Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory essay plan

Discuss Kohlberg's theory of gender development. 8 marks + 16

A01 - Piaget's influence.Kohlberg's gender constancy theory takes inspiration from Piaget's theory that the way individuals think changes as they grow older, which is the consequence of physical changes within the brain. This allows the brain to become able to think more complicated & abstractly and means that changes within gender thinking are a result of age-related changes within cognition. Kohlberg states that this results in development occurring within stages as children naturally gradually progress from one stage to another as their cognition matures.

AO2 - Other approachesThe cognitive developmental theory is only one approach to the explanation of gender development, as it does not take into account the influence that genes and hormones have on the development of gender roles. The cognitive developmental theory suggests that changing peoples ways of thinking alters gender behaviour, however evidence suggests that behaviour doesn't change when thinking does. An example of this would be Durkin who, in 1995, claimed that many couples theoretically agree to sharing domestic duties but it doesn't actually happen. This could perhaps be due to division in gender roles having a biological basis. On the other hand, gender roles could be learnt through reinforcement, which is a social approach to the development of gender. The cognitive development theory emphasises children's active role in learning their gender concepts, but the social approach views gender development more passively, as the result of direct and indirect reinforcement from the media, parents and peers.

AO1 - Stage 1 Gender labellingThe first stage in the gender constancy theory, occurs between 2 and 3 years of age. Children around these ages label themselves & others by man or woman, or boy or girl. The label is only based on outward appearance, taking into account what the individual is wearing and their hairstyle. Children will change their gender labelling as appearances change, an example of this would be a man having long hair being labelled a woman. At the end of this stage children will also label themselves as a boy or a girl as well as other individuals. Piaget has described children's way of thinking within this stage as pre-operatoinal, for example it lacks internal logic and has a superficial logic but isn't internally consistent. This can therefore suggest that within the first stage the way of thinking is very immature and therefore suggests the gender development is in the early stages.