Age differences in children's memory of information about aggressive, socially withdrawn, and prosociable boys and girls.
Age differences in children's memory for information about aggression, prosociability, and social withdrawal were examined in 2 studies, one using a recall task, the other a recognition task. In both studies, second- and sixth-grade subjects heard descriptions of hypothetical boys and girls described as (a) aggressive, (b) socially withdrawn, or (c) prosociable, and their memory of the items in the descriptions was assessed. With the recall task, age-related increases were observed for the descriptions of the girl peers and for the withdrawn boy peer. With the recognition task, age differences were observed in memory for information about social withdrawal and prosociability but not aggression, and memory for information about aggression was better for the boy peer than girl peer, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for information about withdrawal. These results indicate that school-age and early adolescent children's recall of information about a peer is affected by the peer's gender.
Bukowski
W M
WM
University of Maine.
D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010379:Peer Group; D010553:Personality Development; D012718:Set, Psychology; D012792:Shyness; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012928:Social Desirability