CHILDHOOD AND GROWING UP

                          Paper -1

          Gender Schema Theory

                          Gender schema Theory is an information  processing approach that explains how enviornment pressures and children's cognitions work together to shape  gender typing. It also integrates the various elements as of  gender typing, gender sterotyping, gender identityand gender role. Adaption into a unified picture of how musculine and feminie orientation emerged and are often storngly maintained.

                              At an early age, children pickup gender sterotype preference and behaviour from other. At the same time, they organise their experiences into schemas  or musculine and feminie catagories, that they are use to interpret and their world. As soon as pre-schoolars can labled and select gender schema consistent with it,and apply those categories to themselves. Their self preceptions then become gender type and so was additional schemas that children use to process information and guide their own behaviour.

                             Gender schematic thinking is so powerful that when children see other behaving in gender inconsistent ways, then often cannot remember the behaviour or distrot their memory Make it gender consistent for  example when show on pictureas a male nurse, rememering him as a docter. Over time children learn more about people, objects anad events that fit with their gender schemas. Than they do about cross  genger activitiesand behaviours.

                               Training school age children in cognitive skills that counteract gender bias social messages reduces that tendency to view the world, in gender schamatic terms. When research taught 5-10 years old that  ability and perform an activity  well, children gained in sterotype  flexibility and memory for gender inconsistent information.