Article

Bears are for boys: Metaphorical associations in young children's gender stereotypes

March 1997
Cognitive Development 12(1):107–130

DOI:10.1016/S0885-2014(97)90032-0

Authors:

Objects may be gender typed by virtue of their use by or association with one sex or the other or because they embody qualities that show a nonliteral or metaphorical correspondence to characteristics of or beliefs about males and females. For Study 1, we developed the Gender Stereotyping Test, a sorting task with which we determined that 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds make use of both types of information in assigning objects or qualities to each sex. Study 2 replicated results with a new group of 4-year-olds and found that children whose test scores indicated at least some knowledge of gender identity were more likely to gender type metaphorical, but not conventional, items than those whose scores failed to indicate stable and constant knowledge of gender identity. In Study 3, which used a truncated version of the sorting task, children at age 3 made minimal use of either type of information. Gender stereotypes are considered in terms of recent theories of metaphor as a conceptual mechanism by which what is known in or about one domain is projected to another domain for the purpose of understanding.

Welcome to a Pink and Blue World! An Analysis of Gender-Typed Content in Birth Announcement Cards From 1940–2019 in the Netherlands

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022
SEX ROLES

Joyce Endendijk

There is a longstanding tradition in the Netherlands to announce the birth of a child by sending out birth announcement cards to friends and family. These cards provide a glimpse of the ‘zeitgeist’ over the years regarding gender through the way in which the birth of a son or a daughter is announced. The current study examined the gender-typed content of birth announcement cards from 1940 until 2019. To this end, 4669 birth announcement cards were coded based on the following categories: gender of baby, use of color, different types of images, and different types of text. Logistic regression analyses revealed that boy cards were more likely than girl cards to include blue as the dominant color, masculine descriptions of the baby, and parental expressions of pride. Girl cards were more likely than boy cards to include pink as the dominant color and images of flowers. Over time there was a decrease in the inclusion of masculine descriptions on boy cards, as well as the likelihood that fathers were mentioned before mothers. However, the expression of pride on boy cards increased over time. Overall, the amount of gender-typed content in birth announcement cards was minimal. Birth announcement cards which included gender-typed content tended to reflect gender stereotypes and different expressions for boys and girls in subtle ways that continue to reinforce gender stereotypes.

Gendered Environment Factors Influencing Children’s Perception of Gender in Kindergarten

Chapter

Full-text available

Dec 2022

Yixin Zhang

Hegemonic masculinities and femininities in food industry packaging

Article

Dec 2022

The aim of this study is to analyze the formal and graphic elements around the hegemonic masculinities and femininities of the packaging of industrial bakery and biscuit products aimed at children and young people. A content analysis was conducted on 10 of the most widely consumed brands of industrial bakery and biscuit products in Spain and widely present on the international market. In addition, a scale of dominant masculinity was developed as a tool to analyze the most egalitarian narratives on the packaging. The results suggest that there are unequal narratives linked to hegemonic masculinity and femininity. The use of blue and yellow, the latter not having a traditional link to masculinity, is related to men in terms of aggressiveness and bravery stereotypes. The women represented on packaging with these same colours are presented in terms of sympathy or kindness, as well as stereotypes connected to beauty. The products contain homogeneous stereotypes and are associated more with men than with women. However, 2 out of 10 brands do not insert characters linked to sexual attributes or gender stereotypes. Therefore, our findings suggest that hegemonic gender scripts are inscribed on packaging less obviously than in other traditional media.

Female Consumers’ Clothing-related Attribute Expectations Differ According to Their Gender Identities

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2022

It is necessary to determine the factors that affect consumers’ preferences in the ready-made clothing sector, where competition is intense. Gender is accepted as one of the most fundamental factors affecting purchas¬ing decisions not only in the ready-made clothing industry, but also in many other sectors. However, rapidly changing environmental conditions require going beyond traditional patterns in explaining consumption be¬haviors. Accordingly, the concept of gender, which is socially constructed, has also been conceptualized from a psychological point of view. In this study, the concept of gender was based on psychological foundations and it was investigated whether female consumers’ clothing-related attribute expectations differ according to their gender identities. Questionnaires created in line with the purpose of the study were applied to 393 people who were selected by convenience sampling. The data were collected through a face-to-face survey. Research hypotheses were tested with ANOVA analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that female consumers’ clothing-related attribute expectations differ according to gender identities. In the literature, no study has been found that examines the changes in the clothing-related expectations of female consumers according to their gender identity roles. In this context, it is expected that the study will make significant contributions to both the managers in the clothing sector and academics.

Early preschool environments and gender: Effects of gender pedagogy in Sweden

Preprint

Mar 2019

To test how early social environments affect children’s consideration of gender, 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 80) enrolled in gender-neutral or typical preschool programs in the central district of a large Swedish city completed measures designed to assess their gender-based social preferences, stereotypes, and automatic encoding. Compared with children in typical preschools, a greater proportion of children in the gender-neutral school were interested in playing with unfamiliar other-gender children. In addition, children attending the gender-neutral preschool scored lower on a gender stereotyping measure than children attending typical preschools. Children at the gender-neutral school, however, were not less likely to automatically encode others’ gender. The findings suggest that gender-neutral pedagogy has moderate effects on how children think and feel about people of different genders but might not affect children’s tendency to spontaneously notice gender.

