Primary and secondary socialisation, and social learning, cognitive developmental and biological theories of gender role formation (QCE Psychology Unit 4)
“Explain the difference between primary (i.e. family) and secondary (e.g. media, schooling) socialisation; Describe gender and compare social learning, cognitive developmental and biological theories of gender role formation”
Socialisation is how people learn their society's norms, values and roles: primary socialisation happens in early childhood within the family; secondary socialisation happens later through schooling, peers, media and other agents outside the family. Sex is biological, while gender is the social and psychological characteristics associated with it; gender roles are culturally expected behaviours. Social learning theory says gender roles are learnt from the environment through modelling and reinforcement. Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory says children actively construct gender understanding through gender identity (2 to 3 years), stability (4 to 5) and constancy (6 to 7), then seek same-gender models. Biological theories point to chromosomes, prenatal hormones and evolution. The theories are best seen as complementary.
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What this dot point is asking
Unit 4 Topic 1 (Social psychology) in the 2025 syllabus begins with how individuals learn to belong to their society. You need to:
- explain the difference between primary (family) and secondary (for example, media and schooling) socialisation; and
- describe gender and compare three theories of gender role formation: social learning, cognitive developmental and biological.
"Compare" means stating similarities and differences on the same criteria, not describing each theory separately. The syllabus also invites you to consider the relative contributions of the different factors.
The answer
Socialisation
Socialisation is the lifelong process through which people learn the norms, values, beliefs, roles and behaviours of their society, and so learn how to take part in it.
- Primary socialisation takes place in early childhood, mainly within the family. Children learn language, basic norms (manners, what is right and wrong), emotional expression, and early ideas about roles, including gender roles. Its influence is strong because it comes first and within close relationships.
- Secondary socialisation takes place later, through agents outside the family, such as schooling, peers, the media (including social media), sport, religious groups and workplaces. It teaches the norms of particular settings and can reinforce or challenge what was learnt at home.
Gender
Sex usually refers to biological characteristics (chromosomes, hormones, reproductive anatomy). Gender refers to the social and psychological characteristics a society associates with being male, female or another gender. Related terms:
- Gender identity: a person's own sense of their gender.
- Gender roles: the behaviours, attitudes and activities a culture considers appropriate for people of a particular gender.
- Gender stereotypes: oversimplified beliefs about the characteristics of each gender.
Gender roles vary between cultures and change over time, which is important evidence when comparing the theories.
Social learning theory
Social learning theory (drawing on Bandura's work) proposes that gender roles are learnt from the environment:
- Observation and modelling: children watch models (parents, siblings, peers, media characters), especially those of the same gender, and imitate them.
- Reinforcement and punishment: gender-typed behaviour is rewarded (praise, approval) and non-typed behaviour discouraged (teasing, disapproval), either directly or vicariously by watching what happens to others.
Strength: explains cultural differences and changes over time, and links to everyday observation. Limitation: children are treated as fairly passive, and it does not explain why children often hold rigid gender stereotypes even when parents model equal roles.
Cognitive developmental theory
Kohlberg's (1966) cognitive developmental theory proposes that children actively construct their understanding of gender as their thinking matures, in three stages:
- Gender identity (around 2 to 3 years): labelling oneself and others as a boy or girl.
- Gender stability (around 4 to 5 years): understanding that gender stays the same over time, though children may think it changes with appearance ("if a boy wears a dress, he becomes a girl").
- Gender constancy (around 6 to 7 years): understanding that gender stays the same across situations, whatever the clothing or activities.
Once children reach gender constancy, they actively seek out and imitate same-gender models. Strength: explains age-related changes and the child's active role. Limitation: children show gender-typed preferences well before gender constancy, which a related cognitive approach, gender schema theory (Martin and Halverson, 1981), explains: once children know their gender identity, they form mental frameworks (schemas) about gender that guide what they attend to and remember.
Biological theories
Biological theories propose that gender-typed behaviour is influenced by nature:
- Chromosomes (typically XX or XY) direct the development of the body.
- Hormones, especially exposure to androgens such as testosterone before birth, influence brain development and later behaviour. For example, girls exposed to unusually high prenatal androgens because of a genetic condition tend, on average, to prefer toys and activities more typical of boys.
- Evolutionary explanations suggest some differences reflect adaptations that aided survival and reproduction.
Strength: explains some consistent average differences across cultures and very early preferences. Limitation: cannot explain why gender roles differ so much between cultures and change within a few generations, and biological influences are hard to separate from socialisation.
