Cognitive theories of early gender development

The contribution of cognitive perspectives (cognitive–developmental theory and gender schema theory) to a contemporary understanding of gender development is evaluated. Recent critiques of cognitive approaches are discussed and empirical evidence is presented to counter these critiques. Because of the centrality of early gender development to the cognitive perspective, the latest research is reviewed on how infants and toddlers discriminate the sexes and learn the attributes correlated with sex. The essence of cognitive approaches—emphasis on motivational consequences of gender concepts; the active, self-initiated view of development; and focus on developmental patterns—is highlighted and contrasted with social–cognitive views. The value of cognitive theories to the field is illustrated, and recommen-dations are made concerning how to construct comprehensive, integrative perspectives of gender development. How individuals develop a “gendered ” self and gender-typed differentiation has intrigued researchers of human behavior for as long as social development has been a field of empirical study. Initially, observations of clear gender typing in children as young as 5 years old led researchers to examine how socialization pro