Early preschool environments and gender: Effects of gender pedagogy in Sweden

Article

Oct 2017

The increasingly important role of science competency beliefs for science learning in girls: THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF SCIENCE COMPETENCY BELIEFS

Article

Mar 2017
J RES SCI TEACH

The number of women studying STEM careers and pursuing graduate degrees has not changed in the last decade (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2015; Science & Engineering Degree Attainment: 2004–2014). Most prior research to explain this problem has focused on the topics of identity, access, pedagogy, and choice (Brotman & Moore, 2008; Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45, 971–1002). Additional research is needed on how internal and external factors interact with one another to demotivate girls and young women from pursuing science careers. Here, we show how girls’ competency beliefs are an essential foundation for science content learning during middle school and how these effects of competency beliefs are mediated by in and out-of-school factors. We recruited over 2,900 6th and 8th grade students from two different regions in the United States. At two different time points, students completed surveys asking about their stance toward science such as competency beliefs in science, willingness to engage in argumentation, and choice preferences toward optional science experiences. We also collected a reasoning ability measure, and pre- and post-tests on science content knowledge. Moreover, students also reported on their cognitive behavioral engagement during a sampled science class on two separate occasions. Multiple regression and mediation analyses show that as boys grow older, their willingness to engage in argumentation and to participate in science experiences suppresses the role of competency beliefs on their learning science content. By contrast, as girls grew older, they showed an increasing need to have high competency beliefs to achieve strong content learning gains. Our results demonstrate that despite girls’ willingness to participate in scientific argumentation and to take part in science experiences, they probably do not receive enough support in their environment to access the benefits of these experiences, and hence they have a stronger need to have high competency beliefs in order to achieve significant growth in science learning. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 9999:XX–XX, 2017

Pink or blue? The impact of gender cues on brand perceptions

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2016
EUR J MARKETING

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate whether, how and why gender cues influence brand perception and subsequent purchasing behaviour. Design/methodology/approach Across four experimental studies conducted online with either a convenience sample (Studies 1a and 1b) or a representative sample of consumers (Studies 2 and 3), the authors empirically investigate whether gender cues impact brand perception along dimensions of warmth and competence and how other warmth and competence cues in a consumer environment moderate the effect of gender cues on consumer brand perceptions. Findings Gender cues (e.g. gender-typed colours and shapes) activate gender-stereotypical knowledge of warmth and competence, which spills over to the brand. This effect depends on the presence of other competence cues in a consumer’s environment. In contrast to conventional practice, in the presence of a high competence cue (e.g. reputable brands), feminine gender cues enhance purchase likelihood (via activation of warmth perceptions), whereas masculine cues actually decrease purchase likelihood. In contrast, in the presence of a low competence cue (e.g. new companies), masculine gender cues enhance purchase likelihood (via activation of competence perceptions), whereas feminine cues lower purchase likelihood. Research limitations/implications The authors used an experimental approach to explicitly test for causality and isolate the effect of gender cues in a controlled setting. Future research should further address the implication of gender cues using actual sales data. Practical implications Reputable companies often explicitly use cues to highlight their competence. The results of this research suggest that managers may want to reconsider this approach. That is, marketers of brands with established high competence should consider integrating more feminine cues to highlight their warmth, such as feminine shapes (e.g. circles and ovals) or feminine colours (e.g. a shade of pink) in their packaging and marketing communication. In contrast, companies that have not established their competence or not-for-profit organisations would be better off integrating masculine cues. Originality/value This is the first research to empirically investigate the effect of gender cues on brand perception and subsequent purchase behaviour. Not only does this research show that gender cues can alter brand perception along the warmth and competence perception but also the authors address the call to identify conditions under which warmth versus competence cues enhance brand perception and purchase likelihood (Aaker et al., 2010). In particular, this research demonstrates how multiple warmth and competence cues interact with each other.

Brand perception: Influence of gender cues on dimensions of warmth and competence

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2012
Adv Consum Res

Today's challenge for advertisers is to increase positive brand perception and influence consumers with increasingly low attention spans. Advertisers must find ways to convey the right brand image in a short time and with the restricted mental resources of the consumer. One potential solution is to utilize stereotypes because people activate stereotypes in less than milliseconds, almost automatically (Bargh 1997). Hence, activating stereotype knowledge may influence desired brand perceptions automatically and effectively. Most stereotypes fall between two robust fundamental dimensions: warmth and competence (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, and Xu 2002; Fiske et al. 2007). Aaker, Vohs and Mogilner (2010) examined these dimensions and found that people perceive non-profit organizations as warmer than for-profit, but as less competent. Furthermore, perceived competence, rather than warmth influences purchasing behavior. Aaker et al.'s (2010) research shows that the warmth and competence dimensions influence marketplace decision making. Our study therefore aims to find ways to increase warmth/competence of a brand via subtle cues. Towards this we investigate whether utilizing gender stereotypes in the product description influences the warmth/competence perception of a brand. Further, we investigate how the perception of warmth/competence influences purchasing behavior depending on a product's gender (Fugate and Phillips, 2010). Specifically, we seek conditions where warmth influences purchasing behavior.

Boys’ and girls’ shared activities in the school context: Towards a theory of collaborative play. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 14(5-6), 391-409.

Data

Full-text available

Aug 2014

Pirkko Tellervo Siklander

“What Kind of Person Do You Want to Become?”: Analyzing Young Children’s Drawings on Gender Ideals

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022
Early Child Educ J

This study explores South Korean kindergarteners’ drawings on gender ideals in order to understand how they perceive the ideal man and woman with respect to gender. The data were collected based on drawings and interviews of 189 children aged 5–6 years in South Korea. The researchers identified themes using qualitative content analysis. Overall, the results showed that South Korean kindergarteners exhibited gender-stereotyped perceptions of occupations, appearances, roles/values, and visual features in their human figure drawings. Gender ideals were also influenced by pop culture. Additionally, this study found that some children possess gender ideals that are gender-neutral and prosocial rather than stereotypical. The significance of this study lies in gaining deeper understanding of young children’s gender development and in providing approaches for early childhood educators to promote views of gender diversity.

#LearningGender – Media Representations of Gender and Their Effects on Gender Socialisation

Chapter

Jun 2022

Children’s perceptions of scientists and their work: The ‘Draw a Scientist’ Test in the United Arab Emirates

Article

May 2022

Sampling students in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, we explored possible stereotypes of scientists and their work which may exist, and which may impact upon future career aspirations. Characteristics of scientists were identified and analysed from 234 drawings collected from upper primary aged students. Students tended to draw youthful scientists of their own gender, with stereotypical characteristics, such as wearing a lab coat, performing chemistry experiments and working alone in a lab. Unexpectedly, there were even fewer references to technology use in science than in similar studies carried out in the 1980s. We had anticipated that some elements of UAE national dress would be observed in drawings, since the majority of students were UAE Nationals, but no UAE cultural references were evident in the drawings at all. The findings suggest that work needs to be undertaken in UAE classrooms to increase perceptions of diversity of science work and scientists themselves.

