What are schemas?
• Are like rules which help us make sense of the world
• A cluster of beliefs about something
Function: Organise
information in our heads
Schemas affect how individuals
behave and what
information they attend to.
At three years (gender identity) children begin to search for rules and ‘create
schemas’ about how males and females
should behave.Their schema’s develop and get more and
more complex.
Gender schemasRigid and inflexible
Gender Schema theory
Gender identity gender schemas
more attention to same sex gender consistent behaviours
Activity
• I will show you a picture of a clock• You have 2 minutes to draw the clock as
accurately as possible.
Gender schema theory
Children pay attention to information that fits with their schemas, and ignore information that does not fit with their schemas Liben et al (1993)
Task
• Identify two similarities and two differences between the gender schema theory and Kohlberg's consistency theory
Support for his theory
Aubry et al followed children for 3 years. They asked them about their beliefs for gender related items. They found that if a child showed awareness that an item was meant for the opposite sex, the following year they showed a reduced preference for it.
Fill in the gaps
1. How does Aubry et al’s study support the gender schema theory (link back)2.Can you identify any problems with his study?3. The study’s results are unreliable, what does this mean?
• Found children that could label gender at 2.5 showed more gender consistent behaviour
• Parents of ‘early labellers’ had given more negative/positive responses to sex type toys when they were 1.5 years old.
Fagot (1985)
What can you conclude from these results?
Fagot concluded that parents influence children's schemas, therefore gender behaviours, which the GST did not acknowledge.
Paired Discussion
• The film Billy Elliot involves a boy who, even though he knows ballet is for girls, he does it anyway. Eventually his beliefs about ballet ‘not for boys’ change.
• How does this story conflict with the gender schema theory?
Paired Discussion
• Research has shown that boys tend to engage in more gender activities than girls.
• E.g boys have a stronger preference for gender consistent toys
• BUT, boys do not have more developed schemas/knowledge about gender compared to girls.
How does this pose a problem for the gender schema
theory?
Task- You are the teacher
• Read the students answer• Highlight the A01 and A02.• Underline where she has wrapped her A01 in
A02 language or cross where she has not done it.
• Mark on the side where she has elaborated.• Circle where she has linked back to the
question or write ‘link back’ where she hasn’t.
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