EFFECTS OF GENDER CONSTANCY AND FIGURES HEIGHT AND SEX ON YOUNG CHILDRENS GENDER-TYPED ATTRIBUTIONS

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.