Gender Roles are cultural roles that define what we can and cannot do, and create expectations based on being physically male or female.
Important for self-development because study of this subject can force introspection and re-examination of personal gender bias. This can provide a more open-mind when dealing with others in the future.
*In the past fifty years, significant research on the topic of gender roles has emerged, challenging traditional thinking about what it means to be male or female.
Social Learning Theory and Gender Development
Albert Bandura believed that gender development occurs strongly during childhood, and is learned by gender-modeling as seen by observing adults of the same gender. This is known as gender role modeling and is seen through young boys trying to shave, like their fathers, or young girls playing dress-up with their mothers' heels and makeup.
Jerome Kagan believed that gender development begins at infancy, given that infants receive different treatment based on gender. Kagan saw gender role development in four phases: identifying with the model, acting like the model, feeling what the model feels, and being the model.
Lawrence Kohlberg and the Cognitive Developmental Theory
Kohlberg recognized three processes that help a person come to a specific gender role.
- This is different from sex , as these are build on biological characteristics, such as specific physical traits that make someone male or female.
- Within the concept of sex are sex roles, which are activities that can occur due to being male or female, such as breast-feeding.
- Gender roles and expectations are deeply rooted in culture, family-life, and social environment.
Important for self-development because study of this subject can force introspection and re-examination of personal gender bias. This can provide a more open-mind when dealing with others in the future.
*In the past fifty years, significant research on the topic of gender roles has emerged, challenging traditional thinking about what it means to be male or female.
Social Learning Theory and Gender Development
Albert Bandura believed that gender development occurs strongly during childhood, and is learned by gender-modeling as seen by observing adults of the same gender. This is known as gender role modeling and is seen through young boys trying to shave, like their fathers, or young girls playing dress-up with their mothers' heels and makeup.
Jerome Kagan believed that gender development begins at infancy, given that infants receive different treatment based on gender. Kagan saw gender role development in four phases: identifying with the model, acting like the model, feeling what the model feels, and being the model.
Lawrence Kohlberg and the Cognitive Developmental Theory
Kohlberg recognized three processes that help a person come to a specific gender role.
- Gender identity is the ability to recognize whether someone is male or female. This is based heavily on appearance, and occurs relative early, around age three or four. This helps a child organize the world around him/her.
- Gender stability comes when a child recognizes that girls and boys remain male and female respectively.
- Gender constancy develops when gender is recognized as concrete, despite physical changes or activity preference. This stage occurs around age six or seven.
Sandra Lipsitz Bem and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
Bem believed that gender taints every aspect of development, and infiltrates schema development from infancy.
Bem believed that gender taints every aspect of development, and infiltrates schema development from infancy.
- The BSRI contains over 60 characteristics, and recognizes that many individuals have both male and female attributes, as well as allowing for androgyny, which is a non-sex typed gender role.
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