Sex and Gender - gender schema

Question 1

Schema

Answer 1

• children begin to form gender schemas as soon ad they notice people are organised into categories of male and female
• they understand this through interactions with other children, adults or the media

Question 2

Schema theory

Answer 2

• Martin and Halverson
• a child’s thinking is at the basis of their development of gender role behaviour
• children’s understanding of gender develops with age

Question 3

Gender identity

Answer 3

• develops around age 2-3
• a child will begin to search the environment for information that encourages the development of their gender schema

Question 4

Stereotypes

Answer 4

• gender schemas are most likely to form around stereotypes
• these schemas provide a framework which directs what a child does and how they understand themselves
• by age 6 a child’s view of what is appropriate for their gender is mainly stereotypical and fixed
• children are likely to misremember or disregard information that does not fit in with their existing schema

Question 5

ingroups and outgroups

Answer 5

• once a child has identified with a group (eg. girls only playing with other girls) this leads them to positively evaluate their own group
• avoid behaviours of the outgroup
• ignore outgroup schemas
• carrying out typical behaviours of the in-group raises self esteem

Question 6

Strength - research support

Answer 6

P: supporting evidence
E: children under the age of 6 were more likely to remember photos of stereotypically gendered behaviours than gender inappropriate ones
E: misremembered the gender inappropriate behaviours and recalled them as gender appropriate
L: RWA

Question 7

Limitation - evidence for earlier gender identity

Answer 7

P: probably develops earlier than Martin and Halverson suggested
E: longitudinal study of 82 children found that children started to label themselves as boy or girl at 19 months
E: almost as soon as they were able to communicate, which suggests they have a gender identity but aren’t able to communicate it
L: underestimated children’s ability to use gender labels

Question 8

Strength - accounts for cultural differences

Answer 8

P: schema theory can account for cultural differences
E: children are raised with the same schemas as their parents
E: in societies with less rigid gender boundaries, children are more likely to develop a fluid gender schema
L: contrasts to other theories of gender development