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Cognitive Explanations: Gender Schema Theory - Coggle Diagram
Cognitive Explanations: Gender Schema Theory
Carol Martin and Charles Halverson's (1981)
cognitive developmental theory argues children's understanding of gender changes with age (i.e. as it's 'developmental')
also
Gender Schema theory
shares Kohlberg's view that children develop their understanding of gender by actively structuring their own learning rather than by passively observing and imitating role models (role proposed by SLT)
Gender Schema after gender identity
gender schema = generalised representation of everything we know in relation to gender and stereotypically gender-appropriate behaviour
Martin & Halverson claim that once a child has established gender identity around age of 2-3 yrs he/she will begin to search env for info which encourages development of gender schema
contrasts Kohlberg's theory that this process begins only after they have progressed through all three stages (around age 7 with gender constancy)
Gender Schema determine behaviour
as gender schema develop they begin to include a wide range of behaviours & personality traits.
for young children, schema tends to develop off of stereotypes, e.g. boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls
these provide a framework which directs experience as well as the child's understanding of itself ("i am a boy so i play with trucks")
by 6 years of age children have a rather fixed & stereotypical idea about what is appropriate for their gender
for this reason children are likely to misremember or disregard info that doesn't fit with their existing schema
Ingroup information better remembered
kids tend to have much better understanding of the schema that are appropriate to their own gender (the
ingroup
)
this is consistent with the idea that kids pay more attention to info relevant to their gender identity rather than that of the other gender (the
outgroup
)
it isn't till kids are older (around 8) that they develop elaborate schema for both genders, as opposed to just their own
ingroup identity also serves to bolster the child's self-esteem
Evaluation
research support
P: key principles of gender schema theory are supported by evidence
E: martin & halverson own study found, when tested a week later, kids under 6 more likely to remember photos of stereotypically gender-appropriate behaviour (e.g. woman washing dishes) than photos of gender-inappropriate behaviour (e.g. woman fixing the car).
kids tended to change gender of person doing gender-inappropriate activity in the photos when asked to recall them (so gender was now appropriate)
E: strength - provides support for gender schema which predicts kids under 6 would do this
Earlier gender identity
P: gender identity probably develops earlier than Martin & Halverson suggested
E: Longitudinal study of 82 children (
Zosuls et al. 2009
) found that 19 month old children labelled themselves as a boy/girl as soon as they could verbally communicate - suggests gender identity occurs before this but the children just can't yet communicate it.
E: weakness - suggests Martin & Halverson may have underestimated children's ability to use gender labels about themselves
Counterpoint
P: however, may not be appropriate to argues about specific ages for Martin & Halverson's theory
E: they suggest the key point is the shifts in a childs thinking & that the ages are just averages rather than absolutes. it's possible any children may move through the stages quicker or slower than others. it's the sequence of development that is more important
E: strength - suggests Zosuls et al.'s finding isn't a fundamental criticism of the theory.