Cognitive Development Theory: The Three Major Theories Of Gender

The three major theories of gender are known as the Learning Theory, The Social Learning Theory, and the Cognitive Development Theory. The learning Theory states that “Traits and behaviors are not inborn- we learn them.” (122) This means that we aren’t born we knowing what traits and behaviors are for each gender, we learn them through our environment. For example growing up, I was assign the role of playing with dolls and playing house and dress up. I didn’t think much of it at first, but learning from my peers and my environment, I learned that was expected of me, since I was a girl. I remember that if I tried to play with power rangers or transformers, my classmates would yell at me, saying I was not allowed to do that since I was a girl

(122) I was punished for playing with “boy” toys, but rewarded when playing with “girl” ones. Now that I am an adult, I think that is a little ridiculous, but it is how I was raised as a child. Feminism would make it so that learned responses are all praise and rewards instead of punishment. Instead of girls getting scolded for being a tomb boy or playing with Transformers, they would be able to do whatever they want. They can play with whatever the boys played with and it wouldn’t be a problem. The Next major theory of gender is known as the Social Learning Theory. According to the textbook, the Social Learning Theory states that “children make countless day-to day observations that ultimately shape their gender-related thinking, understanding, and behavior.” (122) This means that when we are children, we observe and see what a female’s behavior is supposed to look like, and what a male’s behavior is supposed to look like. Growing up seeing my parents as well as movies, I would make assumptions that it was always the male’s role to pay for the female and pay for everything and not let her pay. I would see that on movies and in my parent’s relationship. I observed and saw how my boy

According to the textbook, Lawrence Kohlberg developed this theory and it states that “children could not be influenced by outside experiences until they developed cognitively.” (123) As the textbook states, a child cannot be influenced by the outside environment because they “must first gain a certain awareness or understanding about gender” (Helwig, 1998). Their concepts on gender will change, but they will go through the three phases of gender understanding, which are gender identity, gender stability, and gender constancy. (124) Gender identity is when around the age 3, children know that they are a boy or a girl and can identify other boys and girls.(124) I think I can relate to this, I am not too sure since I can’t remember my life when I was three. However my three year old cousin was able to identify that she was a girl and could tell the difference between a girl and a boy. Gender stability is when a child knows that they will forever be a girl or a boy. (124)Gender constancy is when a child knows that no matter what activity they do they still are a boy or a girl and will never change. It’s when they think of themselves as unchangeable that they begin to take on both family and socially expected gendered behaviors. (124) I can’t really relate to this theory, as I don’t remember when I realized I would be a girl forever. However, since I was a girl and I would always be a girl, I understood and