Role Stereotypes Are Been Ingrained Cognitive Schemes

One other theory that supports my work is the Gender Schema Theory. This theory is based on the idea that cognitive processes play a role in the development of gender stereotypes and identity. To begin with, Martin & Halverson (1978) suggest that schemas and past experiences are what make children be able to categorize someone as being a boy or a girl. This can also be seen through their experiment in 1983. The experiment basically consisted of showing children pictures of girls holding a gun and a boy holding a doll. This pictures were said to be inconsistent with the gender schema the children already had. When they called the children back the following week they remember the pictures to be the girl holding the doll and not the gun and so on. This links into my observations because it shows how children can perceive things as only being for girls or only being for boys. This is supported by empirical evidence “Princesses, Princes, and Superheroes: Children 's Gender Cognitions and Fictional Characters.” by Dinella LM, Claps JM, Lewandowski GW Jr. Their research links to my observations as they say that “Children 's own-schemas (i.e., beliefs that apply to themselves) and superordinate schemas (i.e., include beliefs about others ' preferences and behaviors) for the characters were mostly gender typed and congruent”.

Gender roles are categories that characterize what it means to be feminine and masculine in society, on how people think about gender as they relate to one another (Adams et al., 2013). For example, women are expected to be accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and aggressive, this shows how men and women are to behave in society. However, these sayings were taught to individuals based on norms, or standards created by a society which is called Gender Socialization (p. 318). Growing up as a child, we were taught as girls to play with dollhouses, pretend kitchen sets, cleaning supplies and play dress up. Whereas boys are taught to play with cars, sports equipment’s, action figures, and weapons. However, if a boy was playing with dollhouses, or playing dress up, he would be considered gay, or not masculine and looked down upon by society, and families. The same goes for girls who play with boy toys, or dresses as a tomboy, this is what we are taught to play with at a young age. Our families tell us how to behave, our schools tell us what

Although, gender typing might be considered an external factor, gender schema theory suggests that children are pre-programmed to construct or establish beliefs about the sexes. The child will formulate gender-stereotyped preferences and demeanors from others. One example could be picture day at school and the child formulates that girls wear dresses and boys wear slacks by observing those around them. Another example can be when children are on the playground where girls are more likely to be seen playing house and boys playing war. Since gender schema theory is an information processing approach, it further explains that environmental strains and a child’s cognitions work together to pattern gender-role evolution.

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

Children learn to process information in terms of an evolving gender schema. According to (Hetherington & Parke, 2016, Chapter 15) “Gender schema theory suggests that children develop naive mental schemas that help them organize their experiences in such a way that they will know what to attend to and how to interpret new information. According to this theory, we should expect individual differences in how gender-schematic children will be”. This gender-based schematic processing is at the heart of the present account of sex

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Gender role expectations are inescapable in our society as we naturally tend to sort humans into categories, the easiest one being gender. Upon first meeting a person, most people automatically classify the other’s gender. With this classification come the inevitable gender role expectations. Even for those who consciously try their hardest not to cloud their perceptions of others based on “traditional” gender role expectations, it is almost impossible not to subconsciously succumb to these expectations that are ingrained in our minds virtually since the day we are born. These expectations often influence how one interacts with another. This is especially important when taking into consideration the effects that gender socialization of children through gendered toys, media, and parental affects child development.

This is called gender socialization, which exaggerates sexual differences physically, experimentally, academically, and psychologically. Most parents are unaware that they play such a large role in creating a male or female child. But they are the first and one of the largest influences on their child. When parents have a female child she is viewed as sweet and gentle. The parents will even hold their daughter closer than they would a son. As they grow older boys are encouraged to explore while girls are kept closer to their parents. They are taught different approaches to many different problems in life. They may not realize it but through their interactions with their children they are encouraging their children to grow into a certain type of person based on their gender. The toys they are introduced to are even gender-based. Toys for males encourage them to develop such abilities of spatial perception, creativity, competition, aggression, and constructiveness. Toys for girls encouraged creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness. Children’s rooms and clothing are specific color: girls are pink and boys are blue. Girls often wear dresses and skirts that limit their physical activity. These types of influences at such an early age lay a foundation for the child’s personality. By the time they reach school age they already have a sense of being male or female. In school peers and teachers enforce these differences even further. (Lips, 1979,

The most important part I got from the readings was the idea of subtle sexism. In “Imagine My Surprise” the writer talks about how the way her boss spoke to her was sexist, even if he didn’t realize it, and that she should’ve stood up to him and called him out. In “Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes” the idea that a lot of times discrimination is based on stereotypes is talked about. The author also talks about how no one is immune to stereotyping others, and a lot of times stereotyped groups will even internalize the stereotypes about themselves. And in the Gendered Worlds reading it talks about the subtle sexism that women face in the workplace and especially the sexism that “token women” face. While these examples of sexism might not be blatant

Children’s interests in certain gender-specific toys and the gender stereotypical beliefs they hold has been found to have a clear link to their parents’ attitudes. (Newman and Newman, 2002).Therefore, this suggests how there is a clear relationship between how parents exposing children to behaviours which are thought to be gender specific can unintentionally be shaping their minds into thinking the

In an a preschool classroom during play time, you may see boys playing with cars and dressing up as firefighters and police officers while the girls are playing make believe in the kitchen and folding laundry. The difference in how children may play and/or interact is clear to see. At a very young age, children already have started to associate different toys, clothing, jobs, behaviors, and/or colors with gender. What accounts for accounts for this in children? Reading about gender typing in the book made me become more interested in what factors contribute to developing gender typing in children. The book, in my opinion, gives a very vague description of what really develops gender typing in children. My belief is that gender typing is a very complex concept and there are many factors that go into the different aspects of gender typing in children.

All four types of cognitive schemata are used to organize perception in a way that is understood. I find that script, prototype and person construct are used the most out of the four types of schemata for myself consciously. Stereotype is often used when judging others, typically outside of the friendship category. They are the ideas that I wouldn’t want to see in my friends.

According to the reading material, gender stereotype starts to develop in toddlers around the same time they gain awareness of their gender as boy or girl. In about 2years of age, toddlers are able to distinguished activities that are considered feminine and muscular. They are well conscious of the roles society believes men and women should play based on their gender. The textbook talked about a study that proved toddlers are able to categorize objects such as games, toys, and sports according to their gender. For example, they agreed that girls are more likely to assist their mother in the kitchen and boys are likely to play with cars.

Another limitation of gender schema theory is its inability to provide an exclusive explanation of asymmetry in findings between girls and boys. Boys and girls differ in several ways to an extent that they emulate models of the same gender, participate in same gender activities, and play with peers of the same

Gender role is defined as the socially constructed and culturally specific behavior and appearance expectations imposed on women (femininity) and men (masculinity). Many girls are subjected to gender role stereotyping and different treatment Through socialization, individuals learn to behave in accordance with the expectations of others in the social order (Hult, 83.). Gender ideology is involved when one attaches a color such as pink and blue to sex and when one designates types of toys as male, female or neutral. Most play behavior is an outcome of gender role stereotyping that stems from cultural ideology. Early research provides that by first grade, boys recognize sports, whereas girls recognize grades