'It's a boy because he's painting a picture': age differences in children's conventional and unconventional gender schemas.
Two studies investigated the development of children's gender knowledge using a procedure designed to tap into children's unconventional gender beliefs. Study 1 revealed a developmental progression with 34 3- to 4-year-old children providing more unconventional reasons than conventional reasons to explain the gender of a series of drawings. By contrast, 39 5- to 6-year-old and 42 7- to 8-year-old children provided more conventional than unconventional reasons. Study 2 found that a second sample of 42 3- to 4-year-old children mastered a close-ended assessment of gender stereotyping, while they relied on unconventional and conventional reasoning equally when explaining the gender of a series of drawings displaying conventional cues only. This research supports the model that children's conventional gender schemas do not develop before their unconventional gender schemas.
Tenenbaum
Harriet R
HR
Kingston University, Kingston, Surrey, UK. h.tenenbaum@kingston.ac.uk
Hill
Darryl B
DB
Joseph
Nadia
N
Roche
Erin
E
D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping