Kohlberg Theory

Kohlberg's Cognitive Developmental Theory: Overview

Kohlberg proposed the cognitive development theory of gender, which suggests that children's gender development is based on a stage-like manner. It is thought that children attain information from the world and other people.

Kohlberg's Cognitive Development Theory of Gender

Kohlberg's cognitive development theory of gender focuses on how children develop cognitive structures to conceptualise and understand their gender and the gender of people around them.

The stages of gender development, according to Kohlberg, are as follows.

Kohlberg Theory: Gender Labelling

The labelling stage occurs between the ages of two and three and is when children begin to identify the gender expressions of themselves and the people around them. They can tell others their gender and recognise those of others from their outward appearances (e.g., someone with long hair is a girl).

Additionally, their perception of gender is highly fluid at this stage; they don't see gender as a constant and believe it changes based on superficial properties such as hair length or clothing.

Fig. 1 From an early age, children learn gender roles (i.e. flowers, purses, and dresses are for girls).

Kohlberg Theory: Gender Stability

The stability stage occurs around age four when children begin to recognise how gender typically stays constant as they age. They understand how girls will grow into women, and boys will become men.

However, their concept of gender still isn't consistent.

Kohlberg Theory: Gender Consistency

The consistency stage occurs between six and seven years of age. It is characterised by when gender becomes a more fixed concept for the child.

They realise gender is consistent through time and different situations at this stage. For instance, they can understand external changes such as hair growth and clothing choices do not change people's gender identity.

Strengths of Kohlberg's Theory

Several researchers have conducted studies that support Kohlberg's theory of gender development. Let's take a look at what they found.

1. Thompson (1975)

In this study, researchers tested a group of children aged two and three on their ability to identify their gender and the gender of others correctly. Thompson found that the older children could correctly identify genders more often than the younger children, suggesting that this skill develops between these two age groups.

2. Slaby and Frey (1975)

In this study, researchers tested children aged two to five on their level of gender development. They found that children with higher levels of gender consistency were more likely to seek out same-sex role models.

3. Munroe et al. (1984)

In this study, the researchers found children across multiple cultures showed signs of progressing through the stages Kohlberg described, which supports the theory.

Strengths of Kohlberg's Theory vs Piaget's Theory

Kohlberg's stages of gender development line up with Piaget's stages of cognitive development, in particular the idea of conservation within the concrete operational stage, which ties in with gender consistency.

Concerning the child's gender development, their conservation skill allows them to understand that a person's gender does not change based on external properties, such as the activities they participate in or the way they dress.

Kohlberg and Piaget found that this conservation skill became present around ages six to seven. Both researchers agree that children develop conservation at the same age, suggesting that Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory of gender theory has high reliability.

Fig. 2 According to O'Brien et al. (1983), children learn which toys their 'supposed' to choose based on gender from an early age.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg had several other theories in addition to his gender development theory. Kohlberg's theory of moral development is another of his most important contributions. In this theory, Kohlberg attempted to understand the development of moral reasoning.

Kohlberg agreed with Piaget in that, as children, our moral judgements are built on our cognitive development.

Kohlberg established three distinct levels or stages of moral development, each of which must occur in an unvarying sequence. In other words, a person does not skip back and forth between the stages; each stage occurs one after another.

Kohlberg's Moral Understanding Stage Theory

Let's look at the three levels of Kohlberg's moral understanding stage theory.'

Criticisms of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

While it has significantly impacted the field of psychology, there are several criticisms of Kohlberg's theory of moral development.

1) Kohlberg's sample was all male. As a result, differences between men and women were not considered. Kohlberg's theory is therefore criticised for not being generalisable to the entire population.

2) Kohlberg used hypothetical scenarios. A person's answer to a hypothetical scenario may be completely different to what they do in real life. This brings into question the validity of the results.

3) Kohlberg's theory suggests that justice is the most fundamental moral principle. However, other psychologists, such as Carol Gilligan (1994), argued that caring is the most fundamental moral principle.