"God made me a girl": Sex-category constancy judgments and explanations revisited.

To examine reasons for inconsistent findings in the development of sex-category constancy, children's constancy judgments and their accompanying explanations were studied over a 3-year period. Preschool, kindergarten, and 1st-grade children (N?=?195) completed a sex-category constancy measure that elicited explanations and assessed constancy for the self and others across changes in gender-typed clothing, activities, and traits. Improvements in sex-category constancy performance were linked to explanations based on operational reasoning. Lower constancy scores were linked to explanations that emphasized gender role norms and external appearances. A separate analysis revealed that judgment- explanation relationships were stronger for questions about gender role changes in the self as opposed to others and for changes in gender-typed clothing as opposed to activities and traits. Findings suggest that the salience and personal relevance of gender role changes have important effects on children's sex-category constancy judgments and explanations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of sex-typed play behavior in toddlers.

Conducted naturalistic observations of the play of 52 14–35 mo old toddlers (28 girls and 24 boys) with a set of socially stereotyped masculine, feminine, and neutral toys in a daycare setting over 14 mo. In addition, 2 potential influences on toy choice were investigated: parental expectations of play and Ss' gender knowledge. Results show that Ss played more often with toys stereotyped for their own gender than with the other toys. Girls' play with feminine toys increased with age, but boys' play with masculine toys did not vary with age, partly because even the youngest boys chose masculine toys frequently. Parents provided same-sex-typed toys for their children and made sex-typed predictions of their children's toy choices, but these measures were not clearly related to children's play. Cognitive change in understanding of gender was related to toddler boys' early sex-typed behavior. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender constancy and the "cost" of sex-typed behavior: A test of the conflict hypothesis.

95 children between 5- and 10-yrs-old watched televised boys and girls who differentially endorsed toys of varying attractiveness. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that behavioral expression of gender norms that arouse conflict would be delayed relative to norms that are conflict-free. Predictions were supported for boys. Gender-constant boys spent more time playing with an uninteresting sex-typed toy than did preconstant boys. When the sex-typed toy was relatively interesting, preconstant boys played with it as much as gender constant boys. Toy play among girls was related to toy attractiveness and the girl's agreement with televised stereotypes. Possible reasons for observed sex differences and previous inconsistencies in the gender constancy literature are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus: effects of age and sex

Young children's attributions of gender-typed activities to figures/models differing in height and/or sex were examined over three experiments. The influence of gender constancy understanding on children's gender-typed attributions was also examined. In Experiment 1, young children attributed significantly more masculine activities to male than female figures and significantly more feminine activities to female than male figures. Experiment 2 confirmed the results demonstrated in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, additional line-drawn stimuli and figure comparisons were incorporated; participants attributed significantly more masculine activities to taller than shorter male figures and taller than shorter female figures. In addition, children attributed significantly more feminine activities to taller than shorter female figures. In Experiment 3, participants viewed pictures of taller and shorter male and female models. Results confirmed those of Experiment 1, as well as most of those of Experiment 2. No consistent patterns of children's gender-typed attributions as a function of gender constancy understanding emerged in the three experiments. Results are discussed as they apply to unexplored tenets from Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental model, as well as those of gender schema models, of early gender role development.     

Development of gender constancy and children's sex-typed free play behavior.

64 preschool children (aged 27–70 mo) with nearly equal numbers of boys and girls at each of 4 levels of gender constancy were observed during free-play sessions at their preschools to examine relationships among gender constancy, preferences for same- or opposite-sex playmates, and sex-typed activities. Each S's play was rated 40 times on a point-time schedule for type of activity and playmate-interaction style. With the effect of age removed, level of gender constancy was found to be related to playmate choice in social interaction. Females who had acquired an understanding that gender is temporally but not situationally stable engaged in more same-sex social interaction than females who understood that gender is invariant across situations. There were no differences in the proportion of same-sex social interaction among males at the 4 levels of gender constancy. Ss at all levels of gender constancy were found to be sex-typed in their toy and activity preferences when they played alone and when they played in parallel or interacted with same-sex peers but not when they played in parallel in mixed-sex groups. Males but not females were found to be sex-typed in activity preferences in mixed-sex social interaction. These findings suggest that, at least for females, gender concepts may have an organizing role in sex-role development by motivating children to seek social contexts in which to acquire and practice sex-appropriate behaviors. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender schema, gender constancy, and gender-role knowledge: The roles of cognitive factors in preschoolers' gender-role stereotype attributions.

Investigated the influence of several cognitive components of children's gender-role development on their attributions of gender-role stereotypes to a particular sex. A total of 83 children (44 boys and 39 girls) completed a 2-part interview that assessed degree of gender schematization, gender-role knowledge, flexibility, and stage of gender constancy. Children also completed tasks assessing attributions of gender-role stereotypes to male and female figures. Results indicated that children's gender schematization and other cognitive gender schema factors were significantly associated with children's accuracy in attributing gender-role stereotypes to both males and females. In contrast, stage of gender constancy per se was not significantly correlated with any of children's gender-role stereotype attributions. The patterns of results offer further evidence of the importance of gender schemata in early gender-role development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The acquisition of gender labels in infancy: Implications for gender-typed play.

