Gender Development, Theories of

Given the ubiquitous influence of gender in a person's life, a number of theories have been developed to explain gender development. These theories can be generally divided into three families: biological, socialization, and cognitive. According to biological theories, psychological and behavioral gender differences are due to the biological differences between males and females. Within this family of approaches, researchers have focused on historical explanations (such as evolutionary processes) and proximal explanations (such as genes and sex hormones). Socialization theories of gender development view gender differences as a byproduct of the differential treatment girls and boys receive from the people in their lives and the pervasive gender stereotyped messages that children are exposed to in their environment. Cognitive theories of gender development view children as active constructors of knowledge who seek, interpret, and act on information in an effort to match their behavior to their understanding of gender. Keywords: biological determinism; gender; gender development; gender socialization; theory