Socialization over Cognition

Draft

Title: Assuming Theories

Introduction:

Pink. Dress. Pretty. Barbie. Laces. Ribbons. All of these words are often associated with girls or femininity. Those words are often associated with me. My dresses are pink. Everytime I wear a ribbon, I would often get described as pretty. I wondered why. As I grew up, I realized that gender fluidity made all of these. In terms of possibilities, social roles, and relationships, the gender perspective examines how gender affects these factors. Consequently, gender development is constantly changing as there are several variations that alter with time and shift from one culture to another as societies develop and change as backed up by theories.

Body:

According to the Psychology class I am currently enrolled in, there are several Gender Development Theories. However, I am only going to share and discuss a few that I agree with.

The first one is the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura. This theory suggests that children learn through observing others. I resonate with this theory as I was growing up, I realized that most of my qualities are from my mom since she was the one mostly at home when I was younger. Apart from that, she was also the one who taught me values in life such as taking care of others as I am the eldest. Until now, I uphold that value even in my circle of friends.

Along with SLT, I also agree with the Gender Schema Theory. Apart from the theory, I learned from the article that I read that the reason Sandra Bem suggested this theory was because of Freudian’s Theory. She thought that the cognitive theory was too anatomical and biological that it lacks societal aspects—which I very much agree—as society plays a huge role in influencing people.

Conclusion:

Accordingly, the theories discussed in the class are mostly involved in biological, socialization, and cognitive aspects. However, I mostly agree with the theories involving socialization as I believe that society plays a huge role in a person’s gender development. By establishing and upholding societal standards for gender-specific actions, each social institution enforces gender norms.

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Socialization over Cognition

Femininity.

Pink. Dress. Pretty. Barbie. Laces. Ribbons. All of these words are often associated with girls or femininity. Those words are often associated with me. My dresses are pink. Everytime I wear a ribbon, I would often get described as pretty. I wondered why. Why is pink the default color of girls? Why should girls wear dresses? Why should I put pretty and shiny things on my hair? Why can’t boys do those things? Who made those rules? These are the questions I often pondered on when I was a kid. As I grew up, I realized that gender fluidity made all of these. In terms of possibilities, social roles, and relationships, the gender perspective examines how gender affects these factors. Each component of economic, social, daily, and private life for individuals and communities, as well as the various roles that society assigns to men and women, are influenced by gender. Consequently, gender development is constantly changing as there are several variations that alter with time and shift from one culture to another as societies develop and change.

According to the Psychology class I am currently enrolled in, there are several Gender Development Theories. However, I am only going to share and discuss a few that I agree with.

The first one is the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura. This theory suggests that children learn through observing others. Children pay attention to certain of these persons and memorize their behavior, according to Bandura's Bobo doll experiment. They might emulate actions they have seen in the future. Even while they might do this despite whether what they're doing is considered "gender appropriate," there are an array of factors that increase the likelihood that a youngster will imitate the actions that society considers appropriate for that gender (Mcleod, 2023). I resonate with this theory as I was growing up, I realized that most of my qualities are from my mom since she was the one mostly at home when I was younger. Apart from that, she was also the one who taught me values in life such as taking care of others as I am the eldest. Until now, I uphold that value even in my circle of friends.

Sandra Bem

Along with SLT, I also agree with the Gender Schema Theory. The psychologist Sandra Bem developed the gender schema hypothesis in 1981, which claimed that children pick up on gender roles for men and women from the society in which they are raised. The hypothesis contends that from the very start of social development, kids modify their conduct to conform to the gender standards of their culture (Cherry, 2020). Apart from this theory, I learned from the article that the reason Sandra Bem suggested this theory was because of Freudian’s Theory. She thought that the cognitive theory was too anatomical and biological that it lacked societal aspects—which I very much agree with—as society plays a huge role in influencing people. Bem thought that gender stereotypes were restrictive for both men and women as well as society at large. She felt that raising kids free of these preconceptions and constraints would result in more freedom and fewer restraints on free will. This is one of the reasons why her theory stood out to me. I also believe that men and women shouldn’t be limited on what the society dictates them to do, rather, they should be free to decide on their own what they want to do.

Accordingly, the theories discussed in the class are mostly involved in biological, socialization, and cognitive aspects. However, I mostly agree with the theories involving socialization as I believe that society plays a huge role in a person’s gender development. By establishing and upholding societal standards for gender-specific actions, each social institution enforces gender norms. Men and women who are exposed to these social institutions repeatedly over time have the impression that they are responding spontaneously rather than in accordance with socially imposed roles.

References:

Cherry, K. (2020, May 10). Gender Schema Theory and Roles in Culture. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-gender-schema-theory-2795205

Mcleod, S., PhD. (2023, February 16). Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. Simply Psychology. https://simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

Word Count: 1000