Paper Topic:

Systems of Psychology and Counseling: An applied Perspective

Discussion 1

The social learning perspective for gender socialization argues that children learn how to behave in sex appropriate ways through the rewards and punishments that children receive when they exhibit socially approved sex appropriate behavior and inappropriate behavior and through modeling of the said behavior by significant adults in the child 's life (Franzoi , 2007 . This perspective is unique on its own because it emphasizes that gender socialization is a learned behavior , it does not have any psychological basis nor is it caused by any internal drives Children learn to behave

in accordance with their sex because sex is a biological trait that has been determined even before the child is brought to this world . Thus , parents , schools , peers and the media actively support the learning process of the child in how it is to be a man and or a woman . Just like any other skill or behavior , one learns it to be rewarded or to avoid punishment , hence a girl will never fight with a boy on the school sand box because she has learned that it is not allowed for girls and that she is expected not to commit such actions however that same girl may be standing on the sidelines cheering for the winning child and silently wishing she was there to throw a punch or two . If say for example the girl did jumped at the boy and punched him in the nose , then she is not behaving appropriately as defined by social norms and mores and would lead to punishment . Punishment may be as simple as being teased to be a boy or a lesbian for some and the reward for behaving well would mean that they are behaving in socially approved ways which makes a person well -liked and popular with others . This approach also points out that if gender identity formation is nothing more than a learned construct , then it cannot be subjected to modification or that it is inevitable (Gleitman , Fridlund Reisberg 2004 . The approach basically says that gender is dependent on how it is defined and prescribed by ones culture , if this culture says that gender should be based on the biological sex of the individual then it is from which the punishments and rewards for such gender appropriate behavior is identified and shared . However , if the culture says that biological sex should not be the sole basis for defining gender , then this culture would have a more egalitarian view of their gender

The social learning perspective is however similar to other perspectives in terms of their emphasis on how gender identity develop which is facilitated by modeling and identification like the psychoanalytic theory but that it is based on observational learning and not on some unresolved psychological issues (Gleitman , Fridlund Reisberg , 2004 The key principles in social learning approach are that of socialization and stereotypes . Socialization is the process with which adults introduce the culture of the society to children who still ahs to form their own identities...

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