User:Isabelle.Rose13/Gender roles in childhood

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Social cognitive theory, also known as social learning theory, behaviors are learned through observation, modeling, and positive/negative reinforcement. Although there are many theories surrounding gender development (biological, social, and cognitive), the main focus of this article will pertain to social cognitive theory, developed by Albert Bandura. Social approaches to gender development consider how males and females adopt different gender norms and stereotypes throughout their childhoods when exposed to them in their environment, whether that be at home, in school, or with their peers.

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Prior to the name "Social Cognitive Theory," gender development was originally viewed through a traditional learning standpoint, which stemmed from behaviorism. This was developed through the premise that children develop gender-based behaviors and stereotypes through positive and negative reinforcement. For example, positive reinforcement is used when a child plays with a toy consistent with their gender and negative reinforcement is used when a child plays with a toy that is not consistent with their gender, therefore, "the behavior that is rewarded increases and the behavior that is punished decreases." In the early 1960s, traditional learning theory was changed to social learning theory by psychologists like Albert Bandura due to the acknowledgement of the significance of modeling and imitation in social development. In 1966, Walter Michel was the first to apply social learning theory to gender development in his book "The Development of Sex Differences." Learning through observation, also known as modeling, "refers to a person's tendency to learn vicariously by observing other people engage in gender-typed behaviors and witnessing the responses that these people receive from others." Albert Bandura then revised social learning theory again in the 1980s into social cognitive theory. First introduced to gender development in 1999, his idea was to improve upon social learning theory by adding the importance of cognitive influences on learning and a stronger emphasis on social and environmental influences.

Gender has great influence on an individual's personality, social life, and decisions. Western societies are structured by the two-sex model which "refers to our understanding of people existing as two biologically dichotomous sexes." This model also explains what it means to be masculine vs. feminine in this culture. Gender is different from sex, however, as sex is biological while gender is "socially and psychologically constructed, referring to the given roles, behaviors, and characteristics deemed appropriate for either a man or a woman, as determined by social norms."

Social cognitive theorists argue that gender development occurs due to three factors: personal, behavioral, and environmental. Personal factors are an individual's own thoughts, observations and decisions; behavioral factors are actual actions taken out; environmental factors are any social influences faced by an individual. Although many environments can and have been used to conduct research on child gender development, the family is one of the greatest influences because it provides the child's first experience with gender-related ideals. According to Martin and Ruble, "Parental expectations about what it means to have a child who is either a boy or girl become displayed as actions with the child, and these embodied expectations interact with the child's phenotypic and early behavioral factors." From the beginning, children look at their mothers and fathers as role models. Parents share, portray, and model behaviors that children soon associate as what men and women should and should not do. Not only are gender norms and stereotypes formed at this time in an adolescents life, but also emotions. Girls are taught how to handle and display their emotions differently than boys. A girl crying is more accepted in Western societies than a boy crying. Girls are expected to be more feminine, emotional and welcoming (internalizing emotions) while boys are expected to hold back emotions and display masculinity (externalizing emotions). This can be portrayed simply through how a parent speaks about and reacts to a child's behaviors and emotions. It was found through research that mothers who held strong gender stereotypes to their daughters resulted in the same stereotypes being presented in their daughters. Along with parental influence on gender norms and stereotypes, there is also an influence from siblings. Research has proven that young children who have same-sex siblings of older age were more likely to adopt their sibling's gender related norms and stereotypes than those children with opposite-sex siblings. There is an essential hypothesis in social learning theory in which gender development in children is partially influenced more by same-sex model figures than by opposite-sex model figures. As previously mentioned, this is a possibility and research has proven that, however, further evidence states "children discern what behaviors are appropriate for each sex by watching the behavior of many male and female models and by noticing the differences between the sexes in the frequency with which certain behaviors are performed in certain situations."

Not only does social cognitive theory prove that modeling parents, siblings, and peers influence adolescent gender norms, but it also proves that children model behaviors and ideas seen on television and other forms of media. A study was conducted in which researchers had young boys and girls watch superhero media. The research found that the younger boys modeled the superhero behavior seen on television, while the girls did not. This proves that the observation of television role-models and other media have great influence on children, especially when the media portrays gender norms specific to one gender (ex: superheroes appeal more to boys than girls, whereas princesses appeal more to girls.) Overall, social cognitive theory, also known as social learning theory, has proven that young boys and girls learn through modeling, positive and negative reinforcement in reaction to gender-typed behavior, and thus form their own expectancies, thoughts, and norms regarding gender.