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The effect of gender on identity
Operant conditioning
Literature review on social learning theory
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Recommended: The effect of gender on identity
This essay concerns the development of gender-role identification and what theories have been regarded as the most influential in explaining the process.
One theoretical approach into gender-role identification is the social learning theory. Bandura (1973) pioneered work on gender development. The social learning theory contends that gender roles are heavily determined by environmental factors (Bandura,1986; Bandura and Bussey, 2004; Bussey and Bandura, 1999 in Brannon, L. 2008) and most importantly they are learnt. One way in which children may come to acquire their targeted gender roles is through operant conditioning (in Brannon, L. 2008). Skinner (1970, in Brannon, L. 2008) stressed the importance of reinforcement and punishment in children. For instance, if a child finds that by behaving in a certain way e.g. a boy who plays with car toys receives approval from his parents, they are more likely to repeat this behaviour. However, if a girl is found to be jumping or behaving in an erratic manner she will receive disapproval from her parents hence not repeat the behaviour (in Brannon, L. 2008). A vast amount of studies have demonstrated and partially blamed parents for acting in a gendered stereotypical manner. According to Wood, Desmaratis and Gugula, (2002 in Brannon, L 2008) parents encourage and provide toys that are associated with the child’s gender and therefore treat children differently.
One study into the effects of differential treatment amongst boys and girls comes from Fagot’s (1978, in Smith, P.K., Cowie, H & Blades, M. 2003) research. Fagot (1978) found that boys and girls received reinforcement and punishment for different behaviours. For example, girls were discouraged from shouting, jumping and reinforced ...
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... highlights the role of schemas in playing a crucial role. The gender script theory, however, explains a child’s gender development in terms of actions being performed in a sequentional form.
All the theories discussed above have shown to be useful in explaining gender role identification and therefore one cannot be regarded as superior to another, however, the social learning theory and the cognitive developmental theory seem to be the most compatible.
References
Shiraev, E., & Levy, D. (2007, 2004). Cross-Cultural Psychology (3th ed.) United States of America.
John, W. Berry, Ype H. Poortinga, Marshall, H. Segall, Pierre R. Dasen (2002). Cross- Cultural Psychology: Research and applications (2nd ed.) United States of America, New York.
Smith, E. E. and Kosslyn, S. M. (2009). Cognitive psychology: Mind and brain. New Jersey: Pearson Education
The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593
How do children learn to be men or women? Penelope Eckert is a professor of linguistics and anthropology at Stanford University and Sally McConnell-Ginet is a professor of linguistics at Cornell University. They wrote an article “Learning to Be Gendered,” published in 2013 in the book “Language and Gender.” The authors argue that society has many ways to shape children's gender by children’s behaviors since their birth. Eckert and Ginet show to the readers that the parent teaches their child’s behavior. The author is using ethos, logos, and pathos to support the thesis statement.
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
A dominant debate in current psychological research is one on gender development. Psychologists try to understand relative importance of social and cognitive factors. Various theories are brought up in this field and in this essay two of the most standard theory in this field are going to be explained. The theories covered in this essay relate to aspects of children’s thinking that are central to their gender development. This will include, Kohlberg‘s theory of gender development (1966) and Bandura‘s theory of social cognitive development (1986). Theories like these help psychologists understand how and in which way children understand behaviour and which leads them to do so.
This work (repeat the teaching) could make the kids realize and know their genders. The second step, in ages 3-5, when the kids know exactly what their gender, the parents want to let them do activity together. In this step, it is very hard to do that for boys particularly because their stereotypes about the gender are very stronger than the girls. This is back to the learning that they (boys) got from their previous step. In the third phase, we find that Kohlberg believes that children age 6 to 10 years begin to comprehend the gender differences between them. We find that kids at this stage, they begin to develop their skills on this basis. At this stage may not happen without any intervention of the parents, but the children get some confusion; for example, a child who has a tendency to carry out activities of gender, we find the parents are suffering at this stage because the child 's return to its own stereotypes. Also, at this stage, we find that the competition between the sexes is increasing somewhat, so that we see the kids are trying to prove gender personality. We can now say that the stereotype of children throughout
Smith, E. E. and Kosslyn, S. M. (2009). Cognitive psychology: Mind and brain. New Jersey: Pearson Education
Experiencing a society of multi-cultures is beneficial through a variety of concepts to epitomize each individual identity. A person may vary in the degree to which he or she identifies with, morals, or...
All around the world society has created an ideological perspective for the basis of gender roles. Gender and sex are often times misused and believed to be interchangeable. This is not the case. There are two broad generalization of sexes; female and male, yet there is a vast number of gender roles that each sex should more or less abide by. The routinely cycle of socially acceptable behaviors and practices is what forms the framework of femininity and masculinity. The assigned sex categories given at birth have little to do with the roles that a person takes on. Biological differences within females and males should not be used to construe stereotypes or discriminate within different groups. Social variables such as playing with dolls or
Rigidity and flexibility of gender stereotypes in childhood: Developmental or differential?. Infant And Child Development, 14(4), 365-381. doi:10.1002/icd.399 Zosuls, K. M., Ruble, D. N., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Shrout, P. E., Bornstein, M. H., & Greulich, F. K. (2009). The acquisition of gender labels in infancy: Implications for gender-typed play. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 688-701.
It is not an easy task for a child to understand the obligations that accompany their assigned gender, yet while they encounter difficulties processing these thoughts they are also achieving a greater sense of identity. Different stages of life consist of social rules that encode how one is to behave, however, it is not clearly defined when the transition should occur from young girl to young woman. It is not surprising that learning about gender roles and their associated responsibilities is not an easy part of a young child’s maturation and is often the result of a very emotionally charged collection of experiences.
While I was growing up, gender roles were highly defined by my parents and teachers as well as all other societal influences. Boys were taught to do 'boy' things and girls were taught to do 'girly' things. The toys that children play with and the activities that are encouraged by adults demonstrate the influence of gender roles on today's youth.
Vosniadou S. (1996) TOWARDS A REVISED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR NEW ADVANCES IN LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION. Learning and instruction,6( 2), 95-109.
With this paper I wanted to focus on psychological aspects that had to do with a different side of the culture. There are three key aspect of information from the c...
Family is the first influence to the children’s gender socialization. The interaction of children with their parents is the first exposure of the gender differences idea to them. Since the babies is born, parents start to treat sons and daughters differently with their gender stereotype by dressing infants with different colors’ clothes, giving them gender differentiated toys. One study indicates that parents have differential exp...
...r different types of gender interaction modes may emanate from corresponding ‘underlying conceptions of gender’. Third, the four types have ‘tentative influences on the children’s identity process’ (Sandstrom, Stier, Sandberg, 2013). The training process looks very complicated but it is crucial to the development of children in the future.