The effects of gendered information in stories on preschool children’s development of gender stereotypes

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2020

Social‐cognitive theory posits that children learn gender stereotypes through gendered information. The present study examined whether children learn new gender stereotypes from stories when unknown words are linked to a gendered protagonist or context information. In Experiment 1, 40 3‐ to 6‐year‐old preschoolers were read stories with either a gendered protagonist embedded within a non‐gendered context, or a non‐gendered protagonist embedded within a gendered context. In Experiment 2, the same sample of children were read stories with the protagonist and the context displaying congruent or incongruent gender information. Each story featured an unknown activity linked with the stereotypical content. Both experiments indicate that the children rated the activity according to both the gender of the context and of the protagonist; however, the effect of the latter was stronger. In addition, children showed higher interest in the unknown activity if the protagonist’s gender matched their own sex. Thus, gender information in stories influences how children perceive unknown words.

How Preschoolers Associate Power with Gender in Male-Female Interactions: A Cross-Cultural Investigation

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2020
SEX ROLES

Interactions between males and females often display a power imbalance. Men tend to adopt more dominant physical postures, lead conversations more, and are more likely to impose their will on women than vice versa. Furthermore, social representations typically associate males with a higher power than females. However, little is known about how those representations emerge in early childhood. The present study investigated whether preschool children from different countries assign more power to males than to females in the context of mixed-gender interactions. In Experiments 1a (n = 148) and 1b (n = 403), which implemented power through body postures, 4–6 year-old children from France, Lebanon, and Norway strongly associated power with a male character. Experiment 2 (n = 160) showed that although both French boys and girls identified themselves more with a dominant than with a subordinate posture, girls were less likely to do so in a mixed-gender context. In Experiment 3 (n = 213), which no longer used body postures, boys from Lebanon and France attributed more decision power and resource control to a male puppet than did girls. By investigating gender representations through interactions, the present study shows that children associate gender and power at an early age.

Ein theoretischer und empirischer Überblick über die Entwicklung von Stereotypen und ihre Konsequenzen im Schulkontext

Chapter

Jan 2020

Im folgenden Kapitel wird ein Überblick über aktuelle psychologische Forschungsliteratur zur Entwicklung von Stereotypen im Kindes- und Jugendalter und ihren Konsequenzen im Schulkontext gegeben. Dabei werden zunächst die zentralen Begriffe definiert. Dann wird ein Überblick über drei zentrale Theorien zur Entstehung von Stereotypen bei Kindern gegeben. Im Anschluss wird ausführlich dargestellt in welchem Alter Kinder beginnen, soziale Kategorien und damit zusammenhängende Eigenschaften (Stereotype) zu verstehen und anzuwenden. Ausgehend von der Entwicklung von Stereotypen bei Kindern und Erwachsenen wird dann auf die Konsequenzen von Stereotypen im schulischen Kontext eingegangen. Dabei werden besonders die negativen Konsequenzen von Stereotypen auf die akademische Leistung, das Zugehörigkeitsgefühl zur Schule und die akademische und soziale Motivation dargestellt. Abschließend wird basierend auf aktuellen Forschungsergebnissen diskutiert, wie Stereotype und ihr (negativer) Einfluss im Schulkontext reduziert werden können.

What Do Group Members Share? The Privileged Status of Cultural Knowledge for Children

Article

Oct 2019

Gaye Soley

An essential aspect of forming representations of social groups is to recognize socially relevant attributes licensed by the group membership. Because knowledge of cultural practices tends to be transmitted through social contact within social groups, it is one of the fundamental attributes shared among members of a social group. Two experiments explored whether 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds selectively attribute shared cultural knowledge on the basis of group membership of agents. Using novel social groups, children were introduced to one target agent and two other agents, one of which belonged to the same group as the target and one belonged to a different group. Children were then asked who would know or like same things as the target agent. The results showed that children expect group members to know the same songs, whereas they do not necessarily expect them to like the same songs or know the same generic facts. These findings suggest that children are remarkably selective in the attributions they make based on social group membership and from early on, they expect social group membership and cultural knowledge to be closely linked.

The brightness dimension as a marker of gender across cultures and age

Preprint

Jun 2019

Universally, female skin color is lighter than male skin color, irrespective of geographical location. This difference is a distinctive and universal adaptive pattern that emerges after puberty. We address whether this sexual dimorphism is cognitively and culturally represented to ground gender. To this end, we examine a non-Western, non-industrialized population, namely the Wichí (Salta, Argentina) and a Western industrialized population (Spain). The two cultural populations included both adults and prepubescent children. Across two experiments, we utilized a novel task with children and adults who had to make a choice for a female (male) target person between two identical objects that differed only in terms of their brightness. The results in both experiments revealed that the children from the two cultural communities choose a lighter colored object for the female target and a darker version of the same object for the male target. This pattern held across cultures irrespective of the age of participants, except for the male Wichí participants. We discuss how sexual dimorphism in skin color contributes to a universal grounding of the gender category, and advance possible explanations as to why Wichi males did not consistently link gender and brightness.

The brightness dimension as a marker of gender across cultures and age

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2020
PSYCHOL RES-PSYCH FO

Children and Adults Selectively Attribute Shared Cultural Knowledge to Speakers of the Same Language

Article

Oct 2018

Children's and adults’ attributions of shared knowledge of and shared preference for songs were investigated across two prominent social categories: language and gender. Both attributions indicate similarity among individuals but shared cultural knowledge can be more informative about common social history than shared preference, as it is mainly transferred through social interactions within cultures, while preferences can have various sources. Both 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 60) and adults (N = 160) generalized knowledge of songs across individuals who speak the same‐language rather than same‐gender individuals. In contrast, preference for songs was not systematically generalized across either category. Thus, individuals selectively infer shared cultural knowledge among same‐language speakers, suggesting an early emerging link between shared knowledge and cultural boundaries.

