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The concept of Gender identity
psychological development in early childhood
The concept of Gender identity
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In today’s politically correct world, gender identity plays a very controversial role. There are instances where people are criticized for saying or doing certain things that may offend the other gender. These gender sensitive events can be rooted from childhood development. There are several theories that have been supported throughout the years, which aims to explain how gender roles are developed. I personally believe out of all the theories that the Cognitive-Development Theory is the philosophy that accurately explains how gender is developed during childhood. Lawrence Kohlberg was born in the United States of America and grew up studying psychology, and eventually became a world-renowned psychologist. Kohlberg was famously known for his theory of cognitive development during gender identification in childhood. His theory is centered around the idea that children themselves are in …show more content…
They find peace within that sex group because of the comfortability they feel. The biggest thing to take from this definition is the fact that they do not have to identify themselves as their same sex. A male may identify themselves as female, and vice versa. There is no wrong in how they identify themselves. Culture can prove to influence gender identity, especially within the Latino culture. Male have a huge sense of being the protectors, bread-winners, and source of order and power. While women are seen as helpers, care-takers, and serve men. Growing up in this culture can strongly influence gender identity, as well as their role in the future, as soon as a child is born. A gender stereotype within the culture could be that boys eventually become the “man-of-the-house,” and have to get a job that helps to financially provide for his own family, while the girl grows into a “housewife,” that has responsibilities to cook, clean, and care for the
In this semester, we are learn a lot of knowledge about ourselves, start from an infant to early adulthood. We know that, some of our behavior are development since we are infants such as intimacy with others. Other than that, we learned that most of our emotional development are more likely same as stated in Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development stages. In this report, we are using Bandura Social Learning Theory, Treisman’s Filter Model of attention, and information processing theory to explain the cognitive development in our group member and using Erik Erikson’s intimacy versus isolation theory to discuss the emotional development in relation with friendship and family.
“We have been very conditioned by the cultures that we come from and are usually very identified with the particular gender that we happen to be a member of.” This quote by Andrew Cohen explains partially how gender identity develops, through the conditioning of our environments. The most influential factor of gender development, however, is still a very controversial issue. An analysis of the gender identification process reveals two main arguments in what factor most greatly contributes to gender development: biology differences (nature) or the environment (nurture).
First coined by Sandra Bem in 1981, gender schema theory encompasses a cognitive account of sex typing by which schemas are developed through the combination of social and cognitive learning processes (Perle, 2011). It is significant to note that through observations of individuals within culture and society, each child is able to observe male and female typical attributes, activities, and actions (Perle, 2011). Ultimately, these perceptions lead to the development of gender segregation and guide the child’s gender-related actions and behavior. Two other critics who have utilized this theory and method are psychologists Jonathan Perle and Angela
In regards to the development of gender identity, it is a more complex issue to deal with, as one has to be concerned about all aspects of the person life, starting from even before they have been born (Swaab, 2004), to a point in their life where they are settled and satisfied with their identity. The American Psychological Association states that while development is very fluid among young children, it is usually believed to form between ages 3 and 6, however many transgender, individuals are not able to embrace their true gender identity until much later in life, largely due to societal stigma associated with these identities.
Ryle (2013) claims the gender schema theory is constructed on the frameworks of both cognitive development and social learning theory which seeks to explain how individuals become gendered in society. The theory was developed by Sandra Bem (1981) arguing that cultural influences predominantly impact how children establish and develop their ideas about what it means to be a man or women. The theory proposes that to learn such definitive information
Behaviorists tend to believe that virtually all roles, values, and morals are learned (223). Specifically, gender distinctions arise from operant conditioning and reward behavior that is “gender appropriate” and almost punish behavior that is “inappropriate” (223). According to the theory believed by behaviorists, GD would most likely stem from non-traditional parenting as opposed to traditional parenting. Cognitive theorists believe that gender identity becomes apparent around age 5, and based off of gender schema. Children see the world in simple black and white, male and female. When they see both men and female apply cosmetics, dress in certain ways, they’ll associate it with that gender and believe that “what they see is permanent and irreversible” (224). Humanists stress the hierarchy of needs. They believe that children want to be identified as male or female, “not because they disliked the other sex, but because same-sex groups satisfied their need to belong” (224). Essentially, they stress that young children set their gender identity by conforming to gender
With the lack of a father figure as well as not fitting in with his peers, Erickson was in a state of confusion with his identity he didn’t know what he wanted to do. Heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and his loss of identity, Erickson believed that personality developed through many phases life. Unlike Freud, who focused on psychosexual development, Erickson believed that the impact of social interactions and experience plays a role in development and growth.
