...Describe and evaluate the gender schema theory of gender development. Martin and Halverson believe that gender identity is gained around the age two-three. They also stated that when children realise that they are either a boy or girl they split themselves into two groups, their gender group being the ‘in-group’ and the opposite sex group is the ‘out-group’. The children then actively seek out how members of their group should behave (toys, games, activities) and ignore those that do not relate to their group, for example a young boy would completely ignore a girl’s toy and may avoid anything perceived to be ‘girly’. This leads them to form schemas and their environment, peers and parents helps them to develop these which become more complex over time. Gender schemas help us to understand why children’s beliefs and attitudes about sex roles are so rigid, for example children may ignore behaviours which go against gender schemas e.g. female fire fighters or male nurses. Studies that support this have shown that when young children watch films which depict contradicting gender role behaviours, they tune them out. A study that goes against Martin and Halverson’s theory of gender development is Campbell’s study (2000). Although Martin and Halverson believe that gender identity is gained earlier than what Kohlberg thought, Campbell has proof that children develop gender schemas even earlier than ages 2-3. His study was with children of three months, nine months and eighteen...
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...Gender stereotypes are prevalent in our society and we are exposed to them from birth. Are these stereotypes an example of how our brains organize information to improve the ease of recall? Categories are a basic way to organize memories; the less categories there are, the better organized the memory will be. So people might not necessarily be intentionally sexist by organizing information into gender categories, but are using those categories as a useful tool to organize information for later recall (Valian, 2005). For example, Bem (1981) found that when participants were asked whether an attribute was descriptive of them, those that were sex-typed were faster in making schema-consistent judgments, and slower at making schema-inconsistent judgments than the other groups. These results are consistent with gender schema theory. Schemas are cognitive tool that we use to facilitate the organization and interpretation of information we encounter. Gender schema theory suggests that our gender schemas become a part of our self-concept....
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...Gender Schema Theory Name Institution Professor Course Date Explanation This theory which was initially developed by Sandra Bem (1981) and later improved by Charles Halverson and Carol Martin in 1983. The theory stresses the fact that children adjusts to the gender norms and also the expectations which their culture demands. The position of a society pertaining male and female traits greatly influences their development. Gender schemas therefore influences the beliefs, attitudes and the behaviors of the children during their mind development (Liben & Signorella, 1993). Through this the children learn various character traits which are associated with their gender depending on whether one is male or female. This is backed by the fact that in traditional societal cultures, any child who always sees women taking the role of raising children may strongly belief that the role of women in a society is caring for the young ones unlike men who are seen as family “breadwinners”. It is from this situation that children in such environments form schemas which directly influence their views and thoughts about their surroundings. Gender schema helps to organize the experiences of a child and aids in articulating sense of the social information gotten. For example the children of between five and eight years of age may develop a schema with an information of the dressing style for girls and boys. It is from this point that a boy will deny wearing what he sees as girl’s clothing...
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...efinition Gender typing projects societies' expectations regarding people's behavior based upon their biological sex.[2] [edit]Acquisition Gender typing is most typical during the formative years of developing one's identity. Through social learning theory children learn gender roles and behaviors, and begin to gender type. Through such reinforcing statements as "Big boys don't cry" or "You're such a good girl, being such a good mommy to your toys," children realize what is typical of the male and female gender and gender type other traits and behaviors as they try and discover whether they belong in 'girl world' or 'boy world.' Gender typing begins as early as age 2 or 3, as children are just beginning to distinguish between male and female voices, and develop a sense of language. Children at ages 2–4 are gender typing by the clothes they see other children wear, hairstyles and what toys are okay for boys to play with and what toys girls play with. By age 5, a child now has the ability to gender type by observing behavior, traits and tools used by men and women. A child may associate a man with the words aggressive, brave, autocrat, dominant and independent, a woman with the words emotional, sentimental, fragile, dependent and submissive.[3] In many languages, words are masculine or feminine ("la primavera" or "el invierno"), everything in the child's world takes on a female or male presence and is gender typed.[4] The Cognitive development theory is also important in...
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...Gender Stereotyping in Children Alisha Gordon English 111 Tracey Johnson May 3, 2012 Gender Stereotyping in Children Outline Delaying exposure to gender stereotyping in young children helps avoid disapproving gender views that limit children’s behavior and learning abilities, which plays a vital role in their social and cognitive development. I. Beliefs and Behaviors II. Influences a. Biological b. Environment 1. Family 2. Teachers 3. Peers III. Identity a. Emergence of gender identity IV. Gender Schema V. Conclusion After researching and learning about this topic, children who hold a flexible gender view of what boys and girls can do tend to see the world in a less gender biased fashion and increases their social and cognitive development, which helps prepare them for entering society. Gender Stereotyping in Children Parents play the role of nurturing their children and preparing them for society, and somewhere in between they unintentionally introduce their children to gender stereotyping (beliefs and behaviors acceptable for girls and boys). As children grow they start to learn gender typing on their own through biological and environmental influences. Then through observation children develop their own identity towards male or female, and they start to organize their experiences through gender schemas. This is how children interpret what’s happening in their world. Piaget’s cognitive...