The influence of prior visual gender and action cues versus long-term knowledge in (situated) language processing

Thesis

Full-text available

Jun 2018

Alba Rodriguez

Studies on situated language comprehension (i.e., comprehension in rich visual contexts), have shown that the comprehender makes use of different information sources in order to establish visual reference and to visually anticipate entities in a scene while understanding language (reflecting expectations on what might be mentioned next). Semantics and world-knowledge (i.e., experiential, long-term knowledge) are among these sources. For instance, when listening to a sentence like The girl will ride..., the comprehender will likely anticipate an object that a girl could ride, e.g., a carrousel, rather than other objects, such as a motorbike (Kamide, Altmann, & Haywood, 2003). However, following the inspection of events (featuring agents acting upon objects or patients), comprehenders have so far shown a preference to visually anticipate the agents or objects that have been seen as part of those prior events (i.e., recent event preference or the preference for eventbased representations; Abashidze, Carminati, & Knoeferle, 2014; Knoeferle, Carminati, Abashidze, & Essig, 2011). This preference emerged even when other plausible objects or better stereotypically fitting agents were present. Although the preference for event-based information over other sources (e.g., plausibility or stereotypicality) seems to be strong and has been accommodated in accounts of situated language comprehension (Knoeferle & Crocker, 2006, 2007), its nature when comprehenders generate expectations is still unspecified. Crucially, the preference for recent events has not been generalized from action events to other types of information in the visual and linguistic contexts. To further examine this issue, this thesis investigated the role of a particular type of information during situated language comprehension under the influence of prior events, namely, visual gender and action cues and knowledge about gender stereotypes. As many studies in the field of psycholinguistics have highlighted, gender (both a biological and a social feature of human beings) is relevant in language comprehension (e.g., grammatical gender can serve to track reference in discourse, and gender-stereotype knowledge can bias our interpretation of a sentence). However, little psycholinguistic research has examined the comprehension of gender information in a visual context. We argue that gender is worth exploring in a paradigm where prior event representations can be pitted against long-term knowledge. Not only that, inspired by experiments using mismatch designs, we wanted to see how the visual attention of the comprehender might be affected as a function of referential incongruencies (i.e., mismatches between visual events and linguistic information, e.g., Knoeferle, Urbach, & Kutas, 2014; Vissers, Kolk, Van de Meerendonk, & Chwilla, 2008; Wassenaar & Hagoort, 2007) and incongruences at the level of worldknowledge (i.e., gender stereotypes; e.g., Duffy & Keir, 2004; Kreiner, Sturt, & Garrod, 2008). By doing so, we could get insights into how both types of sources (event-based information and gender-stereotype knowledge from language) are used, i.e., whether one is more important than the other or if both are equally exploited in situated language comprehension. We conducted three eye-tracking, visual-world experiments and one EEG experiment. In all of these experiments, participants saw events taking place prior to sentence comprehension, i.e., videos of (female or male) hands acting upon objects. In the eye-tracking experiments, following the videos, a visual scene appeared with the faces of two potential agents: one male and one female1. While the agent matching the gender features from prior events (i.e., the hands) was considered as the target agent, the other potential agent, whose gender was not cued in previous events, was the competitor agent. The visual scene in Experiment 3 further included the images of two objects; one was the target object (i.e., the object that appeared in prior events), while the other was a competitor object with opposite stereotypical valence. During the presentation of this scene, an OVS sentence was presented (e.g., translation from German: ‘The cakeNP1/obj bakesV soonADV SusannaNP2/subj’). We used the non-canonical OVS word order as opposed to SVO (more commonly used in prior research, e.g., Knoeferle, Carminati, et al., 2011) precisely to examine participants’ expectations towards the agent, who was mentioned at final position. We manipulated two factors. One factor was the match between prior visual events and language: there were action-verb(-phrase) mismatches in Experiments 1 and 3, and mismatches between the gender of the hands and the final subject (i.e., the proper name) in Experiments 2 and 4. The second manipulation, present in Experiments 1 to 3, was the match between the stereotypical valence of the described actions/events in the sentence and the target agent’s gender. In the eye-tracking experiments, we measured participants’ visual attention towards the agents’ faces during sentence comprehension. In the EEG experiment, we measured ERP responses time-locked to the final, proper name region (i.e., Susanna). Participants’ task was to verify via button press whether the sentence matched the events they just saw. In line with prior research, our results support the idea that the preference for event-based representations generalizes to another cue, i.e., gender features from the hands of an agent during prior events. Participants generally preferred to look at the target agent compared to the competitor. These results also suggest that the recent-event preference does not just rely on representations of full objects, agents and events, but also subtler (gender) features that serve to identify feature-matching targets during comprehension (i.e., faces of agents are inspected based on the gender features from hands seen in prior events). This preference is however modulated by mismatches in language, i.e., whenever the actions described or the gender implied by the final noun in the sentence were at odds with prior events, attention towards the target agent was reduced. In addition, the scene configuration of Experiment 3 gave rise to gender stereotypicality effects, which had not yet been found in prior studies using a similar design. Participants looked at the target agent (vs. the competitor) to a greater extent when the action described by the sentence stereotypically matched (vs. mismatched) them. As for the electrophysiological response towards mismatches between event-based gender cues and language, we found a biphasic ERP response, which suggests that this type of verification requires two semantically-induced stages of processing. This response had commonalities both with some effects found in strictly linguistic/discourse contexts but also with previously observed mismatch effects in picture-sentence verification studies (i.e., role relation and action mismatches; Knoeferle et al., 2014), which suggests that a similar (perhaps a single) processing mechanism might be involved in several visuolinguistic relations. In sum, our results using gender and action cues from prior events and long-term knowledge call for a more refined consideration of the different aspects involved in (situated) language comprehension. On the one hand, existing accounts need to accommodate further reconciliations/verifications of visuolinguistic relations (e.g., roles, actions, gender features, etc.). When it comes to listeners generating expectations during comprehension while inspecting the visual world, we further suggest that a weighted system (i.e., a system indexing the strength of the expectation and how different information sources contribute to it; also suggested in Münster, 2016) applies for gender information. Not only event-based representations, but also different discrepancies between these representations and language and, depending on the concurrent visual scene configuration, long-term knowledge (e.g., pertaining to gender stereotypes), can affect weighted expectations. Biosocial aspects such as gender may be of particular interest to answer some of the open questions in how situated language comprehension works, as these aspects can be found and manipulated at different levels of communication (e.g., the comprehender, the speaker, the linguistic content, etc.).

