‘It's a boy because he's painting a picture’: Age differences in children's conventional and unconventional gender schemas

Abstract

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.

Is “Bow” for an Arrow or for Hair? A Classroom Demonstration on Gender Differences in Interpreting Ambiguous Information

“…There are many ways in which socialization experiences produce cognitions and behaviors among men and women that do not differ (e.g., obedience to parents, social susceptibility to influence, and ability to accurately interpret others’ gender; see Tenenbaum, Hill, Joseph, & Roche, 2010). However, some socialization experiences differ for men and women and may potentially produce divergent cognitions and behaviors.…”

Children’s Physical Gender Schemas: Acquisition and Features

“…Gender schema theory (Leaper, 2015;Martin & Ruble, 2010) predicts that children acquire their gender schemas gradually rather than all at once. Children appropriate simpler aspects of the schema first and then comprehend more complicated notions (Tenenbaum et al, 2010). Obvious and simple physical characteristics tend to be the first cues used by children in the absence of other gendering cues, at least for girl targets (Miller et al, 2009).…”

“…simple and traditional theories of gender (e.g., boys have short hair). At the same time, children also invoke unconventional notions (e.g., girls do not wear glasses) (Tenenbaum et al, 2010). Yet, rather than simply assimilating traditional gender stereotypes, as they age, children develop more complex schemas, such as the possibility that someone might show mixed signs of gender (Tenenbaum et al, 2010).…”

Conformity to masculinity ideology, a predictor of academic‐related attitudes and behaviors

“…Gender role norms refer to a set of prescriptive and proscriptive beliefs about how an individual should and should not act, think, and feel in accordance with societal expectations for one's biological sex (American Psychological Association, ). Suggestions about gender‐appropriate behavior is often communicated through culture (Tenenbaum, Hill, Joseph, & Roche, ) and influences decisions about whether to move towards or reject behavior based on its congruence with societal expectations for “maleness” and “femaleness” (Starr & Zurbriggen, ). Masculinity ideologies in the United States are constructed in such a way that boys, to become men, express their power and control and have a need to avoid appearing weak or feminine (see American Psychological Association, ).…”