Gender Schema Theory

Question 1

What did Martin and halverson suggest?

Answer 1

Understanding of gender increased with age.

Like kholberg gender is an active process

Question 2

What are schema?

Answer 2

Mental constructs that develop via experience and are used by our cognitive system to organise the world

Question 3

What is a gender schema?

Answer 3

Everything we know about gender and gender related behaviour

Question 4

What do they say about gender identity?

Answer 4

Developed at age 2/3 and at this point the child will search the environment for everything that confirms their ideas
Contract with kholberg as he said this didn’t happen till gender constancy

Question 5

What is an ingroup?

Answer 5

Children have a much better understanding of schemes hat are appropriate to their own gender

Question 6

Evidence to support (Martin and halverson)

Answer 6

Own study found that children under the age of six were more likely to remember photographs of gender consistent behaviour when tested weeks later

Question 7

Evaluation

Martin and little

Answer 7

Found children under the age of 4 who showed no signs of gender stability or constancy still strongly demonstrated sex type behaviours

Contradicts kholberg supports gender schema

Question 8

Evaluation

Ridgity and gender beliefs

Answer 8

This theory accounts for the fixed gender attitudes of young children
Information that conflicts such as a woman truck driver would be ignored

Question 9

More evaluation points

Answer 9

Overemphasis on the role of the individual in gender development
The importance of schemes is overestimated
Key assumptions of the theory are not supported