The Developmental Debate on Gender Identification

Psychology
The Developmental Debate on Gender Identification
Name
Institution
Debate: Gender Identification by Developmental Theorists
Child developmental theories were developed by different people who tried to explain the gender identification, changes, and growth throughout childhood, while some extended their research to adulthood. These theorists propose that a child behaves as either male or female as influenced by their biological schema, social interactions, and attachments, learning through conditioning, and observation and environmental influences.
Kohlberg states that gender identity is as a result of the interaction of social experiences and mental schema. There is a mental framework in every child that makes them identify with a certain gender identity. For instance, a boy child will pick a car toy as opposed to a doll. Socially, a child learns through observing what roles are played by his/her gender and organizes their behavior to align with it (Moser, 2012). I agree with this notion, although this theory fails to look at the cultural differences that affect gender role and ignores the biological factors involved in cognitive schema development.
On the other hand, behaviorists like Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner view gender identification and development as a reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli, and reinforcements to certain behavior. The environmental interaction influences the behavior of a child from the onset, such that good behavior is rewarded while the bad ones are punished (Cheng, Chandramouli & Subbalakshmi, 2011).

For instance, a boy dressing in girls’ clothes will be punished to discourage such behavior. This idea is true but these theorists do not give consideration to thoughts and feelings at an individual level and I believe every child is born with a unique biological identity.
Jean Piaget developed the cognitive developmental theory that concentrated on a person’s thought process and how it helps in identification and development of gender roles and stereotypes. A child learns about their gender through mental development at different stages of their life. At 0-2 years the child’s mental state is in sensory perceptions and motor actions, 2-6year the child learns to use language, at 7-11 years the child understands mental operations and from age 12 to adulthood, the child learns on abstract concepts. In all these stages, the child mental faculties are differentiated by their gender identity. The theory is sound, but a lot of emphases is made on the mental state and does not place much thought to social interactions that guide the child in gender identification.
Learning can also occur in a social setting, where a child learns through observation and modeling the behavior. Bandura’s social learning theory puts emphasis on the role of parents, caregivers, guardians, siblings and peers in aiding the child to learn about their identity, skills and acquire new knowledge about the world.
In conclusion, I noted that there is no singular developmental theory that can wholly define and explain the process of gender identification and development. Every child is unique and learns differently, but ultimately I believe that all these notions, social interactions, cognitive mental processes, observing and modeling, and environmental interactions play a role in gender identification.
References
Cheng, N. Chandramouli, R., & Subbalakshmi, K. P. (2011) Author: gender identification from text. Digital Investigation, 8(1), 78-88.
Moser, C. (2012). Gender planning and development: Theory, practice and training. Routledge