RECALL OF RELATED AND UNRELATED GENDER-TYPED ITEM PAIRS BY YOUNG-CHILDREN

Aspects of 40 young children's (22 boys, 18 girls; mean age = 51.00 mo nths) recall of related and unrelated item pairs were assessed. Childr en were primarily white and middle SES. Consistent with previous recal l research, boys recalled significantly more pairs, and individual ite ms from pairs, of related gender-typed items than pairs containing unr elated items. Girls recalled significantly more pairs, and individual items from pairs, of related animal items than any other types of rela ted or unrelated pairings. Congruent with the component model of gende r role knowledge development, girls showed significantly greater recal l of pairs, and individual items from pairs, of same-sex feminine item pairs than other-sex masculine ones. Consistent with previous memory research examining young children's pair recall, boys demonstrated sig nificantly better recall of pairs, and individual items from pairs, co ntaining related same-sex masculine items than pairs with two unrelate d items. These data suggest young children conceptualize gender roles as social categories to organize processing of social information.