Female infants are dressed in pink and their rooms are decorated in pastels. Parents give subtle messages regarding gender and what is acceptable behavior for each gender. As children move into the larger world of friends and school many of the ideas and beliefs are reinforced by those around them. Conformity is a major factor in human behavior. This notion adds support to maintaining the idea of gender differentiation.
Traits associated with males tend to be more highly regarded than traits associated with females.
This may help to explain why it is easier for females to cross-over the gender stereotype barriers and harder for males to do so. There are a number of theoretical models of development that have been applied to understanding individual gender related behaviors. Research to test these approaches have showed diverse findings that support each theory. According to the cognitive-developmental model, children learn their own genders in the same way they learn the identity of anything else. Social learning contends that children learn through differential reinforcement and observational learning.