Gd. Levy, EFFECTS OF GENDER CONSTANCY AND FIGURES HEIGHT AND SEX ON YOUNG CHILDRENS GENDER-TYPED ATTRIBUTIONS, The Journal of general psychology, 125(1), 1998, pp. 65-88
Young children's attributions of gender-typed activities to figures/mo
dels differing in height and/or sex were examined over three experimen
ts. The influence of gender constancy understanding on children's gend
er-typed attributions was also examined. In Experiment I,young childre
n attributed significantly more masculine activities to male than fema
le figures and significantly more feminine activities to female than m
ale figures. Experiment 2 confirmed the results demonstrated in Experi
ment 1. In Experiment 2, additional line-drawn stimuli and figure comp
arisons were incorporated; participants attributed significantly more
masculine activities to taller than shorter male figures and taller th
an shorter female figures. In addition, children attributed significan
tly more feminine activities to taller than shorter female figures. In
Experiment 3, participants viewed pictures of taller and shorter male
and female models. Results confirmed those of Experiment 1, as well a
s most of those of Experiment 2. No consistent patterns of children's
gender-typed attributions as a function of gender constancy understand
ing emerged in the three experiments. Results are discussed as they ap
ply to unexplored tenets from Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental model
, as well as those of gender schema models, of early gender role devel
opment.