Gender schema theory
Gender schema theory, developed by psychologist Sandra Bem in 1981, explores how children internalize and organize information about gender roles and expectations based on their cultural context. This theory posits that children create mental frameworks, known as schemas, to categorize behaviors, traits, and appearances associated with being male or female, influencing their understanding of themselves and others. Initially, children must self-identify by recognizing gender categories, after which they learn behaviors deemed appropriate for their gender, shaped by societal norms and observations from their environment.
As children grow, their gender schemas become more nuanced, allowing them to integrate new information and challenge existing beliefs about gender roles. Bem viewed gender not as a rigid binary but as a spectrum that includes both masculine and feminine qualities, suggesting that individuals can exhibit traits from both categories. The theory also highlights the impact of cultural influences on gender behavior, noting that individuals who align strongly with societal gender norms are considered sex-typed, while those who embody a mix of traits are seen as androgynous. Ultimately, gender schema theory emphasizes the dynamic nature of gender identity and the role of cultural context in shaping individual perceptions of gender.
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Gender schema theory
Gender schema theory is a psychological theory that was first developed by Sandra Bem in 1981. The theory deals with how young children organize information about sex, gender, and culturally defined gender roles. Schema refers to the framework that allows an individual to organize information about themselves, others, and social situations. In gender schema theory, this framework serves as a broader representation of various behaviors, appearances, and emotional traits that are considered either male or female in the individual’s particular culture. This framework informs the individual’s behavior and allows them to categorize new information and situations as being consistent or inconsistent with what they already understand about sex and gender roles.
Background
Sandra Bem was a psychologist who believed that gender was socially constructed. Before developing her gender schema theory, Bem had developed the Bem sex-role inventory in the 1970s. This was a measure of an individual’s expression of masculine and feminine traits. While the inventory indicated that some individuals exclusively expressed feminine or masculine traits, others expressed an equal number of masculine and feminine traits. Bem referred to these individuals as being psychologically androgynous, and she felt that it was beneficial for people in contemporary society to have both masculine and feminine psychological traits.
Later, Bem used the inventory as she began developing her gender schema theory in the early 1980s. She believed that children developed an internal system regarding gender and all things associated with gender that was influenced by external factors, mainly the society or culture in which they grow up. Bem already knew that people used schemas to organize, and then utilize or reject, data in other categories, as was described by psychologist Jean Piaget in his cognitive development theory. For instance, most people have a schema for cats. They know that cats meow, they know cats have fur, and they know that cats catch mice. When people encounter a cat that does not fit this schema, such as the hairless sphynx, they then need to decide what to do with this information and how it will affect their schema. They could decide that the sphynx is an exception, they could decide to change their schema for cats, or they could ignore the new data. In many instances, schemas remain intact. In this case, the sphynx would likely be regarded as an exception that does not affect the person’s overall schema for cats.
A person’s gender schema has to do with how they organize information and beliefs about what it means to be male or female. The schema applies to the person and to his or her beliefs about their own gender (own-gender schema) and the other gender (other-gender schema). Bem believed that these schemas were learned early in childhood, but she did not see them as static. Instead, she believed that schemas could change as new information is acquired regarding ideas of femininity, masculinity, and combinations of the two.
Overview
For gender schemas to develop, children usually have to self-identify first. Piaget argued that the first social categories children learn are based on gender (e.g., who is a boy and who is a girl). After this understanding is established, Bem’s gender schema theory argues that learned behavior about what it means to be a boy or a girl in a certain society becomes part of each individual’s gender schema. For example, a girl might develop certain ideas about what it means to be female in a particular culture. In a traditional heteronormative society, the girl might learn that people prefer women and girls to be sweet, quiet, and nonconfrontational. She might also learn certain behaviors by watching other girls and women in her social orbit. For instance, if she sees her older sister playing with makeup, she might associate wearing makeup with being feminine. This might become part of her own-gender schema. On the other hand, if she observes her brother and other boys playing football, she might then associate playing football with males. Playing football might then become part of her other-gender schema. The girl’s other-gender schema could then be challenged by encountering a girl who plays football. She would then need to decide how this information would affect her internal categorization regarding this activity as being male or female.
Ideas about what behaviors and activities belong to which schema are heavily influenced by a child’s culture. These ideas about what is appropriate gender behavior are then reinforced (or contradicted) by the people in the child’s life (parents, teachers, siblings, and peers). As children age, their schemas become more complex and broad as they take in information about how their gender and other genders might be expected to behave in general within the confines of their culture.
However, it is important to note that Bem’s theory did not see femininity and masculinity as two completely separate identities. Instead, she considered them as part of a spectrum that included both feminine and masculine qualities. For example, children’s fathers might console them when they are hurt or sick. Although nurturing is traditionally categorized as a feminine quality, children who see their fathers act in this way may not see nurturing behavior as belonging to one group or the other. Of course, this is dependent upon the culture in which the child lives.
Researchers who later investigated Bem’s gender schema theory often used her own gender-role inventory to measure how closely subjects’ gender identity fell in line with the broad cultural male or female gender schematics. Someone who identified with their culture’s gender schema was categorized as sex-typed. A person who did not consistently correspond to one schema or the other were categorized as undifferentiated. Individuals whose thinking corresponded with masculine and feminine gender schematics were considered androgynous. Additionally, individuals whose birth-assigned sex was the opposite of their gender schematic were considered cross-typed. Individuals who are sex-typed or cross-typed are much more likely to consider gender schemas as being important in their interpretations and observations of the world around them. Aschematic individuals are less likely to consider gender schemas as important when making such observations.
Bibliography
Bem, Sandra Lipsitz. "Gender Schema Theory: A Cognitive Account of Sex Typing." Psychological Review, vol. 88, no. 4, 1981, pp. 354-364.
Mason, Patricia. “Gender Schema Theory.” Encyclopedia of Gender in Media, edited by Mary Kosut, SAGE Reference, 2012, pp. 148–49.
Carducci, Bernardo J. The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications. 2nd ed., Wiley, 2020.
Cherry, Kendra. “Gender Schema Theory and Roles in Culture.” Verywell Mind, 26 Oct. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-gender-schema-theory-2795205. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
Erickson-Schroth, Erica. Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2022.
German, Julia. “Gender.” Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia, edited by Shirley R. Steinberg, et al., vol. 1, Greenwood Press, 2010, pp. 16–20.
Johnson, Fern L. “Gender Schema Theory.” Encyclopedia of Communication Theory, edited by Stephen W. Littlejohn and Karen A. Foss, vol. 1, SAGE Reference, 2009, pp. 436–38.
“Sandra Bem’s Gender Schema Theory Explained.” Health Research Funding, 2024, healthresearchfunding.org/sandra-bems-gender-schema-theory-explained/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.