gender schema theory

Question 1

who’s theory is gender schema theory?

Answer 1

Bem created it but Martin and Halverson researched it and tested it

Question 2

what are gender schemas?

Answer 2

mental frameworks that include information about gender-appropriate and gender-inappropriate behaviours, clothing expectations,characteristics and personality traits, toys + activities etc

Question 3

how are gender schemas formed?

Answer 3

• formed from children’s experiences with gender from birth: adults, peers, media, etc.
• Their understanding and expectations of gender is based on cultural norms

Question 4

How does in-group bias affect our views of gender?

Answer 4

To form a personal identity, we seek people who are similar to us – same gender –
in-group.
- as we need to have a positive self identity
- This then motivates us to model the behaviour of the in-group to feel we belong to it
as much as possible, and feel good about ourselves

Question 5

How do schemas explain why gender beliefs stay the same even when exposed to contrasting evidence?

Answer 5

gender beliefs are resilient
- they use their schemas rather than new information
- Pay more attention to stimuli that agrees with in-group beliefs and schemas, and ignore or dismiss any that doesn’t
- This results in their gender stereotypical behaviour being reinforced further

Question 6

What is the role of peer relationships in our understanding of gender
identity?

Answer 6

people play with the same gender (in-group) to not get teased = creates a pressure
so they actively reject the out group

Question 7

Briefly outline Martin and Halverson’s study?

Answer 7

asked 5-6 year olds to look at pictures of children playing - some were gender-inconsistent eg. girl with toy gun
- after a week the children switched the gender inconsistent images