Gender Schema Theory Flashcards
What did Martin and Halverson suggest?
Rigid early gender identity acquired at about the age of 3 is the starting point for gender development
What do children begin searching for?
Schemas which will help them make sense of the world around them
What do schemas help children do?
Organise and interpret their experiences and process new information
What happens at the age of 2 1/2 - 3?
Children gain their gender identity when they work out that they are a girl or a boy, this involves a very basic gender schema of boys and girls
What is the same sex gender seen as?
The ‘in-group’ and the opposite sex is the ‘out-group’
What do children do?
Actively seek information about appropriate behaviours and actions of the in group and dismiss the out group behaviour
What did Martin et al do?
Provided support for the importance of schemas and how they affect the processing of information
What was Martin’s procedure?
They showed new toys to children aged 4-5 years, the children were told before they chose a toy whether it was either a girl or boy toy, they were then asked they and other boys or girls would like to play with the toys
What did Martin find?
If the toy was given the label of being a boy you then boys wanted to play with it later however if it was a girl toy boys didn’t want to play with it and the same for girls
What does the study demonstrate?
The power of gender schemas
What did Martin and Halverson do?
Asked children to recall pictures of people, finding that children under the age of 6 recalled more gender consistent ones e.g. male footballers
What did Campbell do?
Studied the development of gender schemas in toddlers using a longitudinal design, a sample of 56 children were studied at 27 months of age and again at 39 months
Where did Campbell’s study take place?
In the children’s homes, the child was seated in their parent’s lap, shown an album of pictures and asked to point out 3 things
What were the 3 things the children were asked to point out?
- The girl or boy (gender-labelling task)
- The girls’ or boys’ toy (football, brush)
- The girls’ or boys’ game/activity (skipping, football)
What happened after this?
The child was given a selection of of toys they had been showed and filmed for 30 minutes, parents were prevented from intervening and influencing
