The development of gender awareness is fundamental to our sense of self and is also predominant in any evaluation made of another person since from birth people respond differently to males and to females. Gender identity can be seen as one of the first social categories that children learn to apply both to themselves and to other people. This is suggested in Schaffer's (1996) definition that gender identity is the correct labeling of oneself and others as male or female. Three main theories have been explored that all suggest multiple ways in which gender awareness develops: Bandura, Kohlburg, and gender schema theory. First, Bandura (1977) notes that the idea that social influences clearly play a very significant role in the development of gender identity. Socialization makes children aware that there are differences between male and female and that these sexual differences matter. These social pressures also suggest that there are specific gender stereotypes that one is expected to conform to. However, biological and cultural changes can also be seen to interact with these social factors, thus defining how an individual ultimately develops the gender identity of a man or woman. An alternative theory, expressed by Kohlburg (1966), suggests that children are not recipients of any physical information from social experiences and therefore seek specific norms that explain how boys and girls are expected to behave. Additionally, gender tends to be the first thing a parent wants to find out about their child. It can be suggested that from then on the child will be treated according to whether it is a boy or a girl. This is demonstrated in research that attempts to classify… the center of the paper… both male and female toys. Overall, parents gave positive responses to their preschoolers when choosing same-sex toys, but negatively to both-sex toys, thus reinforcing their children's sex role differentiation. On the other hand, according to Fagot (1985), a sexual differentiation similar to that observed in the previous study was not found in the teachers responsible for a group of 2-year-old children. In this study, children themselves gave positive feedback of one kind or another to their peers who were engaging in appropriate sexual behaviors. Once again, boys were more likely to be disapproved of for "feminine" behavior and thus were quickly given the opportunity to learn what is not masculine, thus encouraging them to eliminate those behaviors or activities from their repertoire. However, there are criticisms of these “ theories of social influence on sex role development.