Flexibility of Gender Stereotypes: Italian Study on Comparative Gender-consistent and Gender-inconsistent Information

Article

Full-text available

May 2018

The topic of this study is flexibility in gender stereotyping linked to attribution of toys, socio-cognitive traits, and occupations in 160 Italian children aged 6 to 12 years. We used the Gender Toys Choice, the Gender Traits Choice, and the Gender Jobs Choice, a selected set of colored cards containing masculine and feminine stimuli to assign to a male or female or both male and female silhouette (the flexible-choice technique). In order to verify the change of flexibility in gender stereotyping, we made use of four cartoon stories with male and female characters with typical or atypical traits and performing gender-consistent or gender-inconsistent activities. Results indicated that the exposure to cartoon stories with gender-inconsistent information rather than cartoon stories with gender-consistent information increased flexibility in gender stereotyping, showing age differences in favor of children aged 11-12. Implications in relation to the developmental-constructivist approach were noted.

Vénus et Mars dans l'univers ludique des enfants. Les stéréotypes de genre chez les jeunes enfants : questions développementales. In Klein, O. et Pohl, S. (Ed.). Psychologie des stéréotypes et des préjugés. Bruxelles: L'Harmatan.

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2014

Lotta De Coster

From a very young age, the letters children address to Santa Claus conform to a stereotypical image of girls and boys. Girls want a doll, a pram or an iron while boys ask for a car, a fire truck or a robot. Do we give girls dolls and boys little cars because they love it or do they like these toys because we offer them? It is difficult to give a clear answer to this question. After a definition of the concepts involved, this article first proposes to study the development of sexually stereotyped knowledge, attitudes and behavior in children by referring to various theoretical perspectives: psychodynamic theories, as well as social learning and cognitive-developmental theories. In a second time, we tackle gender stereotypes in child's "play world" (toys, playmates, games). The review of various empirical research shows various aspects of gender stereotypes. These affective, cognitive, behavioral and social aspects appear to be linked in their development.

Le développement des stéréotypes de genre chez les enfants.

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2006

Lotta De Coster

Dès un très jeune âge, les lettres des enfants adressées à Saint-Nicolas et les commandes formulées au Père Noël sont conformes à une image stéréotypée du féminin et du masculin. Les petites filles souhaitent une poupée, un landau ou un fer à repasser alors que les garçons demandent une voiture, un camion de pompier ou un robot. Offrons-nous des poupées aux filles et des petites voitures aux garçons parce qu'ils adorent ça ou apprécient-ils ces jouets parce que nous leur en offrons ? Il est difficile de donner une réponse claire à cette question. Après une définition des concepts impliqués, cet article se propose dans un premier temps d'étudier le développement des connaissances, des attitudes et des comportements sexuellement stéréotypés chez les enfants en faisant référence à diverses perspectives théoriques : la théorie psychanalytique, la théorie de l'apprentissage social et la théorie 2 cognitivo-développementale. Dans un deuxième temps, il s'intéresse aux stéréotypes sexuels dans l'univers ludique (jouets, compagnons de jeu). La revue de différentes recherches empiriques permet de montrer divers aspects des stéréotypes de sexe, aspects tant affectifs que cognitifs, tant comportementaux que sociaux, qui apparaissent liés dans leur développement.

Gender Labels on Gender-Neutral Colors: Do They Affect Children’s Color Preferences and Play Performance?

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2018
SEX ROLES

Gender-typed color preferences are widely documented, and there has been increasing concern that they affect children’s play preferences. However, it is unclear whether such color preferences exist across cultures, how they have emerged, and how gender color-coding affects performance. Chinese preschoolers (n = 126) aged 59 to 94 months were tested. First, we assessed their gender- typed color preferences using forced-choice tasks with color cards and pictures of neutral toys in gender-typed colors. Second, we tested if gender labels could affect color preferences by labeling two gender-neutral colors as gender-typed and assessed children’s liking for them using a rating task and a forced-choice task with pictures of neutral toys in the labeled colors. Third, we assigned children a tangram puzzle (i.e., a puzzle using geometric pieces) painted either in the gender-appropriate or gender-inappropriate color and measured the number of pieces they completed and their speed. Results showed that Chinese children exhibited the same gender- typed color preferences as Western children did. Moreover, applying gender labels amplified a gender difference in color preferences, thus providing direct and strong evidence for the social- cognitive pathway underlying gender-typed preferences. Finally, color-coding as gender- appropriate or -inappropriate had no impact on performance but the gender labels improved boys’ performance. These results add to knowledge on how gender-related information affects children’s responses to the social world and suggest that the current gender color divide should be reconsidered. View-only full text: http://rdcu.be/D5XW Springer media news on the study: http://www.springer.com/gp/about-springer/media/research-news/all-english-research-news/pretty-in-pink-and-boisterous-in-blue-/15327536

Gender, interest, and prior experience shape opportunities to learn programming in robotics competitions

