Children's assignment of gender to animal characters in pictures.
In previous research (DeLoache, Cassidy, & Carpenter, 1987), mothers' descriptions of gender-neutral animal characters were influenced by subtle gender stereo-types. The present research was an investigation of children's assignment of gender to the same neutral characters. The youngest children, 4 to 5 years old, usually assigned their own gender to the characters (bears). The 7- to 8-year-old and 10- to 11-year-old children were influenced by gender stereotypes. Solitary or noninteracting bears were less likely to receive female gender labels than were bears involved in adult-child interactions. Boys in the oldest age group were most influenced by the stereotypes.
Arthur
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Department of Psychology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA.
White
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D000328:Adult; D000828:Animal Population Groups; D000818:Animals; D001877:Books; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D012016:Reference Values; D012951:Socialization; D013240:Stereotyping