What is the term for children's internal sense of being male or female, which typically develops by age 3?

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Accepted Answer

Gender identity. Gender identity is an individual's internal sense of their own gender - whether they identify as male, female, or another gender. Research shows that most children develop a basic gender identity by approximately age 2-3, meaning they can label themselves and others as boys or girls. Gender constancy - the understanding that gender is permanent and does not change based on superficial alterations in appearance or behavior - develops later, typically by age 6-7. Gender identity is considered to be influenced by biological, cognitive, and social factors, and for most children, it aligns with their assigned sex at birth.

Gender role refers to the set of behaviors, attitudes, and activities that a society considers appropriate for males and females, which are socially constructed expectations rather than an internal sense of identity. Children learn gender roles through socialization, observing models, and cultural messages, but gender roles describe external expectations rather than internal identity. Gender schema refers to the cognitive framework that children develop for organizing information about what it means to be male or female in their culture, as described by Sandra Bem's gender schema theory. A gender schema is a cognitive structure that processes gender-related information rather than the identity itself. Gender stereotyping is the overgeneralized belief about the characteristics of males and females, which represents beliefs about groups rather than an individual's sense of their own gender.

Gender development is an important topic on the DSST exam because it illustrates the complex interplay of biological, cognitive, and social factors in development. Students should understand the difference between gender identity, gender roles, and gender expression, and be familiar with major theories of gender development including social learning theory, cognitive developmental theory (Kohlberg), and gender schema theory (Bem).

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