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2016

Background Robotics competitions are increasingly popular and potentially provide an on-ramp to computer science, which is currently highly gender imbalanced. However, within competitive robotics teams, student participation in programming is not universal. This study gathered surveys from over 500 elementary, middle, and high school robotics competition participants to examine (1) whether programming involvement in these competitions is associated with motivation to pursue additional programming experiences and (2) whether opportunities to learn programming varied by gender, age, and competition type. ResultsResults showed a significant association of students’ programming involvement with their motivation to learn more programming. Interestingly, in the youngest groups/entry-level competitions, girls were heavily involved in programming. Unfortunately, in older/more advanced competitions, girls were generally less involved in programming, even after controlling for prior programming experience. These gendered effects were substantially explained by programming interest. Conclusions While robotics competition experiences may motivate students to learn more programming, gender gaps in programming involvement persist in these learning environments and appear to widen as students grow older and enter more advanced competitions. Therefore, addressing gender imbalances in programming will likely require greater attention to particular curricular and pedagogical characteristics of robotics competitions that support girls’ interest and involvement in programming.

New toys for tots: What preschoolers identify as « boy and girl toys »

Article

Jul 2006

Interaction with toys can be seen as the gateway to many aspects of children's socialization and cognitive development in early childhood. The present study examined the reasoning of two-to five-year-old boys' and girls' classifications of toy pictures. A total of 47 children were shown male, female, neutral, and ambiguous toy pictures and asked to identify « boy » and « girl » toys and to comment why they had made these choices. The preschoolers showed differential stereotyping by age groups and gender. Older children and boys held stronger gender stereotype preferences than younger children and girls. Boys were more likely to identify neutral and ambiguous toys as male toys whereas girls did not differ in their classification of neutral toys. The most common reason for associating a neutral and male toy with a particular sex was gender association, whereas for ambiguous toys, preschoolers made decisions based on color and their interest in playing with the toy. No clear pattern emerged for female toys.

Affecting Girls’ Activity and Job Interests Through Play: The Moderating Roles of Personal Gender Salience and Game Characteristics

Article

Nov 2015
CHILD DEV

Gender schema theory (GST) posits that children approach opportunities perceived as gender appropriate, avoiding those deemed gender inappropriate, in turn affecting gender-differentiated career trajectories. To test the hypothesis that children's gender salience filters (GSF-tendency to attend to gender) moderate these processes, 62 preschool girls (M = 4.5 years) were given GSF measures. Two weeks later, they played a computer game about occupations that manipulated the game-character's femininity (hyperfeminized Barbie vs. less feminized Playmobil Jane). Following game play, girls' interests in feminine activities showed an interaction of game condition and GSF: High-GSF girls showed intensified feminine activity interests only with Barbie; low-GSF girls showed no change with either character. Neither GSF nor game condition affected occupational interests. Implications for GST, individual differences, and occupational interventions are discussed.

The development of implicit gender attitudes

Article

Aug 2015
DEVELOPMENTAL SCI

The development course of implicit and explicit gender attitudes between the ages of 5 and adulthood is investigated. Findings demonstrate that implicit and explicit own-gender preferences emerge early in both boys and girls, but implicit own-gender preferences are stronger in young girls than boys. In addition, female participants' attitudes remain largely stable over development, whereas male participants' implicit and explicit attitudes show an age-related shift towards increasing female positivity. Gender attitudes are an anomaly in that social evaluations dissociate from social status, with both male and female participants tending to evaluate female more positively than male. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Preferences for Pink and Blue: The Development of Color Preferences as a Distinct Gender-Typed Behavior in Toddlers

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2015
ARCH SEX BEHAV

Many gender differences are thought to result from interactions between inborn factors and sociocognitive processes that occur after birth. There is controversy, however, over the causes of gender-typed preferences for the colors pink and blue, with some viewing these preferences as arising solely from sociocognitive processes of gender development. We evaluated preferences for gender-typed colors, and compared them to gender-typed toy and activity preferences in 126 toddlers on two occasions separated by 6-8 months (at Time 1, M = 29 months; range 20-40). Color preferences were assessed using color cards and neutral toys in gender-typed colors. Gender-typed toy and activity preferences were assessed using a parent-report questionnaire, the Preschool Activities Inventory. Color preferences were also assessed for the toddlers' parents using color cards. A gender difference in color preferences was present between 2 and 3 years of age and strengthened near the third birthday, at which time it was large (d > 1). In contrast to their parents, toddlers' gender-typed color preferences were stronger and unstable. Gender-typed color preferences also appeared to establish later and were less stable than gender-typed toy and activity preferences. Gender-typed color preferences were largely uncorrelated with gender-typed toy and activity preferences. These results suggest that the factors influencing gender-typed color preferences and gender-typed toy and activity preferences differ in some respects. Our findings suggest that sociocognitive influences and play with gender-typed toys that happen to be made in gender-typed colors contribute to toddlers' gender-typed color preferences.

Grammatical Gender Affects Bilinguals' Conceptual Gender: Implications for Linguistic Relativity and Decision Making GRAMMATICAL GENDER AFFECTS BILINGUALS' CONCEPTUAL GENDER: IMPLICATIONS FOR LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY AND DECISION MAK- ING

Article

We used a non-linguistic gender attribution task to determine how French and Spanish grammatical gender af-fects bilinguals' conceptual gender. French-English and Spanish-English bilingual, as well as English monolingual adults were asked to assign a male or female voice to 32 color drawings depicting people, animals, and common objects. French-English and Spanish-English bilinguals classified items according to French and Spanish grammatical gender respec-tively. This effect was replicated for French-English bilinguals on those items whose grammatical gender was opposite in French and Spanish. Unexpectedly, Spanish gender similarly affected classifications by Spanish-English and English-Spanish bilinguals, as well as English monolinguals. We discuss how grammatical gender, possible covariates, and the or-der of L1 and L2 acquisition, affect conceptual gender as well as implications for decision making.

