Developmental Psychology of Gender Identity in Children - Essay Example

This paper will present the points of similarity as well as contrasts between the two theories. These theories are backed by empirical evidence received from some secondary sources.

The developmental psychology of gender identity in children can be learned from the psychodynamic theories and cognitive theories. Apart from these broad categories, other theories also have valid existence in this subject, which is based upon biological accounts, social learning, or cultural influence. However, those theories are beyond the scope of this paper and shall not be discussed here.

The Cognitive Theory
The Cognitive Theory emphasizes the role the child plays in the construction of its own identity through ‘self-socialization’. This implies that the child is guided by its own cognitive process to determine its own gender which governs its own behavior and judges the behaviors of its peers (McManus, 1999). According to Kohlberg, the problem of sexual development is not directly influenced by neither the biological features of a child nor the culture in which he is brought up. Sexual identity begins with cognition. In this context, one has to keep in mind the distinction between sex and gender. Sex is the physical attribute that a baby is born with while gender refers to the psychological, emotional as well as behavioral attributes that are associated with the particular group of same-sex members as the child.

Gender Schema Theory
According to the cognitive-developmental theory, children pass through “basic gender identity and gender stability” (Shaffer, 2009, p. 283) before they can reach gender consistency. At this point in time, the child becomes selective about persons of the same sex as it and become gender-typed. The Gender Schema Theory is a subpart of the cognitive theory. This theory, developed by Martin and Halverson, explains that a child, who has recognized a basic gender identity, establishing itself as boy or girl, builds “in-group/out-group” and own-sex gender schema”. These help the child to process any gender-related information also in associating itself with stereotyped gender roles. The child is guided by logic or reasoning on his own and the discovery of his own gender helps in the formation of a gender schema. Subsequently, other gender beliefs dawn upon him. This determines the child’s preferences for the choice of play toys and also peer groups. The child behaves in an appropriate way that is considered typical to its gender by accepting the schema's consistent information and discarding the schema's inconsistent ones (Shaffer, 2009, p. 283).

The Psychodynamic Theory
The psychodynamic theory goes back to its founder, Sigmund Freud. In general, this theory explains that “relationships within the family determine gender” (Bolich, 2007, p. 135). The principle of this theory is that children face inner psychic conflicts while they grow up, which are responsible for the identification of their gender and behavioral pattern. The masculine or feminine identity develops within a child as a result of the relationship it shares with its father and mother. Freud’s concepts of the Oedipus complex and Elektra complex go a long way towards the development of the theory of gender identity in children. Oedipus complex grows in boys when they grow up. They start desiring their mother sexually. At the same time, they suffer from castration anxiety in the fear that their father is more powerful and stands in way of his desire for his mother. This makes the boy internalize his father wants to be like him. This becomes his superego and the boy puts on the male gender identity. The Elektra complex grows in girls in a similar way when they grow up and the girl identifies herself with her mother (Sammons, n. d.).

Empirical Evidence
The Gender Schematic theory has been tested on forty-eight male and forty-eight female undergraduates. The results found show that sex-typed individuals show greater readiness in processing information including information about self, thereby supporting the hypothesis that sex-typing develops from gender-based schematic processing (Bem, 1981, p.361).

The psychoanalytic theory has not fared well on empirical evaluation. It has been found that boys of the age of four to six years hardly recognize the “differences between male and female genitalia” (Shaffer, 2009, pp. 264-265). Hence it is not likely that they would fear castration. Moreover, they identify strongly with their fathers in cases where the fathers are more caring than if they are threatening.

Conclusion
The theories of developmental psychology on gender identity put forth different arguments on the process that a child adopts on developing his or her own gender identity. The Gender Schema theory fares well in this aspect in explaining the cognitive approach towards child psychology. The psychoanalytic theory, although does not bear much empirical evidence in the modern world, holds enough value in extending elaborate explanations for the understanding of this subject. Read More