Decoupling Children’s Gender-based In-Group Positivity from Out-Group Negativity

Abstract

In the current study we attempted to determine whether children's gender-based intergroup biases reflect positive attitudes toward the in-group and/or negative attitudes toward the out-group. Third through fifth grade children were asked to determine whether positive and negative traits described boys, girls, both genders, or nobody. This methodology allowed for separate evaluation of in-group favoritism and out-group derogation. Girls and children who perceived their gender as important viewed their in-group as having more positive than negative attributes and more positive and less negative attributes than the out-group. Boys and children who viewed gender as less important viewed both genders as having more positive than negative attributes. These results support Brewer's (Journal of Social Issues 55: [429][430][431][432][433][434][435][436][437][438][439][440][441][442][443][444] 1999) claim that in-group love and out-group hate are not reciprocally related.

Gender Attitudes in Early Childhood: Behavioral Consequences and Cognitive Antecedents

“…If so, these results are consistent with findings among Welsh and Italian preschoolers (Gasparini et al., ; Yee & Brown, ), and are even consistent with those including elementary school‐aged children (Leroux, ; Zosuls et al., ). A growing number of studies that combined measures of in‐group and out‐group attitudes, or compared differences between the two, have also found that girls show more general intergroup bias than do boys (Dunham, Baron, & Banaji, ; Egan & Perry, ; Powlishta, ; Powlishta, Serbin, Doyle, & White, ; Susskind & Hodges, ). One possibility for this gender difference is that children are simply following learned gender stereotypes that girls are nice and good, whereas boys are bad (Heyman, 2001).…”

“…In accordance with social identity theory, we expected that children who personally identify with their gender more strongly (e.g., I am really happy to be a girl/boy ) should show more positivity toward same‐gender peers (e.g., I think girls/boys are really nice ) and possibly less positivity toward other‐gender peers (Figure ). A handful of cross‐sectional studies with elementary school children have found that stronger gender identities were associated with more biased gender attitudes (Susskind & Hodges, ), although this effect was sometimes only found for girls (Egan & Perry, ).…”

Patterns of Gender Development

“…Moreover, Kowalski (2007) reports that studies of young children's interactions do involve evaluative comments between boys and girls but rarely involve animosity, suggesting that some researchers may have misinterpreted children's positive ingroup feelings in structured interviews as overt rejection of the other group. Recent research suggests that when they are decoupled, ingroup positivity effects are stronger than outgroup negativity among elementary school children (Susskind & Hodges 2007). It is also not clear whether young girls' willingness to judge boys as “bad,” for example, indicates outright hostility (Rudman & Glick 2008) or if, instead, such judgments reflect stereotypes about boys getting into trouble (e.g., Heyman 2001).…”

‘It's not that we hate you’: Understanding children's gender attitudes and expectancies about peer relationships

“…Our second research question addressed whether girls and boys differ in their inter‐group attitudes (RQ2). Based on previous research findings, we expected that girls might show more biased inter‐group attitudes compared to boys (Carver et al , 2003; Egan & Perry, 2001; Kowalski, 2007; Powlishta, 1995a,b; Powlishta et al , 1994; Susskind & Hodges, 2007; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2001; Yee & Brown, 1994; Zalk & Katz, 1978). Nonetheless, these findings are largely based on trait‐based measures and it is uncertain whether this pattern would hold when affective evaluations are assessed.…”

“…Previous studies are difficult to compare because they employ different measures. For example, a few studies have used global affective ratings of liking (Powlishta, 1995b; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2001; Yee & Brown, 1994), but most studies use evaluative trait ratings in which children are asked to rate girls and boys on positive and negative traits (e.g., ‘truthful’, ‘bad’, ‘lazy’) (Carver, Yunger, & Perry, 2003; Egan & Perry, 2001; Powlishta, 1995a, b; Powlishta, Serbin, Doyle, & White, 1994; Susskind & Hodges, 2007; Zalk & Katz, 1978). Social distance, peer nomination, and other peer preference measures have also been used (e.g., Hayden‐Thomson, Rubin, & Hymel, 1987; Powlishta et al , 1994); however, such measures are more accurately described as assessments of preferences or judgements that may be influenced by attitudes, but they are not attitudes per se .…”