Two aspects of children’s early gender development—the spontaneous production of gender labels and gender-typed play—were examined longitudinally in a sample of 82 children. Survival analysis, a statistical technique well suited to questions involving developmental transitions, was used to investigate the timing of the onset of children’s gender labeling as based on mothers’ biweekly telephone interviews regarding their children’s language from 9 through 21 months. Videotapes of children’s play both alone and with mother during home visits at 17 and 21 months were independently analyzed for play with gender-stereotyped and gender-neutral toys. Finally, the relation between gender labeling and gender-typed play was examined. Children transitioned to using gender labels at approximately 19 months, on average. Although girls and boys showed similar patterns in the development of gender labeling, girls began labeling significantly earlier than boys. Modest sex differences in play were present at 17 months and increased at 21 months. Gender labeling predicted increases in gender-typed play, suggesting that knowledge of gender categories might influence gender typing before the age of 2. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender constancy and television viewing.

Cognitive developmental theory predicts that gender constant children bias their attention to same-sex TV characters compared with children who have not achieved gender constancy. The TV viewing at home of 24 5-year-old children was videotaped over 10 days. Half of the children were high in gender constancy. Gender constant boys biased their attention consistent with the hypothesis, and they viewed programs featuring a greater percentage of men as TV characters than did preconstant boys. An analysis of TV-viewing diaries of 313 5-yr-olds showed that gender constant boys viewed more programming intended for adults (especially sports and action programs) than did preconstant boys. Gender constant girls viewed more action programming than did preconstant girls. There was no association of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test IQ with level of gender constancy. Gender constancy is associated with multiple changes in TV-viewing behavior especially in boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective confidence in perceptual judgments: A test of the self-consistency model.

Two questions about subjective confidence in perceptual judgments are examined: the bases for these judgments and the reasons for their accuracy. Confidence in perceptual judgments has been claimed to rest on qualitatively different processes than confidence in memory tasks. However, predictions from a self-consistency model (SCM), which had been confirmed for general-information questions (Koriat, 2010) and social attitudes (Koriat & Adiv, 2010), are shown to hold true also for perceptual judgments. In SCM, confidence is modeled by the procedure for assessment of statistical level of confidence: For a 2-alternative, forced-choice item, confidence is based on the consistency with which the choice is favored across a sample of representations of the item, and acts as a monitor of the likelihood that a new sample will yield the same choice. Assuming that these representations are drawn from commonly shared populations of representations associated with each item, predictions regarding the basis of confidence were confirmed by results concerning the functions relating confidence and choice latency to interparticipant consensus and to intraparticipant consistency for majority and minority choices. With regard to the confidence-accuracy (C/A) relationship, the consensuality principle, documented for general-knowledge tasks (Koriat, 2008a), was replicated for perceptual judgments: Confidence correlated with the consensuality of the choice rather than with its correctness, suggesting that the C/A correlation is due to the relationship between confidence and self-consistency and is positive only as long as the correct choices are the consistently made choices. SCM provides a general model for the basis and accuracy of confidence judgments across different domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's beliefs about drinking

This paper reports the results of a study in which age (grade level), racial/ethnic, and gender differences in beliefs and perceived norms about drinking were examined in a multi-ethnic urban sample of 4th through 7th grade children. Results showed that older children held beliefs and perceived norms that were more favorable toward drinking than younger children. The major difference between older and younger children lay in their differential estimates of the likelihood of certain consequences occurring and not in their evaluation of these consequences of drinking. Further, older children not only displayed less motivation to comply with their parents and greater motivation to comply with their peers, but they also perceived their parents, as well as their peers, as less disapproving of drinking than did younger children. There were few gender or race/ethnicity differences at these ages in children's beliefs and perceived norms about drinking.     

Effect of age, skill, and performance feedback on children's judgments of confidence.

We examined children's judgments of confidence following performance on a cognitive task as a function of the children's age and skill and the presence or absence of feedback regarding performance. Second and third graders (n?=?75) and fifth and sixth graders (n?=?79) estimated the numerosity of large numbers of dots, made ratings of confidence concerning their answers, and were assessed on a timed task of counting in multiples. For older children, regardless of skill level, feedback was associated with "calibration," that is, a positive relation between estimation accuracy and confidence. For younger children, on the other hand, feedback was associated with such a relation only if the children were relatively skillful on the counting task. Results suggest that domain-specific knowledge, in conjunction with objective feedback following task performance, may help young children compensate for developmental factors that typically are associated with an unrealistically high degree of confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of behavior perceptions and gender on teachers' judgments of students' academic skill.

