Final answer:
Children learn gender roles through socialization from family, education, peer groups, and mass media. Reinforcement and punishment play crucial roles in teaching children which behaviors are suitable for their gender. This social cognitive perspective explains how children learn to navigate and embody society's gender expectations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Social Cognitive Theories and Gender Typing
Social cognitive theorists offer insights into how children learn and internalize gender roles from an early age. This learning occurs through socialization, with influential sources such as family, education, peer groups, and mass media contributing to this process. According to social cognitive theory, children observe and mimic behaviors, and through reinforcement and punishment, they learn which behaviors are appropriate for their gender. For example, families may encourage boys to engage in active play with trucks or toy guns, which promotes behaviors seen as masculine, while girls may be given dolls to foster nurturing and social behaviors that society deems feminine.
As children grow, their educational environment continues to reinforce gender norms, sometimes in subtle ways. Teachers might, unintentionally, replicate gender-biased behaviors by asking students to line up by gender, thereby suggesting that boys and girls should be treated differently. This process of gender socialization can lead to gender inequality by upholding the gender binary and reinforcing stereotypes that limit individual expression beyond traditional male and female roles.