Children’s Search for Gender Cues Cognitive Perspectives on Gender Development

Young children search for cues about gender—who should or should not do a particular activity, who can play with whom, and why girls and boys are different. From a vast array of gendered cues in their social worlds, children quickly form an impressive constellation of gender cognitions, including gender self-conceptions (gender identity) and gender stereotypes. Cognitive perspectives on gender development (i.e., cognitive developmental theory and gender-schema theory) assume that children actively search for ways to make sense of the social world that surrounds them. Gender identity develops as children realize that they belong to one gender group, and the consequences include increased motivation to be similar to other members of their group, preferences for members of their own group, selective attention to and memory for information relevant to their own sex, and increased interest in activities relevant to their own sex. Cognitive perspectives have been influential in increasing understanding of how children develop and apply gender stereotypes, and in their focus on children’s active role in gender socialization. KEYWORDS—gender development; gender stereotypes; cognitive theories Erin, a 4-year-old, explained to her aunt about a drawing she had done: ‘‘The ones with eyelashes are girls; boys don’t have eyelashes.’’ In an Italian restaurant, a four-year-old noticed his father and another man order pizza and his mother order lasagna. On his way home in the car, he announced that he had figured it out: ‘‘Men eat pizza and women don’t.’’ (Bjorklund, 2000, p. 361) Children are gender detectives who search for cues about gender— who should or should not engage in a particular activity, who can play with whom, and why girls and boys are different. Cognitive perspectives on gender development assume that children are actively searching for ways to find meaning in and make sense of the social world that surrounds them, and they do so by using the gender cues provided by society to help them interpret what they see and hear. Children are wonderfully skilled in using these cues to form expectations about other people and to develop personal standards for behavior, and they learn to do this very quickly and often with little direct training. By the age of 5, children develop an impressive constellation of stereotypes about gender (often amusing and incorrect) that they apply to themselves and others. They use these stereotypes to form impressions of others, to help guide their own behavior, to direct their attention, and to organize their memories. The first cognitive theory of gender development was Kohlberg’s (1966) cognitive developmental approach, which was based on the ideas of Piaget. Kohlberg’s theory emphasized the active role of the child in gender development, and proposed that children’s understanding of gender concepts influences their behavior, and that this influence becomes more pronounced once children reach a relatively sophisticated understanding of gender—knowing that a person’s sex is stable and unchanging. In the 1970s, a new group of cognitive approaches to gender emerged—gender-schema theories. Genderschema theory is based on the idea that children form organized knowledge structures, or schemas, which are gender-related conceptions of themselves and others, and that these schemas influence children’s thinking and behavior. Although similar to Kohlberg’s theory in the assumption that children play an active role in gender development, gender-schema theory assumes a more basic understanding of gender is all that is required to motivate children’s behavior and thinking. Gender-schema theory was further elaborated with contributions from developmental and social psychologists (Liben & Bigler, 2002; for reviews, see Martin, Ruble, & Szkrybalo, 2002). Over time, these two cognitive perspectives—that is, cognitive developmental and gender-schema theories—have been influential in promoting the idea that children actively construct gender on the basis of both the nature of the social environment and how they think about the sexes. Other perspectives also have incorporated cognitive mechanisms to account for gender development (e.g., Bussey & Bandura, 1999). Address correspondence to Carol Martin, Department of Family and Human Development, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 852872502; e-mail: [email protected]. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Volume 13—Number 2 67 Copyright r 2004 American Psychological Society MAJOR THEMES OF COGNITIVE THEORIES OF