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...SUBJECT: Toys and Gender Roles FOCUS: Do pre-school aged children pick toys that relate to their gender? BACKGROUND: Children are born without the knowledge of gender roles. It is something that is taught to them. As they grow, they become more familiar with who they are and their gender. When a child reaches an age to choose a toy out of many toys to play with, what do they choose? Kohlberg’s study (1966) found when children can identify themselves correctly as male or female, they begin to value activities that are consistent with their gender identity. (Smetana. Letourneau. 1984) There are many theories regarding gender learning and the differences in children’s toy preferences. Per Liben and Bigler “a gender schema can be considered...
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...Cognitive explanation of gender essay (10) When explaining how gender identity and roles develop, the cognitive approach emphasises the role of thinking processes. It refers to how children gather and make sense of information about gender and how their understanding of gender changes over time. It assumes that changes in gender role behaviour reflect changes in how children understand and think about gender. These changes in understanding, in turn, reflect the gathering of information about gender taken from the environment and the developmental changes in the child’s brain that allow them to process information in more advanced ways. Kohlberg has a table to explain his theory of gender development. It says that a child’s understanding of gender strengthens in stages. At beginning, children think in characteristic ways about gender. As the child moves through the stages its understanding of gender becomes greater. The first stage is gender identity, which is usually reached by the age of 2 years. At this stage the child is able to correctly identify its own sex. The second stage is gender stability, which is usually reached by the age of 4 years old. At this stage the child realises that gender remains the same across time. However, its understanding of gender is heavily influenced by external features like hair and clothing. A boy at this stage might say that if he put a dress on he would be a girl. It is not until the third stage, gender constancy, that the child starts...
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...Gender Identity Many different factors come into play while figuring and ultimately understanding someone’s gender identity. What many do not understand is that everything may not be what it seems, and just because something appears a certain way, does not mean it will perform the same. A person may look at their body and understand they may look like a boy, but to themselves they are not a boy. When taking a look into the anatomy of a human chromosomes are what make up a humans gender role. The sexual chromosomes determine the difference, for example, XX chromosomes make up a female, while XY chromosomes make a male. The X chromosome is the more dominate chromosome and has the ability to develop either sexual genitals. It has been discovered that hormones are responsible for a human’s biological development, and after they are born should be exposed to hormones. The Y chromosome directs the glands to release male sex hormones, and while pregnant it is important to take hormones, because it will take care of the nervous system. It takes many years to understand who we are, or even sometimes people never really understand themselves, but what we do know, is that you are not born knowing who you are. There are many factors that come into play all while trying to understand yourself, such as your environment, religious views, parental guidance. While growing up children are first influenced by their parents, and then as they soon start school, they are often influenced by...
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...alternative views. However, at age seven children are able to perceive ideas from multiple perspectives. * Industry vs. Inferiority Definition: the fourth stage of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development age 5 to 11 Children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities through social interactions. * Retinal Disparity Definition: the way that your left eye and your right eye view slightly different images. What it is: makes depth perception possible by blending the two images into one. * Monocular Depth Cues What it is: seeing with one eye at a time, field of view increases * Schema Accommodation What is a schema? – A frame work that helps us organize and understand ideas and concepts. Schema accommodation: the modification of the framework, which helps to interpret new information. (Allowing you to create new schemas) * Schema Assimilation: Adding information to an existing schema Applied: A child knows that a dog has for legs, ears, and a tail. The child assimilates to the schema when the child learns dogs are also fuzzy, lick, and bark. * Gender Roles Definition: A set of expectations on how men and women should behave * Gender Schemas Definition: A set of gender-related expectations that influence behavior. * Pre-conventional morality First stage of Kohlbergs Stages of moral development The child/individual is good in order to avoid being...
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...What Affects does our Schemas and Critical Thinking Play in our Roles as Leaders GM591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Instructor: Oliver London, Ph. D. Gloria Wilson gloriahomes@yahoo.com * 816-560-5913 December 10, 2010 INTRODUCTION Let me set the stage of this fascinating topic that I have created for you to understand, “What affects does our Schemas and Critical Thinking play in our roles as Leaders?” You must understand my background to see why I could not separate the two – Schemas and Critical Thinking. I was brought up in a southern Baptist family on my mom and dad side of the family. Our religion was number one and everything else was based on your beliefs (schemas) surrounding this very devout religious family. As I got older, and attended the business college for two years, before moving on to the big university, the first class I had was…you guessed it, Critical Thinking. I know I was a born leader, no doubt about it. I loved making sure everyone was well cared for in the family, as a child and as adult. You put all these together and you have created a…I will let you read it in the conclusion. My schemas as a child led me to believe, and do certain things as a child, to the clothing I wore down to the shoes I wore. Let me broaden it up for you a tad bit in schemas in the business world of thinking. “Schemas are cognitive frame works that represent organized knowledge developed through experience about people, objects, or events...