Effects of Gender Color-Coding on Toddlers’ Gender-Typical Toy Play

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2014
ARCH SEX BEHAV

Gender color-coding of children's toys may make certain toys more appealing or less appealing to a given gender. We observed toddlers playing with two gender-typical toys (a train, a doll), once in gender-typical colors and once in gender-atypical colors. Assessments occurred twice, at 20-40 months of age and at 26-47 months of age. A Sex × Time × Toy × Color ANOVA showed expected interactions between Sex and Toy and Sex and Color. Boys played more with the train than girls did and girls played more with the doll and with pink toys than boys did. The Sex × Toy × Color interaction was not significant, but, at both time points, boys and girls combined played more with the gender-atypical toy when its color was typical for their sex than when it was not. This effect appeared to be caused largely by boys' preference for, or avoidance of, the doll and by the use of pink. Also, at both time points, gender differences in toy preferences were larger in the gender-typical than in the gender-atypical color condition. At Time 2, these gender differences were present only in the gender-typical color condition. Overall, the results suggest that, once acquired, gender-typical color preferences begin to influence toy preferences, especially those for gender-atypical toys and particularly in boys. They thus could enlarge differences between boys' and girls' toy preferences. Because boys' and girls' toys elicit different activities, removing the gender color-coding of toys could encourage more equal learning opportunities.

Gender-stereotypical attribution of fear and fearlessness in preschool children

Article

Dec 2024
BRIT J DEV PSYCHOL

Fear and fearlessness are two distinct emotional responses that can occur when a person faces a potentially dangerous situation. These responses seem to be linked to gender stereotypes (fearful female and fearless male). This study examines whether preschool children attribute fear and fearlessness stereotypically in relation to gender and whether their attributions vary as a function of age and gender. One hundred and twenty children (60 boys and 60 girls) aged 3, 4 and 5 years participated in this study. We examined children's gender‐stereotypical performance through emotional scenarios and drawing tasks involving fear and fearlessness conditions. The results showed that children's performance was equally stereotypical in the two conditions. An age effect was found: children's gender stereotypical attributions increased with age. The results showed no differences in children's stereotypical performance in regards to their gender and task type (emotional scenarios and drawing tasks). The significance and implications of these findings are discussed in the context of gender‐emotion stereotypes.

Man up! The mental health‐feminine stereotype and its effect on the adoption of mental health apps

Article

Jan 2024

Mental illnesses are among the most frequent health conditions worldwide, affecting both men and women. However, we find that men are more likely than women to avoid adopting mobile apps that are designed to promote users' mental health. Building on previous research that men are often more motivated than women to behave in gender‐congruent ways, we suggest that there exists a mental health‐feminine stereotype that acts as an obstacle to men's adoption of mental health apps. Privacy and self‐help features offered by digital mental health apps are insufficient to overcome the mental health‐stereotype that deter men from pursuing mental health support. Across five studies, we show that consumers feel more feminine when adopting mental health apps, and perceive others who adopt mental health apps to be more feminine than those who do not. We also show that presenting mental health apps in a masculine frame increases the likelihood of men adopting mental health apps, especially those with stronger adherence to traditional masculinity ideology.

Social cognition and Relevance: How stereotypes impact the processing of definite and indefinite descriptions

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023

This paper focuses on the impact of social cognition on thes processing of linguistic information. More specifically, it brings some insights to Relevance theory's construal of MeaningNN, which seeks to account for non-propositional meanings. It shows, through two experiments, how gender and nationality-related stereotypes guide the processing of definite and indefinite descriptions. Experiment 1 consists of a self-paced reading task (with 59 French native speakers), introducing information confirming vs. violating gender stereotypes within a nominal phrase (NP). The NP (e.g., “chirurgien/chirurgienne”, “surgeonmale/female”) was itself introduced either by a definite article (presupposition) or an indefinite article (assertion). Results showed that information violating gender stereotypes was costlier to process than stereotype-congruent information. Moreover, when information violated gender stereotypes, definite descriptions became significantly costlier than indefinite ones, because they required the identification of a salient referent which contradicted stereotypical expectations. Experiment 2 tested the effects of definite vs. indefinite NP on processing nationality-related stereotypes in a self-paced reading task (with 49 French native speakers). Participants read definite vs. indefinite NPs referring to representatives of a country. The NP was subsequently paired with information that confirmed vs. contradicted nationality stereotypes. Results showed that information contradicting nationality stereotypes were significantly costlier to process than information confirming stereotypes. Furthermore, when information contradicted nationality stereotypes, indefinite descriptions (which promote a single occurrence reading) failed to facilitate information processing compared to definite descriptions (which promote a generalized representation of the social category). Overall, the present findings are consistent with research on stereotypes, in that they show that stereotype-incongruent information affect sentence processing. Importantly, while Experiment 1 revealed that stereotypes affected the processing of linguistic markers, Experiment 2 suggested that linguistic markers could not modulate the processing of stereotypes.

The MCH Project Intervention Effects on Infant and Maternal Mortality in Bangladesh

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2008

Like other developing countries of the world IMR and MMR are reducing in Bangladesh. But these are still alarming in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas and in the poorest section of the country. This study investigated the impact of the maternal and child healthcare MCH) project on infant and maternal mortality using the data collected by MCH. Our analyses and findings indicated that both IMR and MMR are reduced significantly due to the project intervention. We also found the clear difference between project intervened and non-intervened beneficiaries due to pregnancy awareness training from MCH. The factors that cause maternal morbidity and death also affect the survival chances of the foetus and infant. In the present study we also indicated the dominating causes of high IMR and MMR in Bangladesh. High rates of maternal deaths occur in the same countries that have high rates of infant mortality reflecting generally lack of knowledge and medical care.

