1. Explanations of Gender Development: Evaluating Kohlberg
LO: To Evaluate Kohlberg’s (1966) Gender Consistency Theory

2. Kohlberg’s (1966) gender consistency theory
Stages of development in gender identity
Stage
Gender
Identity – 2-3yrs
Label self as boy or girl.
stability –4-5yrs
Children understand they always have been and always will be a boy or girl.
consistency – 6-7yrs
Children realise they will not change gender even if their appearance changes.

3. Key points to note: According to Kohlberg!!
Once a child has acquired gender consistency this causes them to pay more attention to same sex models and copy them.
This happens independently from parental rewards
Kohlberg called this self-socialisation.
Children must acquire gender consistency before they start to show gender behaviours

4. Evaluation of Kohlberg's theory
Supporting evidence – evaluate
Does gender consistency need to develop before children show gender behaviours?
Are the ages & stages correct?
Put some notes on your white boards

5. Slaby and Frey (1975) Supporting Research
Aim: Whether children with higher levels of gender consistency show more attention to same sex models
Procedure
Questioning 55 children from age 2 -5 to assess their level of gender understanding
‘Which one are you?’
Tests gender identity
Young children can just point

6. Slaby and Frey (1975)
‘Were you a little boy or little girl when you were a baby?’
‘Will you be a mummy or a daddy when you grow up’
Tests gender stability
“If you wore a dress, would you be a girl?”
Tests gender consistency

7. A P F Conclusion: How does this support Kohlberg? Ext: GRAVE
2 weeks later Children shown a film clip with a woman on one side and a man on the other side.
Children who had higher scores on gender consistency watched same gender models for longer e.g high gender consistency boys- 61 secs V low gender consistency 47 secs.
How does this support Kohlberg? A P F
Conclusion:
How does this support Kohlberg?
Ext: GRAVE

8. Evaluating Slaby and Frey
Methodological issues:
-Researcher bias?
- Demand characteristics?
Correlational data so does not suggest gender consistency causes gender imitation.
Could be other factors such as….. G R A V E
I will ask you, why does this matter!!

9. Task: Create an extended burger paragraph; You must……
Bring in A02 language to introduce the research
Outline the research.
Explain how it supports the theory (link back to Kohlberg).
Evaluate the research
Why does this matter (link back to Kohlberg)
A02 Task: Point. Evidence. Explain. Link.

10. Peer marking Did they done all 7? things?
Have they outlined the theories accurately?
Have they explained HOW/WHY it causes anorexia?
Bring in A02 language
Outline the research
Explain how it supports the theory
Evaluate the research
Why does this matter…
Feedback:
“You have outlined the theories accurately.”
Or “you need to outlined the theories in more detail”
2. “You have they explained clearly HOW/WHY the theory causes anorexia.”
Or “I didn’t fully understand how the theory caused anorexia, you need to include more detail”

11. Does gender consistency need to develop first before children show gender behaviours?
However, Martin and Little (1990) have provided evidence that preschool children with very basic understanding of gender showed strong gender stereotype behaviours and same gender preference for peers and toys.
Add this to your burger paragraph and
Link Back!!

12. What would you do to improve this paragraph?
Martin et al looked at the methodology used to test Kohlberg's theory of gender consistency and concluded that such methods could underestimate a child's level of understanding. Generally questions are asked about the sex change of a doll or drawing of another boy/girl e.g children are shown a drawing and asked “could this boy change gender if he wore boy clothes?”.

13. Ages and Stages
No disagreement about order of stages but disagreement about ages at which they occur.
May be due to methods used to test children:
Others vs Themselves
Drawing V real photos
Research has shown that children grasp gender consistency earlier when applied to themselves or with real children.