Gender - Psychological Explanations - Kohlberg's Cognitive Theory

Background
1. Kohlberg suggested that changes in gender thinking are a product of changes in cognitive capabilities as child ages
2. Related to Piaget's ideas about maturation of the mind and conversation
Stages
1. 1) Gender Labelling - gender identification based on outward appearance only
2. 2) Gender Stability - gender is consistent over time but not across situations, so gender might change if a person engages in different gender behaviour
3. 3) Gender Constancy - gender is consistent across time and situations, leads to interest in gender - appropriate information
Evaluation
1. Gender labelling - children aged 3 more accurate at identifying their own sex than those aged 2 (Thompson)
2. Gender Stability - Slaby and Frey found that children recognised stability of gender over time
3. Gender Consistency - children high in gender constancy showed more interest in same sex models (Slaby and Frey)
4. Age underestimated - Slaby and Frey consistency appeared earlier
5. Gender difference - boys show gender consistency earlier, because men have more power and this encourages identification
6. Methodology criticised, e.g. actually testing genital knowledge rather than gender constancy (Bem) and questions answered in pretend mode (Martin and Halverson)
7. Contrast with gender schema theory
IDA
1. Other approaches - biological factors may explain why people resist changing gender behaviours

Resource summary

	Created by george.stringer almost 11 years ago