Kohlberg's Theory of Gender Development (AQA A Level Psychology)

Kohlberg's stage theory

• Kohlberg’s theory is a cognitive theory of gender development that, unlike other cognitive theories of gender like gender schema theory, does not see gender development as a passive learning process which occurs as a result of socialisation

• Kohlberg saw knowledge about gender identity arising from children interacting with the world and actively constructing their understanding of gender 

• Kohlberg’s stage theory is very similar to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development: both theories see development as a series of universal stages that are determined by biological changes in the brain as well as active interaction with the environment

• Kohlberg’s stage theory argues that children’s discovery as to whether they are male or female and, subsequently, what this discover means, causes them to identify with members of their own gender

• Gender identity is a sense of self as male, female or transgender (APA, 2006)

• Gender constancy gained when children are capable of recognizing that gender remains stable over time is consistent despite changes in appearance

• Gender identity develops in stages over a period of time and it is only after gender constancy is reached at about the age of seven that children start to develop ideas of gender that align with their own identities

• Children then value the behaviours and attitudes associated with their gender, and identify with adult figures who are the same sex as them

The 3 stages of Kohlberg's theory

• Gender identity

• Gender identity occurs between eighteen months and three years

• Children recognise that they are female or male and learn the gender labels ‘girl’ and ‘boy’

• However children do not realise that boys grow into men and girls grow into women

• Gender stability 

• Gender stability occurs between three and five years

• Children understand that people remain the same gender for life 

• Children rely on appearances to determine gender e.g. if a woman cuts her hair very short or a man grows his long then children at this age believe they have changed gender

• Gender constancy 

• Gender constancy develops between six and seven years

• Children realise that gender is constant and does not rely just on appearances

• Children become more attentive to models that are the same sex as them

• Gender constancy is complete only when children appreciate that gender is consistent over time and in different situations

Gender identity and gender stability - children identify gender by outward appearances.

Gender constancy - short hair and trousers, but still a girl.

Research which investigates Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

• McConaghy (1979) conducted interviews with young children and found that if a doll was dressed in transparent clothing so its genitals were visible, 3-5-year-old children still judged its gender by its clothes, supporting Kohlberg’s argument that children in the gender stability stage still rely on external appearances to determine gender

• Halim et al (2013) interviewed parents from different cultures to investigate gender appearance rigidity in children in the gender stability stage and results showed that the more children aged about 3-6 years old understood that gender was constant, the more likely they were to dress rigidly according to their gender

Evaluation of Kohlberg’s theory of gender development

Strengths

• Kohlberg’s theory recognises the role of the child in their own gender development and includes an element of choice and free will

• Kohlberg’s theory is supported  by research with children and their parents, including cross-cultural research (see McConaghy and Halim et al, above)

Weaknesses

• Kohlberg’s theory concentrates on cognitive factors and ignores the possible influences of parents and friends, reducing them to just those with whom the child interacts and disregards the nature of these interactions

• The theory does not account for individuals who identify as nonbinary, transgender or gender fluid

Link to Issues and Debates:

Kohlberg’s theory and associated research link to the debate between determinism and free will. Kohlberg saw gender constancy as a universal and inevitable last stage in gender development as children accepted a direct sex-gender link and the sex-role expectations through interaction with their culture and society. This is determinism, as changes in brain structure due to maturation allow for higher levels of cognitive functioning, which in turn, produce changes in understanding of gender. The argument that gender development is similar across all cultures, suggests a biological predisposition underpinning gender development. 

However, the fact that the theory acknowledges the active role of the child in identifying with their own gender and attaining gender constancy also gives Kohlberg’s theory an element of free will, though not so much as Bem, whose concept of androgyny saw gender constancy as a choice and part the free will to live one’s life according to one’s own decisions regarding which personal traits are desirable, whether or not they reflect the sex-role expectations for one’s gender.

Kohlberg’s theory is fairly holistic than as it combines interacting with one’s social environment and biological developmental factors as explanations for gender development.

Link to Approaches:

Kohlberg’s theory is relevant to the cognitive approach, as it assumes that children are active information processors, not passive recipients of environmental input. True, it is their brain development that gives them an increasing ability to process the gender expectations around them, and pass through Kohlberg’s three stages, but it is their evolving understanding of concepts of gender around them (e.g. ‘what girls do’ and ‘what boys do’) that leads to gender constancy.