Gender Schema Theory Flashcards
Martin and halverson
Agreed with Kohlberg there was a positive correlation between increasing age and increasingly sophisticated understanding of gender identity
Schemas
Mental frameworks of pre-conceived ideas and beliefs about people, objects, or situations
Schema and gender
After a child begins to identify with a gender, they actively seek out information and new experiences to confirm beliefs and add to schemas
Gender schema model
Societies beliefs about traits of → gender schema → influences self esteem/ influences processing of social information
Schema development
Initially behavior is based on stereotypes however as schemas became more detailed with experience, they gain more self esteem
Development af schema creates an ingroup (own) and an outgroup (other genders)
Children 3-7 identify with ingroup then outgroup after age 8
AO3 hard determinism
Suggests it should be possible to change a Childs banana if you change their stereotypes and provide them with conflicting stimuli from the
opposite gender, this theory takes a very rigid outlook on gender development
AO3 hard determinism
Kane and Sanchez (1994)
Schemas were found to be preconceived ideas about gender roles, gender equality, these are very hard to break
AO3 gender schema and Kohlberg are complementary
Nom bergs theory may explain the process of children acquiring the motivation to confirm their gender through seeking out experiences and role models that are gender consistent
→ gender schema theory may describe a different process where schemas distort memory and perception of a child as to what is gender consistent
AO3 Research support
Martin and halverson rand that children are more likely to remember gender consistent photos that are showed to them
Schemas may also impact on cognitive processing of gender relevant information in such young children - they have been shown the main characters in inconsistent photos to meet personal ideas of constancy