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... A documented element of good practice within “The Swedish National Curriculum” is their great value for gender equity within the early year’s education system. All Swedish early education establishments are in agreement with the values in which the Swedish society is based on (Ministry of Education & Science, 2010). Two of these values are; equality between the genders and equal rights of all people. They specify that both boys and girls should have the same opportunities to develop and explore their abilities/interests without limitations of stereotyped gender roles. Accordingly, early childhood professionals should work to counteract these traditional gender patterns and roles. This is handled in everyday practice in Swedish preschools by ensuring that all staff has a firm qualification enabling them to do so effectively within nurseries. The Swedish Government received indications that practitioners were found to not challenge conventional concepts of gender, but were contributing to them in different ways. So therefore, the Government funded a “gender pedagogue education program” in 2002. The purpose was to educate early childcare practitioners with unique awareness about gender theories and to provide a variety of training knowledge to improve quality processes. The idea was that all childhood education establishments in Sweden should have qualified gender pedagogues. The Government constituted a ‘Delegation for Equality in Preschool’ in 2003. This then started...
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...This TV show may have impact child gender development by the display of a variety of gender stereotypes. For example, the female characters in this episode were all very kind, polite, considerate, and attentive; while the male characters were very active, outspoken, aggressive, and craved strength and power. These stereotypes can reinforce the Gender Schema Theory. This theory is an alternative to Kohlberg’s view and suggests that the motivation to show gender-typed behavior starts as soon as children can label gender. In support of this theory, a child’s ability to differentiate gender develops through their individual gender schemas which is a collection of experiences and stereotypes they have been exposed to. Gender development of children who tune into this TV show are more likely to be influenced by the behavior shown since they will be able to recall episodes in their gender...
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...Shelby Osei-Bempong 1. What is the difference between gender and sex? Give an example of the two, maybe a real life example. Gender: The social categories of males an females. Established according to cultural beliefs and practices rather than being due to biology Ex: Girls have a negative body image Sex: The biological status of being a male or female. Ex: Males grow more muscles than females 2. What happens in traditional cultures to boys and girls in regards to socialization? Gender requirements tend to intensify at adolescence and allow for very little deviation from the norm. 3. Compare and contrast traditional cultures in regards to girls becoming women and boys becoming men. Girls - Women: Help take care of younger siblings by 6 or 7, work alongside with their mothers, maintain close relationships with their mothers (****) , traditional socialization is narrower, womanhood is inevitably reached, Boys-Men: Are not as close to their family because they become closer to peers, manhood must be achieved, Men must provide and protect and procreate 4. How has becoming an American man or woman changed over time? Today most girls are less constricted but more vulnerable and less integrated into the lives of adult women outside of their family Today boys, have replaced self-control and self-denial with self enjoyment and self expression (Passionate manhood) 5. What changes do you think...
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...Gover, Kaukinen & Fox (2008) conducted a study in 2008 that sampled 2,500 college students at two southeastern universities on exposure to violence from family of origin. According to the article, research on dating violence between teenagers suggest that females are more likely to be victimized by their dating partners. (Gover, Kaukinen & Fox, 2008, p.3) The authors think that the two main factors related to college dating violence are the exposure to violence during childhood and other risk factors for violence such as gender differences and social support in dating relationships. For example, the authors talk about how witnessing parental violence during your childhood can influence a violent dating relationship. (Gover, Kaukinen & Fox, 2008, p.5) Clearly, this research provides support to Catherine Kaukinen (2014) study and brings more insight on how social support and witnessing violence during childhood can contribute to dating violence among college students....
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...Abstract: Identity is an abstract, complex and dynamic concept. As a result of those characteristics, identity is not easily defined. According to Pinney, a principal objective of one’s adolescent years is the formation of an identity, and “those who fail to achieve a secure identity are faced with identity confusion, a lack of clarity about who they are and what their role is in life” This suggest that identity development plays a critical role in the individual’s psychological well-being. Thus the necessity of understanding your sense of identity is self-evident. In summary, in this assignment, I’m going to discuss the importance of identity, and the relation between the identity and role of a person portray and enact. To begin with, identity plays an important role in our daily life, and the Identity I’m talking about here is not just a set of computerised data that distinguish me from you and you from me; Identity is a complex term, which links self attitudes, or identities, to the role relationships and role-related behaviour of individuals. Identity theorists argue that the self consists of a collection of identities, each of which is based on occupying a particular role (Stryker, 1968; Stryker & Burke, 2000). Identities can be defined as one's answers to the question 'Who am I?" (Stryker & Serpe, 1982). Many of the "answers" (e.g., "I am a student") are linked to the roles we occupy, so they are often referred to as "role identities" or simply, "identities...
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