Robert V. Kail addresses the increasing synergy of global and domain-specific theories in his article “Cognitive Development Includes Global and Domain-Specific Processes.” Kail is a part of the Department of Psychological Studies at Purdue University, and his aim in the article is to “present evidence suggesting that both global and domain-specific processes make important contributions to cognitive development” (Kail 445). In order to arrive at his conclusion, Kail highlights the flaws of an either/or system; critiques the advantages and disadvantages of global and domain specific theories separately; provides context for how these two theories have coexisted in the past; and finally arrives to his evaluation on the two theories working together
To begin, my observation was at Webster Elementary School, a school placed in the city surrounded by houses and other schools. The specific classroom I am observing is full of Kindergarten students who seem to very advanced than I had imagined. The classroom walls are brick and white, but the classroom teacher Mrs. O'Brien does an amazing job keeping the space use for both an upbeat and educational vibe, especially for environmental print. Everywhere you look there are educational posters, numbers, and mental state vocabulary words, as well as, students completed work. To add, students sit in medium sized tables with 4-6 other students when they aren’t having whole group instruction on either
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.
My readings suggest the Hispanic culture gender roles are very common and strict. Starting early in life children are taught to follow the strict guidelines of their gender (American Home Resources, 2010). There exists three common gender specific scripts in Hispanic culture; females can either be “Marianismo” or “Hembrismo”, and, males are classified as “Machismo”. The two female roles differ greatly; “Marianismo” defines behaviors of women as being obedient, dependent and caring for their children. The “Hembrismo” role stresses a female’s strength to persist through life’s difficulties; however, this role is not accepted widely in their culture. The “Machismo” role describes behaviors of men as being dominant and independent. This role views the man as being in charge of the family. (Peñalosa,
The creation of an identity involves the child's understanding of the public disposition of the gender normalities, and the certain gender categories that
There are five ways in which Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. The very first way that teachers can use these theories to teach constructively is by providing scaffolded instruction within the ZPD for their students (292). In other words, a teacher must be able to assist children in achieving a goal that may be slightly too difficult for them to reach alone. An example of this would be if a teacher had decided that her class should do an experiment on how well plants grow based on the amount of water they receive, she could challenge her students to make a hypothesis about what they think will happen. This teacher could allow her students to individually plant their seeds and then guiding her students to predict or hypothesize what they believe will happen if one plant gets more water than another. This example directly correlates with Vygotsky’s idea of ZPD because
Comparing the Two Theories of Cognitive Development There are three main types of cognitive development. There is Piaget's theory, Vygotsky's theory and the Information processing approach. The two theories that I am going to compare and contrast are Piaget and Vygotsky's theories. There are many differences between these two theories, but there are also many similarities too.
Lawrence Kohlberg was born in Bronxville, New York on October 25, 1927. He was born into a wealthy family and enjoyed all of the luxuries that the rich lifestyle had to offer including the finest college prep schools. However, Kohlberg was not too concerned with this lifestyle. Instead he became a sailor with the merchant marines. During World War II, Kohlberg played an instrumental role in smuggling Jews through a British blockade in Palestine. It was during these times that Kohlberg first began thinking about moral reasoning, a subject that would later make him famous. After this Kohlberg enrolled at the University of Chicago where he scored so high on admission test that he only had to take a limited number of courses to earn his bachelor’s degree. This he did in one year. Kohlberg remained at the University Chicago as a graduate student. In 1958, Kohlberg completed his Ph.D. which dealt with moral decision making and was based primarily on the earlier work of Jean Piaget. The result was his doctoral dissertation, the first rendition of his new stage theory. Later he served as an assistant professor at Yale University from 1959 to 1961, began teaching at the University of Chicago in 1963. He remained at Chicago until his 1967 appointment to the faculty of Harvard University, where he served as professor of education and social psychology until his death in 1987.