Transcript Gender Schema Theory

5 Minutes
Starter
Using the information below create an IDA point
for Kohlberg’s constancy theory
• interaction between nature and nurture
• holistic explanation of gender development
compared to other approaches
• Kohlberg's theory describes gender
development using three qualitative stages.
5 Minutes
Starter: gender schema theory
1. What is a schema?
2. What two schema’s are involved in the model
proposed by Martin and Halverson (1981)?
3. When do children start to develop the schemas?
4. What's the difference between Kohlberg’s
constancy theory and Martin and Halverson’s
Gender schema theory?
5 Minutes
Starter: gender schema theory
1.
What is a schema? A mental structure that guides the processing of
information and experience
2.
What two schema’s are involved in the model proposed by Martin and
Halverson (1981)? In-group – out-group schema, ‘own sex’ schema
3.
When do children start to develop the schemas? As soon as children are
able to label themselves as boys or girls.
4.
What's the difference between Kohlberg’s constancy theory and Martin
and Halverson’s Gender schema theory? Predict when children will begin
to absorb gender-relevant knowledge.
Kohlberg = Gender Constancy/ Martin and Halverson = Gender Identity, or as
soon as the children have some awareness or which group they belong to.
You are on your own at a party
and you meet this girl..
You want to try to make
conversation
Write down three topics you
might attempt to engage her in
conversation with
You don’t have a lot of success
with the girl you met, so you try
to chat to this boy
Write down three topics you
might attempt to engage him in
conversation with
Were the topics of conversation
different this time?
Imagine that this is your
friend’s 8 year old daughter
She has asked you to look
after her for the day while
she goes for a job interview
Write down a list of activities
you could engage in with her to
keep her occupied for the day
What is a schema?
• A schema is a cognitive framework that helps organise and
interpret information. Schemas can be useful because they
allow us to take shortcuts in interpreting the vast amount of
information that is available in our environment.
• Gender schema theory- refers to the theory that children
learn about what it means to be male and female from the
culture in which they live. According to this theory, children
adjust their behaviour to fit in with the gender norms and
expectations of their culture.
• gender schemas lead to the regulation of behaviors that
conform to the cultural definition of what it means to be
male or female.
• child’s cognitive development combined with societal
influences
• These gender schemas then have an impact not only on
how people process social information, but also on their
attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. People engage in
behaviour that are consistent with their schema for gender
appropriate behaviour.
• explain why children hold very fixed gender attitudes: it is
because they ignore any information they encounter that is
not consistent with in-group information.
Research
• Visit each piece of research on the
whiteboard.
• How does each piece of research LINK to
gender schema theory.
• Overall validity/reliability of the research
10 Minutes
Re-cap cognitive theories…
• Complete the comparison
table
• Include
• Description
• Evidence to support/refute
• reliability/validity of
Kohlberg’s
• Be as brief as you can, this
is only a recap! Use bullet
points only!
GST
AO1
Studies
Reliability
Validity
GCT
IDA: nature vs. nurture
This theory suggests that we innately organise information in order to make sense of the
world around us, children develop gender schemata for this reason. However this theory
also suggests that gender schemata develops as a result of social and environmental
factors thus emphasises the role of nurture in gender development.
This provides a logical explanation for why gender stereotypes develop, and creates a
more flexible way of explaining a child's understanding of gender than the gender
consistency theory. However, a problem with this is that the theory ignores the role of
biological factors in gender development which may lead to a limited understanding of
gender, particularly as there is a wealth of evidence that suggests genes and hormones
play a role in gender behaviour and identity.
Approaches: Bus Stops groups B1!
Biological
Somer
Remi
Anna
Milly
Cognitive
Sophia
Sian
Morgan
Social
Eilidh
Bronte
Edy
Aoife
Cognitive 2
Megan
Laura
Weam
Rhea
Biological 2
Adam
Zoe
Margaret
Bronte
Approaches: Bus Stops groups E1!
Biological
Saffron B
Jake
Ellie
Oli
Social
Marley
Abbie
Izzy P
Daniel
Flo
Cognitive
Sam
Amelia
Rosa
Isy M
Cognitive 2
Phoebe
Hayley
George T
Saffron H
Biological 2
Madeleine
George F
Rosie
Phoebe H
15 Minutes
How would other approaches explain
gender
1. Complete the row on the table for
your assigned approach
2. Using the table, write a paragraph on
the big whiteboards that explains your
approach to gender
15 Minutes
A02 Bus Stops!
Move around in your teams to each
‘stop’…. You have 3 minutes at each stop!
Use the information from the whiteboards
to complete the table for each approach
Plenary
On the sticky note, write one question about
gender development you are unsure about.
Stick post-it notes on board with name on top.
Evaluation
• Difficulties with researching cognitions and with using children as participants
• More flexible than GCT and supported by a wealth of research.
• Explains why children may have a more rigid view of gender – they do not accept
information that goes against their schema.
• Difficulties in explaining individual differences – not all children conform to gender
stereotypical behaviour. Those who are raised as gender neutral
• process and not content of gender: can help explain some of the processes by which
gender stereotypes become so psychologically ingrained in our society.
• teaching alternative schemata to children so that they are less likely to build and
maintain a gender schema.
• raise consciousness that the male/female dichotomy is used as an organizing
framework, often unnecessarily, especially in the school curriculum. She stressed that
the omnirelevance of gender has a negative impact on society,
• individuals simply as passive bystanders in the development of gender schemas rather
and ignores the complex forces that contribute to the construction of gender.
• Another limitation of this theory is the issue of individual
differences. Gender schema theory cannot explain why different
children with much of the same environmental influences respond
differently to gender-appropriate behaviour. For example, this
theory cannot explain why some girls may prefer action figures and
some boys may prefer Barbies. This may be due to biological
differences such as genes and hormones, which gender schema
theory largely ignores.
• There may be a gender bias in this research. Studies have shown
that girls are more willing to do masculine activities than boys are
to do feminine activities. Thus, the development of gender schemas
may be different for each gender. This may be due to social stigma:
masculine traits and activities are seen as more desirable, and thus
girls are more likely to have or perform them.
• Vary in the degree they are gender schematic
• Understanding student behaviour in the classroom – help educators
• promote gender equality – how you ask questions
• lack of explanation regarding how such schemas are originally
acquired.