Evaluated the hypothesis that gender and behavior, as perceived by teachers, affect judgments of the academic skill of their students. A path model was proposed to describe the relationships among tested academic skill, gender, behavior grades, and teachers' academic judgments. The model was evaluated separately in each of 3 grades (kindergarten–2nd) in 2 locations, with scholastic grades and structured ratings in specific academic skill areas as the dependent variables. Results showed that, after tested academic skill and gender were controlled for, teachers' perceptions of students' behavior constituted a significant component of their scholastic judgments. This effect was more pronounced for the judgments of boys because, in Grades 1 and 2, their conduct was perceived as less adequate than was girls' behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender labeling and the adoption of sex-typed behaviors.

A gender-labeling task was used to test the ability of 21 girls and 22 boys ranging in age from 21 to 40 mo to discriminate between pictures of boys and girls and male and female adults. Ss who passed the gender task (mean age 30 mo) were compared with Ss who failed it (mean age 26 mo) on 3 behaviors most often categorized as sex typed (toy choice, aggression, and peer playmate selection). It was predicted that Ss who passed the task would choose more sex-typed toys and same-sex peers and that there would be a drop in aggression for girls who passed but no change for boys. Results confirm the predictions for aggression and peer choice but not for toy choice. The relation between the child's understanding of gender categories and environmental influences is discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral reasoning and moral concerns: An alternative to Gilligan's gender based hypothesis.

Studied the differences in moral orientation in terms of gender specific modes of reasoning, in 2 experiments. In Exp 1, 32 Ss (aged 24–55 yrs) were read the "Heinz dilemma," and asked 3 questions regarding it. Deliberative and justificatory strategies were identified on the basis of the presence or absence of the higher level knowledge structures. In Exp 2, 40 undergraduates were presented with "Michael and Kohlberg Heinz dilemma," followed by a set of relevant questions. Male Ss preferred to apply a norm or rule in their solutions, while females rejected the application of a norm and sought alternative solutions. This was replicated in Exp 2, but the pattern was reversed with female Ss preferring to apply a norm. Males were divided in their use of either strategy indicating that although, genders differed in their judgments as to which norms or rules to apply; once adopted, norms and rules were used in similar ways. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of multiple social categories on stereotyping.

Examined the cognitive processes underlying stereotyping, and the effects of multiple social categories in impression formation. 60 Canadian students (aged 17–29 yrs) assessed the stereotypes of men, women, 20 or 70 yr olds, and French or English Canadians. Ss were then introduced to 8 target individuals representing combinations of gender, age and ethnicity, followed by a memory test. Stereotype judgments were relatively more automatic than nonstereotype judgments. Individuals tended to be perceived in terms of their gender and age; this effect was more pronounced on stereotype traits than on the nonstereotype ones. Memory was found to be better for age and gender than for ethnicity, and the speed for making such judgments followed the same pattern. Results support the view that individuals are perceived in terms of stereotypes and suggest that certain salient characteristics will be more influential in a particular context. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Longitudinal Study of Gendered Vocabulary and Communicative Action in Young Children.

Development of children's vocabularies for gender-typed words and communicative actions was investigated longitudinally from 13 to 36 months and in a group of 9.5-month-olds. Vocabularies of gendered words were assessed using lists of adult-rated gender-typed words from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI; L. Fenson et al., 1994). At 24 to 36 months, girls' and boys' productive vocabularies contained more same-gender-typed words than other-gender-typed words. Receptive vocabulary gender-differential effects were apparent among boys at 18 months. At 13 and 18 months, gender-typed differences were apparent in communicative actions. The research reveals the utility of unobtrusive, nonexperimental measures for assessing gender-related knowledge and behavior in young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender labeling, gender stereotyping, and parenting behaviors.

Are gender labeling and gender stereotyping in 24-, 30-, and 36-mo-old children related to each other and to mothers' sex-role attitudes and responses to sex-typed behavior in a free-play situation with their children? The gender stereotyping measure indicated that gender schemata include information that is metaphorically rather than literally associated with each sex. Children who understood labels for boys and girls displayed more knowledge of gender stereotypes than children who did not. Mothers whose children had mastered labels for boys and girls endorsed more traditional attitudes toward women and toward sex roles within the family. The same mothers also initiated and reinforced more sex-typed toy play with their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive, motivational, social, and environmental influences on children's food choices.

Tested a value–expectancy model of motivation regarding children's food choices by establishing associations between relevant beliefs and food choices, using 107 children (aged 5–13 yrs). Ss rated 15 foods in terms of possible choice criteria and social or environmental influences. Results show that Ss at the operational level of development tended to be characterized by health orientation in food choice, taste orientation, or multiple-motive orientation. Dietary quality was poorest in the taste-oriented group. Ss at the preoperational level tended to have 1 of 2 undifferentiated patterns of values across the correlational indices. The authors conclude that there is evidence of the viability of cognitive-motivational models to explain children's food choices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)