Social Learning Theory for Gender

Question 1

Background

Answer 1

• Some of Freud’s ideas adopted by SLT psychologists such as Bandura (Internalisation & Identification)
• Early behaviourist (learning) theories suggested two-process model for gender development

Question 2

Indirect Reinforcement: Bandura (1991)

Answer 2

• Combination of vicarious reinforcement & observation
• Parent models, media/culture/peer reinforcement
• Identification important in this process
• Kohlberg, GST, & Psychodynamic theories also use this concept

Question 3

Social Cognitive Theory

Answer 3

• Bandura revised SLT name to SCT - by the 1990s, behaviourism was becoming less popular as cognitivism could explain processes it couldn’t
• Mediational Processes = Cognitive Processes
• Cognitive Process is cost v. benefit
• Kids undergo cognitive assessment of new behaviours, comparing expectations of reward v. punishment
• Expectancy Value Theory

Question 4

Gender Maintenance by Direct Reinforcement

Answer 4

• Regardless of what we expected from a behaviour, future behaviours depend on physical consequences - direct positive/ negative reinforcement or punishment
• If a child performs a non-stereotypical behaviour and is punished when other children mock them, this behaviour will become less frequent

Question 5

Direct Tuition & Self Direction

Answer 5

• Cog. processes like rehearsal allow children to learn through direct tuition (eg. through TV, parents, etc.)
• When children have internalised behaviours (formed in-group identities/achieved gender stability), they also start to self-direct
• Cognitive processes allow them to feel good or bad when they reflect on their own actions - produce their own reinforcement/ punishment
• Reciprocal determinism = feedback loop