Gender - Psychological Explanations - Kohlberg's Cognitive Theory

Gender - Psychological Explanations - Kohlberg's Cognitive Theory

1. Background

   • Kohlberg suggested that changes in gender thinking are a product of changes in cognitive capabilities as child ages
   • Related to Piaget's ideas about maturation of the mind and conversation

2. Stages

   • 1) Gender Labelling - gender identification based on outward appearance only
   • 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) Gender Constancy - gender is consistent across time and situations, leads to interest in gender - appropriate information

3. Evaluation

   • Gender labelling - children aged 3 more accurate at identifying their own sex than those aged 2 (Thompson)
   • Gender Stability - Slaby and Frey found that children recognised stability of gender over time
   • Gender Consistency - children high in gender constancy showed more interest in same sex models (Slaby and Frey)
   • Age underestimated - Slaby and Frey consistency appeared earlier
   • Gender difference - boys show gender consistency earlier, because men have more power and this encourages identification
   • Methodology criticised, e.g. actually testing genital knowledge rather than gender constancy (Bem) and questions answered in pretend mode (Martin and Halverson)
   • Contrast with gender schema theory

4. IDA

   • Other approaches - biological factors may explain why people resist changing gender behaviours