EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 09: Gender development during ECE

Gender Schema theory

A recent extension of cognitive-developmental theory is gender schema theory.

• People use gender schemas, which are mental representations about the sexes, to guide their behavior and thinking
• As children interact with their world, their experiences are filtered through gender schemas.
• Over time many events come to be interpreted through these male-female schemas.
• Children then behave according to their interpretation of what it means to be male or female.
• Gender schemas influence what children pay attention to what they remember and how they behave.
• The influence of gender schemas is best summarized by the principle of schematic consistency, referring to the tendency of children's behavior and thinking to match their schemas (see Figure below). For instance, children pay more attention to and better remember information if it is relevant to their own gender group.

Gender schemas: Mental representations about the sexes.

Schematic consistency: The tendency of children’s behavior and thinking to match their schemas.

Model of Gender Schematic Processing (Figure)

This model illustrates how children's gender schemas influence their memory, attention and behavior. In this example, a girl decides to play with a doll because she believes it is a toy appropriate for girls.