Sociology

Social learning theory is is focused on observable behavior.  Children tend to imitate the behavior of their parents and through reinforcement or rewards, a pattern of behavior is developed and eventually becomes habitual.   This theory is based upon reward and punishment.   A boy is praised for excelling in sports and reprimanded if caught playing games accorded for females such as dolls.   The boy then remembers that if he does this particular activity, his parents or his teacher will like his actions.  The child learns to associate what kind of behavior a boy or a girl should have by continuous reinforcement and punishment of the parents or the teachers.

The weakness of this theory is that it has failed to recognize that children are not easily swayed by rewards and punishment.  The theory may have underestimated the way children think.  There is a familiar line that says  kids are smarter these days  which is quite true.  Reinforcement and punishment is not a really solid way of basing the gender development of the child.  A boy may not have his father as a role model, especially if the father is not always present.  Children can have other people outside of their family as role models.  The theory is also based upon traditional families, the complete and normal family setup.  However, this is not the real case in most families nowadays.  Single parenting, divorce and blended families have created a wide range of models by which the child can emulate.  The media is highly influential in the role that a child assumes in his or her growing years.  They may have this famous actor as a role model and imitate what they see on television.  The different family structures that prevails in our time did not really have a major impact on the development of the child because kids learn to prefer their own gender, regardless if they come from a single parent or a traditional type of family.

Cognitive Development Theory
In the Cognitive Development Theory, the main focus is on how the child gradually develop intelligence, thinking and reasoning through the growing years.  The behavior and thinking of the children matures through their interaction with the environment.  The theory says that children at age three learn to self-identify and label self and others according to gender.  A three year old can recognize a father as a male or boy and the mother as a female or girl.  As children grows up to six years of age there is already gender constancy, this means that the gender self identity becomes solid and the child already knows his or her gender identity.  Children also labels their models by gender.  A boy will usually model after his father because they are both male.  Girls will also try to follow the actions and behaviors of adult females.  A child grasps at the awareness of identity and their gender and by doing so the child is able to reinforce his or her identity by doing things that a boy or girl would do.

The weakness of this theory is that there is a not a clear understanding as to what comes first in the gender development of a child, the sense of gender identity or  gender constancy.   A male child may follow the behavior of other male adults before the child finds out about his identity as a boy.  In other words, the child is acting and doing gender related activities even before the child finds out about his or her self-identity.  This is what seems to be the loophole in the theory.

Gender Schema Theory
The Gender Schema Theory focuses on the effects of the culture and environment to the gender identity and stability of the child.  A childs sense of identity is very closely linked to the gender schema.  This means that a boy follows the accept norm, it also tells them what to do and not to do.  This theory is a subset of Cognitive Development Theory since the child has to be in the level of cognitive level to perceive gender schema.  The sense of gender identity of the child is already established and it will be strongly reinforced by the gender schema presented to the child as he or she grows up.  The culture plays a big part in the gender schema as well as the parents themselves.  Studies also suggest that the experiences gathered by the child stays as memories and strongly reinforces the gender stability.

The weakness of this theory is the same as that of the Cognitive Development theory.  Culture does play a huge part in identifying and differentiating gender.  However, the parents are still responsible for the proper gender schema that a child will learn.  Not all the culture norms that can be seen in the society are good and positive.

The theory that most likely fits my views is the Gender Schema theory.  I think that culture, the environment, peers and friends in school are the ones most likely to influence a child on gender stability.  A child is very observant and their minds are like sponges that absorb information.  The society, the media and the family is responsible for showing the correct gender schema or the correct way that a boy or a girl should be.  A child has a sense of identity that he or she wants to reinforce and by seeing the gender schema in their surroundings that tell them what to do and what not to do, the child usually follows and remembers it.  I believe in this theory because looking at myself as a child, I can clearly remember that I am largely influenced by the culture and things I saw around me.