?
Cant separate internal and external influences such as family and media
Bandura - 4 year olds ‘felt good’ about playing with gender appropriate toys, should not do this at this stage
Who created the Gender Schema Theory?
Martin and Halverson
What is the Gender Schema Theory?
Children’s understanding of gender increases with age
Schemas are mental framework
Established gender identity 2/3
Seeks out appropriate behaviour after gender identity
Gender schema leads to in and out groups
Who supports Gender Schema Theory?
Martin & Halverson - Children under 6 more likely to remember photographs of gender consistent behaviour
Accounts for young children’s rigid beliefs
What is the negatives of Gender Schema Theory?
Overemphasis on individual, doesn’t pay attention on social influences, doesn’t explain why schemas develop
Bauer - 25 month old boys and girls video of gender stereotypical behaviour, girls have equal recall but boys only recall male behaviour
What is Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory?
Children pass through 5 psychosexual stages
Gender development occurs at 3-6, phallic stage
In phallic stage boys experience Oedipus complex and girls experience Electra complex
What is the Oedipus complex?
Boys develop deep feelings toward mother
Feel jealousy, hatred and fear toward the father due to castration anxiety
Gives up love for the mother to identify with the father
What is the Electra complex?
Girls experience penis envy, in competition with the mother for the fathers love
Girls over time accept they have no penis and identify with the mother
What supports Freud’s theory?
Little Hans - Fear of horses occurred because the horse is symbolic of his Dad
His fear of being bitten is actually castration anxiety
What are the negatives of Freud’s theory?
Not empirically studied, Little Hans is case study
Green - Studied 37 children in non-traditional nuclear families, all but one child developed typical gender identities and behaviour
Children start to show gender based preferences before Freud says they occur
What is the Social Learning Theory of gender?
People learn gender through modelling of role model
Behaviour is reinforced then person will be motivated to reproduce the behaviour
What supports Social Learning Theory?
Smith and Lloyd
Perry and Bussey
What did Smith and Lloyd say?
Dressed girl and boy baby up in opposite gender clothes
Participants gave ‘typical’ gendered toys such as a hammer and truck or a baby and doll
Gender-appropriate behaviour is reinforced
What did Perry and Bussey say?
Showed 8-9 year old children a video of an adult choosing between and apple or banana
Found that children imitates a same sex model’s choice 80-90% of the time
What are the negatives of social learning theory?
Not a developmental theory, cant explain why gender changes with age
Does not consider the role of biological factors
What is the influence of culture on gender?
If socialisation is the main factor then there should be differences between cultures
Who supports the influence of culture on gender?
Mead studied 3 pre-industrial tribes in New Guinea
Arapesh - Men & Women have similar behaviour, child rearing shared equally
Mundugomor - Both men and women were aggressive, child rearing was disliked
Tchambuli - Distince gender roles, men were dependent and groom, women managed family and dominant
What is a strength of Mead’s study?
Gewertz - Observed Tchambuli in the 70’s, men were more aggressive than women, new laws forced them to behave differently. Reduced reliability of Mead
