Gender Prejudice Through Learning

Gender Prejudice through Learning

There is a sharp divide between social norms for females and males. Ideally females are soft, quiet, nurturing, motherly, and simple, while males are rough, loud, outgoing, and dynamic. When females portray male traits, they are seen as aggressive or bossy. Likewise, males are seen as weak or insecure if they portray female qualities (Gale, 2007). This gender prejudice starts with young children. The companies that sell children toys market a specific type of toys to girls and another type to boys, these different types reinforce the behavior that girls and boys are to exhibit. Classical conditioning, conditioned response, and reinforcement all strengthen the roles of the two genders.

Classical Conditioning is “a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events” (Myers, 2018). Pavlov’s most famous experiment with the dog and the bell, clearly illustrated this concept. He taught a dog to salivate by a ring of a bell by continuously providing food with the ring. Companies today use this strategy as well. One of the biggest companies to do is, are those who sell children’s toys. While these companies are not making children salivate they are teaching children gender prejudice. When a child goes into Walmart there are two sections of toys one for girls and another for boys.

The toys for boys are action figures which look tough and muscular, along with Nerf guns and boxing gloves. These allow boys to exhibit more aggressive and outgoing behavior. Girls toys on the other hand are barbies which are eloquently dressed, along with baby dolls and tea sets. These toys allow girls to exhibit soft, nurturing, and polite behavior. These differences in the toys teach children that boys and girls and separate and are to act differently. Thus, as a child grows older they will learn to associate barbie and baby dolls to girls and Nerf guns and action figures to boys. Not only do these companies use the type of toys, but they also use colors to strengthen the differences.

Conditioned Response is “a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus” (Myers, 2018). In Pavlov’s experiment the salivating at bell was the conditioned response. Dogs who were not conditioned would hear the bell and act as if nothing happened. Same is true with companies who sell children’s toys. Many of the female toys are purple and pink with poke-a-dots, while male toys are dark blue and green. This allows children to associate the colors with the gender. Essentially when the child sees something pink or purple they will think of girls, and baby dolls, and other conditioned stimuli, and when they see blue or green they will think of boys and action figures and nerf guns. The differences in the color help contribute to gender prejudice, by providing more stimuli to differentiate between the two genders. Parents’ also play a big role with enforcing gender prejudice.

Punishment is “an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows” (Myers, 2018). Punishment is a part of operant conditioning where if a behavior is reinforced it continues or if it is punished it is discontinued (Myers, 2018). Parents tend to punish children that exhibit the opposite gender role, sometimes without noticing. For example, a young boy who is found crying often will be scolded and told that boys do not cry, only girls cry. After a certain number of times the boy will learn that when boys cry they are acting like girls and will stop the behavior. By doing this, parents are enforcing gender prejudice, by teaching boys they are not allowed to be soft and must act like are tough.

Gender prejudice has become a normal aspect of American society; through classical conditioning, conditioned responses, and punishments. This has allowed males and females to become drastically different and have caused a lot of debate within America. Gender prejudice starts from the time a child is born simply from the color of the baby blanket. Children toy companies and parents are both play a large in developing these prejudices.

References:

Myers, D. G. (2018). Exploring Psychology. S.l.: Worth Hub.Gale, T. (2007). Gender Prejudice. Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/social- sciences/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/gender-prejudice