Question

please explain with example (elaborately):

Social cognitive framework in gender developement.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) According to Social Cognitive Theory or SCT, an individual’s knowledge and part of their behavioural acquisition can be directly related to what they have absorbed from their social environment and interactions.

In order to better implicate this theory, let us consider Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model.

Bronfenbrenner explained that everything in a child’s environment is likely to affect how they grow and develop. He went on to explain that a child’s inherent qualities affect the social environment and vice-versa.

Bronfenbrenner’s biological model is in the form of concentric circles or levels that influence a child.

The first level – The Microsystem which is the child itself.

The second level – The Mesosystem which comprise of the family, school, playground, peers, religious institutions and healthcare systems.

The third level – The Ecosystem which contains the extended family, neighbours, friends of family, legal services, social welfare services and the mass media.

The fourth level – The Macrosystem is formed by the attitudes and ideologies of the society.

The fifth level – The Chronosystem is formed by all of the events and transitions that occur within a child’s life.

Children are able to recognise the unfamiliar devices because their family member has told them about it or because they saw it on TV or some other influence that helped them learn about these devices and brought about a sense of familiarity.

For gender development let us assume the common instance of how girls generally play with a Barbie and boys generally play with a G.I.Joe. The reason for this preference might not be personal for the child at all. Rather, their choice of toys has been heavily influenced by what societal conventions have taught them. Even the convention that pink is a “girly” colour is something that has been established by society and taught to a child as a part of gender development conventions. This is how the child absorbs these influences from different levels of society from the framework of society.