Compare and Contrast Two Theories of Gender Role Development

Compare and contrast two theories of gender role development

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.

One theory of gender role development would be Kohlberg's theory of gender development (1966). His theory indicates that gender develops throughout different stages. Therefore, he predicts that children think about gender in characteristic ways in each stage. Going through the various stages children develop a more complex understanding of behaviour. The different stages are gender identity, gender stability and gender constancy.

Children reach the first stage, gender identity, in which they are supposed to label their own gender, by the age of approximately two years. Also, children tend to be able to label others, such as their parents as male or female. Nevertheless, their gender believes are still based on physical characteristics.

In the stage of gender stability children are able to indicate that a gender remains the same throughout time and therefore, children start to realise that they will be male or female for the rest of their lives. Nevertheless, their understanding of gender i...

... middle of paper ...

...(4th Ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.

Santrock, J. W. (2006). Life-span development (10th Ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.

Works Cited

Björklund, D. F. (2000). Children‘s thinking: Developmental function and individual differences (3rd. Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.

Björklund, D. F. (2012). Children‘s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (5th Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.

Cervone, D., Pervin, L. A. (2008). Personality: Theory and research (10th Ed.). New York: Wiley.

Colman, A. M. (2009). Dictionary of psychology (3rd Ed.). Oxford: University Press.

Davey, G. (Ed.) (2012). Social psychology. Complete psychology (2nd Ed.), 5. London: Hodder education.

Miller, P. H. (2002). Theories of developmental psychology (4th Ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.

Santrock, J. W. (2006). Life-span development (10th Ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.