Gender identity is an aspect of the developing self-concept. The main gender difference In early childhood Is boys’ greater aggressiveness. Girls tend to be more empathic and social and less prone to problem behavior. Cognitive differences appear early. This paper will focus on three gender development theories: social cognitive, gender-schema, psychosocial. Social Cognitive Theory Human isolation on the basis of gender is affects virtually every aspect of a person’s daily life. The social cognitive theory integrates psychological and structurally aspects within an environment.
In this perspective, gender conceptions and roles are the product of a broad network of social Influences operating Interdependently. People contribute to their self-development and bring about social changes that define and structure gender relationships through their actions (Lobe). Cognition means how you think, and the theory we will be looking at is Kohlrabi’s Cognitive- Developmental Theory. The basic principle of the theory is that a child’s understanding of gender develops with age. Goldberg identified three stages in gender development.
The first Is gender Identity which happens at about 2 years of age, and It Is where the child recognizes what makes a person male or female. The next stage happens at about 4 years and is called gender stability. At this stage, the child now understands that their gender is flexed and will be male/female when they’re older. Finally is gender constancy which happens between 5 and 7 years and is the stage at which the child realizes that superficial changes will not change their gender (Lobe). For example, a girl wearing Jeans Is still girl or a boy wearing a dress is still boy.
Gender-schema Theory The Gender-schema theory concludes that children learn about what it means to be male and female from their culture. According to this theory, children adjust their behavior to fit in with the gender norms and expectations of their culture. Gender schema theories maintain that gender is a major component around which children organize Information. These theories Insist that gender-related Information Is organized In the form of a schema, an abstract knowledge structure that serves as implicit theory, and expectations that guide attention, retrieval, behavior, and social judgment.
Many studies have illustrated that children make gender-related inferences and judgments (Burnet & Heeler, 1986). These studies focused on developmental issues and, although their findings somewhat differ, they all concluded that the relative extent to which children’s inferences rely on gender label and on Individuating Information, I. E. , targets’ Interests and satellites, vanes with age. Whereas kindergarten children rely mainly on gender label, older children rely more upon individuating information. Two explanations as to why kindergarten children Ely solely on gender label.
First, as was evidenced in past research, the gender label is a very salient judgment cue upon which children base their predictions about the characteristics of a given Individual. Second, It is likely that, given younger children’s relatively Limited cognitive capacity, they are not able to Integrate multiple sources of stereotypic behavior (Burnet & Heeler, 1986). Gender schema theories maintain that individual differences in gender schematic should be considered in order fully to understand children’s gender-related behavior and Judgments.
Researchers in gender development agree that individual differences exist in various dimensions of gender typing including knowledge, flexibility, gender schematic, and gender-typed behavior. However, although current research has established clear developmental differences in children’s inferences and Judgments, surprisingly little research directly examines how and when these Judgments might be influenced by individual differences in children’s gender schematic.
This is especially surprising considering the fact that individual differences in the use of gender-related knowledge were acknowledged “It is intriguing that some children spontaneously guessed the sex of the target children, indicating that they may have used gender to mediate their Judgments” (Burnet & Heeler, 1986). Psychosocial Theory Freud believed that a lot of our thought processes are subconscious. Freud advanced a theory of personality development focusing on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on a person’s emerging personality.
According to his theory, parts of the personality develop as we move through a series of psychosocial stages. Each tag is characterized by different demands for sexual gratification with different ways of achieving that gratification. The first stage is the oral stage, this relates to the time the child breast feeds. Only the id is present at this stage. A newborn is governed only by its drives; so the infant seeks immediate gratification, achieved through its mouth – feeding, crying, and oral exploration of its surroundings.
According to Freud, disturbance of the oral stage may result in a permanent fixation on the oral channel for gratification. Examples of resulting adult behaviors include mooing, overeating, thumb-sucking, and pencil chewing. Typical resulting personality traits include impatience, passivity, greediness, dependence and a preoccupation with giving and taking (Synonyms). The second stage comes around at 18-36 months; the anal stage. The focus of gratification shifts from the mouth to the anus.
The child experiences pleasure from the elimination of feces. According to Freud, this brings them into conflict with their parents. Random elimination (as demanded by the ‘d) incurs parental displeasure, yet withholding elimination (as quested by the parents) is denying the demands of the ‘d, which until this point has been the source of all motivation (Synonyms). The resolution of this conflict requires the development of the ego, and as such has important implications for behaviors later in life.
Freud suggests that fixations may be caused by either extremely strict toilet training or intense pleasure associated with taboos (such as smearing feces on the wall). Too little gratification in this stage results in an ‘anal’ or obsessive character who has a wish to make a terrible mess and therefore must build offenses against this, such as orderliness and rigidity. They are also obstinate, stingy, punctual and possessive. Too much gratification will result in opposite behaviors, untidiness, a hot temper and destructiveness (Synonyms).
Finally is the phallic stage, according to Freud, the focus of gratification is now on the genitals. This gratification is not the same that is experienced by adults. Children take an increasing interest in their own genitals, and show a curiosity about other people’s Electra conflict (Synonyms). Resolution of this conflict should result in the attachment o the parents, most notably the same sex parent and the development of a superego. Freud suggests that an Oedipus conflict applies to boys. A boy wants his mother and therefore is Jealous of his father and wants to remove him.
The fear that his father will discover the son’s feelings is expressed in terms of fear of castration, but is finally resolved through identifying with the father. For girls, the Freudian Electra complex describes the events leading up to gender resolution. The young girl has ‘penis envy’ and resents the mother for not providing her with one. According to Freud, the conflicts may result in homosexuality, authority problems, and rejection of appropriate gender roles if not resolved (Synonyms).
He also believed it was possible to become fixated at any of these stages; so if one becomes fixated in the oral stage could become verbally aggressive or a smoker and chew pens etc. Conclusion Child learn at an early age what make a person a boy or a girl. There are learned differences between the gender development of boys and girls. Girls are more social while boys tend to be more aggressive. Each theory relates differently to how children develop their gender identity.
