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Gender schemas are defined as organized, abstract categories that people utilize to give meaning to their everyday lives, using such schemas to guide their behavior and information processing (Welch-Ross and Schmidt 1996). As these are abstract categories constructed by the individual, gender schemas constantly evolve as the individual ages and encounters various experiences. Similarly, as each individual is unique and representative of their own culture and social environment, gender schemas can be situated in the individual’s culture and social environment as well. These gender schemes will guide the individual’s actions and activities depending on their beliefs about what is appropriate for their gender (Meyer and Gelman 2016).
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References
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Leung, E. (2018). Gender Schemas. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_667-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_667-1
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