Cognitive Aspects of Early Sex-Role Development: The Influence of Gender Schemas on Preschoolers' Memories and Preferences for Sex-Typed Toys and Activities

Carter, D. Bruce; Levy, Gary D.

doi:10.2307/1130576

Cited by 131 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Also in the work of Carter and Levy (1988) it was shown that preschool children's memories were distorted by gender-atypical information. All respondents were included in the analysis below, but note that these results did not differ when children were excluded who did not respond correctly to all eight memory questions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschoolers' appreciation of uncommon desires and subsequent emotions

Rieffe

Terwogt

Koops

et al. 2001

British J of Dev Psycho

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Many theory of mind researchers have argued that even preschoolers understand the causal relationship between desires and emotions: the fulfilment of a desire results in a positive emotion, whereas its frustration elicits a negative emotion. Children can acknowledge this simple link between desires and emotions, even when their own desire differs from that of the story protagonist. However, in this paper we argue that under some conditions preschool children will not base their emotion predictions for another person on the basis of the other person's desires. In the first experiment, 3-to 5-year-old children were tested for their understanding of desires, when the protagonist's desire for a snack increasingly conflicted with their own preference for a snack. Only the 4-year-olds performed as expected: they gave more accurate emotion predictions when the distance between their own preference and the protagonist's desire was reduced. When the snacks were replaced by toys, however, preschool children showed a bias in their emotion predictions that seemed gender related. The second experiment confirmed that sex-stereotyped beliefs about desirability biased children's predictions of others' emotions: 4-and 5-year-old children were more accurate in their predictions when the protagonist had a traditional desire (a girl wanting to play with a doll), than when the protagonist had a non-traditional desire (a boy wanting to play with a doll), irrespective of children's own preferences for one toy over the other. In sum, evidence was found for two biasing influences in children's understanding of others' emotions: (1) an increased distance between the protagonist's desire and participants' own desires, and (2) beliefs about desirability based on, for example, cultural-norms for gender related preferences, which increases with age.'Emotions are nonrational insofar as the desires that underlie them are nonrational, which can be argued for all desires ' Frijda (1995, p. 1) argued. Nevertheless, the causal relationship between desires and the emotions is rational and, thus, emotions that follow desires can be derived by means of reason. Consequently, an open-minded assessment of others' subjective desires is essential for understanding emotions.The aim of desires is not to represent reality, as is the case with beliefs. On the contrary, 'the world has to fit the mind' (Searle, 1983, p. 8), and when the situation * Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr Carolien Rieffe, Department of Developmental Psychology, Free University, vd Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands (e-mail: c.rieffe@psy.vu.nl). 259British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2001), 19, 259-274 Printed in Great Britain # 2001 The British Psychological Society matches or seems to match the desired state, the desire is met. Perner (1991) points out that 26-month-olds can pursue a goal, such as their wish to clean a black board, and then stop their activities when this goal is met. Thus, 2-year-olds understand when the world fits their m...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschoolers' appreciation of uncommon desires and subsequent emotions

Rieffe

Terwogt

Koops

et al. 2001

British J of Dev Psycho

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“…This work also provides a new context for the application of children's gender-stereotyped knowledge, which has shown that boys give stereotyped responses more frequently than girls in straightforward measures of gender behavior (Carter & Levy, 1988;Liben & Bigler, 2002;McHale, Bartko, Crouter, & Perry-Jenkins, 1990;Ruble & Martin, 1998;Weisner & Wilson-Mitchell, 1990). Furthermore, this work extends the research of Sinno and Killen (2009), which demonstrated that children's judgments about caretaking roles in the home setting are highly contingent upon gender-stereotypic expectations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Children's Evaluations of Gender-Stereotypic Household Activities in the Family Context

Schuette

Killen

2009

Early Education & Development

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“…Many experimental studies have demonstrated gender-based distortions in which children either misconstrue an activity or incorrectly remember the sex of the actor engaging in an activity to make their memories consistent with their gender cognitions (Carter & Levy, 1988;Liben & Signorella, 1980;Martin & Halverson, 1983;Signorella & Liben, 1984;Stangor & Ruble, 1989). For instance, in a study involving videotaped presentations, children remembered female doctors as nurses (Cordua, McGraw, & Drabman, 1979).…”

Section: Active Self-initiated View Of Gender Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive theories of early gender development.

Martin¹,

Ruble

Szkrybalo

2002

Psychological Bulletin

528

514

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The contribution of cognitive perspectives (cognitive-developmental theory and gender schema theory) to a contemporary understanding of gender development is evaluated. Recent critiques of cognitive approaches are discussed and empirical evidence is presented to counter these critiques. Because of the centrality of early gender development to the cognitive perspective, the latest research is reviewed on how infants and toddlers discriminate the sexes and learn the attributes correlated with sex. The essence of cognitive approaches-emphasis on motivational consequences of gender concepts; the active, self-initiated view of development; and focus on developmental patterns-is highlighted and contrasted with social-cognitive views. The value of cognitive theories to the field is illustrated, and recommendations are made concerning how to construct comprehensive, integrative perspectives of gender development.How individuals develop a "gendered" self and gender-typed differentiation has intrigued researchers of human behavior for as long as social development has been a field of empirical study. Initially, observations of clear gender typing in children as young as 5 years old led researchers to examine how socialization processes in the home might contribute to this early acquisition of gender-linked behavior (e.g., Sears, Maccoby, & Levin, 1957). In 1966, several important theories of gender development, including Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental approach and Mischel's social learning approach, were outlined in Maccoby's book on the development of sex differences. In the mid-1970s, a groundbreaking book by Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) broadened the discussion about the etiology of sex differences and gender typing and questioned the significance of socialization processes, thereby invigorating the field and generating considerable controversy. In the 1980s, Huston (1983Huston ( , 1985 called for researchers to develop a more integrative, comprehensive approach to the study of gender development. This integration was to include consideration of the many facets of gender that needed investigation, such as concepts, identity, preferences, and behavior, as well as a wide variety of factors that influence the development of these facets, including biology, cognitions, and social influences. This idea resonated with gender researchers and has been a driving force in the field ever since, leading to an expansion of theoretical approaches and the inclusion of multiple measures in empirical studies.Recently, Bussey and Bandura (1999) presented a socialcognitive theory (SCT) of gender development and differentiation. This theory represents a particular view of how gender-related behavior is acquired and maintained, based on contemporary social learning theory (Bandura, 1986). Because the theory has now integrated cognitive constructs and makes reference to biological underpinnings and sociostructural factors, Bussey and Bandura described their theory as comprehensive and integrative, consistent with Huston's (1983) proposal,...

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Cognitive Aspects of Early Sex-Role Development: The Influence of Gender Schemas on Preschoolers' Memories and Preferences for Sex-Typed Toys and Activities

Cited by 131 publications

References 21 publications

Preschoolers' appreciation of uncommon desires and subsequent emotions

Preschoolers' appreciation of uncommon desires and subsequent emotions

Children's Evaluations of Gender-Stereotypic Household Activities in the Family Context

Cognitive theories of early gender development.

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