Comparing the three theories
| Criterion | Social learning | Cognitive developmental | Biological |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main cause | The environment: models and consequences | The child's developing understanding | Chromosomes, hormones, evolution |
| Role of the child | Relatively passive learner | Active thinker constructing understanding | Develops according to biological influences |
| Nature or nurture | Nurture | Interaction (maturation plus experience) | Nature |
| Explains cultural variation and change | Well | Partly (content of schemas is cultural) | Poorly |
| Explains early, consistent average differences | Partly | Partly | Well |
Most psychologists see the theories as complementary: biology may create predispositions, while socialisation and cognition shape how gender roles are expressed in a particular culture.
The question
"Compare social learning theory and Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theory of gender role formation." (4 marks)
Step 1: a similarity
Both explain gender roles as developing through the child's experience of their social world and both involve imitating same-gender models.
Step 2: difference on the child's role
In social learning theory the child learns relatively passively through observation and reinforcement, whereas in Kohlberg's theory the child actively constructs an understanding of gender.
Step 3: difference on timing
Social learning theory predicts gender-typed behaviour can be learnt at any age once it is modelled and reinforced, whereas Kohlberg's theory predicts that imitating same-gender models increases after gender constancy at about 6 to 7 years.
Step 4: link to evidence
Gender-typed preferences appear before gender constancy, which challenges Kohlberg's timing and is better explained by social learning (and by gender schema theory).
Marker's note: each difference must address the same criterion for both theories, linked with "whereas".
- Using sex and gender interchangeably
- Sex is biological; gender is the social and psychological characteristics associated with it.
- Putting the media only in primary socialisation
- The syllabus lists the media and schooling as examples of secondary socialisation.
- Mixing up Kohlberg's stages
- Identity (labelling), stability (over time), constancy (across situations).
- Describing theories one after another when asked to compare
- Organise by criteria and write both sides of each point.
- Claiming one theory is simply correct
- The evidence supports contributions from all three.
Practice questions
Original practice questions graded from foundation to exam level, each with a full worked solution. Try them before revealing the solution.
foundation2 marksExplain the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, with an example of each.Show worked solution →
1 mark primary socialisation: learning the basic norms, values, language and behaviours of a culture in early childhood, mainly from the family (for example, parents teaching a child to say please and thank you); 1 mark secondary socialisation: learning that continues later from agents outside the family, such as school, peers and the media, including the norms of specific settings (for example, learning to put up your hand to speak in class).
core3 marksDescribe Kohlberg's three stages of gender development.Show worked solution →
1 mark each, in order.
- Gender identity (around 2 to 3 years): the child can label their own and others' gender.
- Gender stability (around 4 to 5 years): the child understands that gender stays the same over time, but may think it changes if appearance or activities change.
- Gender constancy (around 6 to 7 years): the child understands that gender stays the same across situations, regardless of changes in clothing, hairstyle or activities.
core3 marksUsing social learning theory, explain how a boy might learn that playing with dolls is 'not for boys'.Show worked solution →
1 mark observation of models: he sees that male models (fathers, brothers, characters on screen) rarely play with dolls; 1 mark reinforcement and punishment: he is praised for playing with trucks but teased or discouraged when he plays with dolls (direct), or sees another boy teased (vicarious); 1 mark the outcome: he is more likely to imitate the reinforced, gender-typed behaviour and to avoid the punished one.
exam5 marksCompare social learning, cognitive developmental and biological theories of gender role formation.Show worked solution →
Marks: 1 social learning: gender roles are learnt from the environment through observation, imitation and reinforcement; 1 cognitive developmental: the child actively constructs an understanding of gender through age-related stages (identity, stability, constancy), after which they seek out same-gender models; 1 biological: gender-typed behaviour is influenced by chromosomes, prenatal and later hormones, and brain development; 1 a similarity or difference across a common criterion, such as the role of the child (passive learner versus active thinker) or nature versus nurture; 1 a supported judgement that the theories are complementary, for example biology influences predispositions while social learning and cognition explain cultural variation and change over time.
exam3 marksGirls with a condition that exposes them to higher than usual levels of androgens before birth tend, on average, to show more interest in toys typically preferred by boys. Explain what this finding suggests about gender role formation, and one limitation of drawing a conclusion from it.Show worked solution →
1 mark the finding suggests prenatal hormones can influence gender-typed preferences, supporting a biological contribution; 1 mark it cannot show that biology is the only influence, because these girls are also socialised, and parents' responses to them may differ; 1 mark a limitation such as the condition affecting a small, unusual group, so generalisation is limited, or the finding being an average with wide individual variation.