Gender schema theory

Outline
1. A01
  1. Martin + Halverson
    1. Argue process of acquiring gender-relevant info happens before gender consistency is achieved
      1. Claim basic gender identity is sufficient for child to identify him/herself as B/G + take an interest in what behaviours are appropriate
    2. Suggest how acquisition of stereotypes affects later behaviour, especially in terms of memory + attenetion
2. A02
  1. Gender constancy VS schemata
    1. Kohlberg claims children can't absorb gender-relevant knowledge until gender constancy, whereas Martin + Halverson say it starts as soon as child has some awareness of which group they belong to
      1. Ruble et al
        Suggest constancy is 'one of most compelling yet controversial ideas in gender research'
        However a no of studies don't support Kohlberg's idea
        Bussey + Bandura
        Found B + G age 4 said they felt good about playing w/ gender-appropriate toys + awful about playing w/ gender-inappropriate ones
        Kohlberg would suggest this couldn't happen until later
Schemas
1. A01
  1. Children learn schemas related to gender through their interaction w/ other children + adults as well as TV programmes or videos
    1. Schema or stereotypes have function of organising + structuring other info presented to children
      1. Learn about what toys are appropriate, what clothes to wear + so on
      2. These GS are like 'naïve' theories about appropriate behaviour for M + W
2. A02
  1. Research support
    1. For gender stereotypes without constancy
      1. Martin + Little
        Found children under age of 4 showed no signs of gender stability let alone signs of constancy
        But did display strong gender stereotypes about what B + G were permitted to do
        Shows they have acquired info about gender roles before Kohlberg suggested
Ingroup + outgroup schema
1. A01
  1. Ingroup refers to groups w/ which person identifies
    1. Being a G means you identify yourself w/ that group
      1. Also in many other groups (town you come from, boy bands you like etc)
        Once child has identified w/ group this leads them to +ve evaluate their own group + -ve evaluate outgroup
        Evaluation motivates child to be like their own group + avoid behaviours of other group
        Leads them to actively seek info about what ingroup does
        From early age, children focus on ingroup schemas + avoid behaviours that belong to outgroup schemas
2. A02
  1. Effect on memory
    1. If gender schemas are important in acquiring info about ingroup gender then we would expect children to pay greater attention to info consistent w/ gender schemas + to remember this info better
    2. Martin + Halverson
      1. Found when children were asked to recall pics of people, children under 6 recalled more of gender-consistent ones than gender-inconsistent ones
        Also found when children were asked about the gender-inconsistent pics they distorted the info so that it was gender-consistent in their mind
    3. Bradbard et al
      1. Told 4-9 year olds that certain gender neutral items were either B or G items
        Ppts took greater interest in toys labelled as ingroup
        1 week later, they were able to remember more details about ingroup objects
        Shows how gender schema are related in particular to memory (organisation of info)
Resilience of gender beliefs
1. A01
  1. Important aspect of GST is it can explain power of GB
    1. GB lead children to hold very fixed gender attitudes because they ignore info encountered that isn't consistent w/ ingroup info
      1. For example
        If a B sees a film w/ a M nurse, info is ignored because M isn't behaving consistently w/ boys ingroup schema - therefore, B doesn't alter his existing schema
        In this way gender schema have a profound effect on what is remembered
2. A02
  1. Resilience of children's stereotypes
    1. Explains why children are frequently highly sexist despite best efforts of parents because they actively seek to acquire gender-appropriate schema
      1. Hoffman
        Reports children whose mothers work have less stereotyped views of what men do, suggesting children aren't entirely fixed in views but are receptive to some gender inconsistent ideas
  2. IDA - Real-world application
    1. Fact GS lead to misremembering or even distorting info has important implications for efforts to reduce gender stereotypes
      1. Means even when children are exposed to counter-stereotypes they don't remember them accurately
        Suggests use of counter-stereotypes may not be best way to reduce children's GS
  3. IDA -Freudian approach
    1. Proposed around age of 3, B becomes sexually aware + attracted to mother
      1. Makes him wish his father dead so he can have his mother to himself
        Such wishes make B feel guilty but ultimately are resolved through gender identification w/ father
        If conflict isn't resolved B may have gender identity probs
        Similar process happens in G
        Interesting to note their are some similarities between this + GST
        Critical age is closer to GST than Kohlberg + F suggested identification w. ingroup was important to taking on gender attitudes
  4. Compromise
    1. Stangor + Ruble
      1. Proposed means of unifying GST + Kohlberg
        Argue that GS + GC may represent different processes
        GS concerned w/ organisation of info + therefore should affect cognitive variables such as memory, whereas GC more concerned w/ motivation + thus should be associated w/ things like activity choice
      2. Tested children aged 4-10 years
        Found (a) memory for gender-consistent pics increased w/ age + (b) that preference for same-sex toys increased w/ increased gender constancy

Nächster

Gender schema theory

Beschreibung

Zusammenfassung der Ressource

ähnlicher Inhalt

	Erstellt von bebe97 vor mehr als 11 Jahre