Measuring Implicit Gender Stereotypes Using the Preschool Auditory Stroop

Article

Dec 2021

Numerous studies suggest that by elementary school, children have implicit and explicit gender stereotypes about the toys, activities, roles, and abilities associated with boys vs. girls. Furthermore, these stereotypes have been shown to affect children’s goals and behaviors, leading them to pursue activities that are associated with their own gender and avoid those that are not. The majority of previous research examining the development of children’s implicit gender stereotypes has used the Implicit Association Test, which measures two associations simultaneously. Thus, it is often unclear which association is driving children’s gender stereotypes, which hampers the ability to effectively target harmful associations for bias change. The current research uses the Preschool Auditory Stroop, an adaptation of the Auditory Stroop, to measure distinct implicit gender stereotypes in three to seven-year-old children. Across two studies, the first using human voices and the second using computer-generated voices, children were faster to respond when female-stereotypical words were paired with female voices and male-stereotypical words were paired with male voices. These results indicate that children have implicit gender stereotypes as early as age three. Furthermore, results suggested that the magnitude of these implicit gender stereotypes was comparable across our age range. This study indicates that implicit gender stereotypes are present in children as young as three, and results suggest that this methodology can be used in future research to chart the trajectory of distinct implicit gender stereotypes across development.

Traditional Gender Attitudes, Nativism, and Support for the Radical Right

Article

Nov 2021

Olyvia R. Christley

Using data from the 2017 European Values Study, I analyze the link between harboring traditional gender attitudes and supporting radical right-wing parties. I theorize that the intrinsically gendered elements of the radical right's platforms and rhetoric, which mirror traditional masculinity and femininity in both explicit and implicit ways, make the ideology a comfortable home for individuals who hold traditional gender attitudes. My analyses reveal that gender traditionalists are more likely than egalitarians to express support for the radical right, even after controlling for a host of existing explanations. The same impact is not replicated for mainstream conservative parties. In addition, holding more gender-traditional attitudes raises the probability of supporting the radical right among both nativists and non-nativists. These findings provide important evidence that gender attitudes seemingly constitute a significant pathway to support for the radical right across Europe.

Gender Diversity in Peer Relations: Best Research Practices and Marshalling Peer Influence

Article

Jul 2021
J APPL DEV PSYCHOL

Young people are challenging gender to expand beyond a male/female binary, yet research practices still lag behind these conceptions. This call-to-action paper will review the traditional conceptualizations of gender as prevalent in peer relations research, contrasted with modern approaches from scholars studying gender and sexual orientation diversity, and outline how youth are challenging binary conceptualizations. We provide recommended best practices to sensitively bridge this gap, including: using open responses where possible, and two-step closed-ended question formats where necessary, to measure gender identity; considering the context and role that gender identity and each of its facets might play in the research design; and preserving underrepresented groups even though they may be small. We close by exploring the ways in which the power of peer socialization can be (and likely currently are being) harnessed to support the ever-changing, diverse gender identities emergent in today's youth, and provide questions for future research.

Yaşam Boyu Toplumsal Cinsiyet Rollerinin Gelişimi [Lifespan Development of Gender Roles]

Article

Full-text available

May 2021

Günümüzde hemen hemen her çocuk, cinsiyet rollerinin sosyal olarak inşa edildiği bir topluma doğmakta ve bu roller bazında ayrıştırılmış bir dünyada büyümektedir. Bebeklik ve çocukluk dönemi boyunca sosyalleştirme sürecinde rol oynayan aile, arkadaş, medya gibi faktörlerin etkisiyle çocuklar, toplum tarafından belirlenen ve uyum göstermeleri beklenen cinsiyet rollerini öğrenmektedir. Bu doğrultuda cinsiyet farklılıklarına bakıldığında, kız çocukları daha baskıcı yaklaşımlarla karşılaşmakta ve onların, oğlan çocuklarına göre daha uysal, boyun eğen, uyumlu, duygularını gösteren, ilişkilere önem veren bir biçimde davranmaları istenmektedir. Öte yandan oğlan çocukları ise baskın, güçlü, bağımsız ve duygu kontrolüne sahip olarak yetiştirilmekte ve her koşulda bu doğrultuda davranmaları beklenmektedir. Bebeklikten ergenliğe bu öğretilerle sosyalleştirilen çocuklar, kendi ebeveynlerinin sergilediği cinsiyet rollerinden de güçlü bir şekilde etkilenerek, toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini içselleştirmektedir. İçselleştirilmiş bu cinsiyet rollerinin etkisi yaşam boyu sürmektedir. Cinsiyet kalıpyargılarının hem kadınlar hem de erkekler üzerinde kısa ve uzun vadede baskı ve strese neden olduğu bilinmekte, toplumun cinsiyet bazlı beklentilerine uyum gösterme ihtiyacı bireylerin psikolojik sağlığını olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Son yıllarda cinsiyet eşitliği konusunda toplumsal farkındalık artsa da halen birçok ülkede pek çok alanda cinsiyet eşitsizliğinin sürdüğü bilinmektedir. Sonuç olarak, ilgili alan yazında tutarlı bir şekilde belirtildiği gibi, toplumsal cinsiyet psikolojisi her iki cinsiyeti de yaşamlarının her döneminde etkilemekte ve bu da cinsiyet eşitliğine yönelik politikaların önemini açıkça ortaya koymaktadır.

YAZI TİPİ, YAZI KARAKTERİ VE YAZI RENGİNİN MARKA CİNSİYET ALGILAMASINA ETKİSİ

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2020

Marka cinsiyeti konusunu ele alan bu çalışma, yazı tipi, yazı karakteri ve yazı renginin cinsiyet algısına etkisini inceleyen Türkiye’deki öncü çalışmalardan biri olması bakımından önem taşımaktadır. Marka cinsiyeti, uygulamada markaların hedef pazarını etkileyebilmede ve bazı zamanlar karşı cinsiyetteki tüketicileri de hedef pazarı haline getirmede önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Araştırma, nitel veri toplama yöntemlerinden biri olan mülakat yöntemine göre amaçlı örneklemeye göre seçilmiş 14 katılımcı ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Marka isimlerinin cinsiyet algılamasında yazı tipi, yazı karakteri ve yazı renginin etkisi olup olmadığını araştıran bu çalışma sonucunda, farklı yazı tiplerinin ve yazı karakterlerinin markaların maskülen ya da feminen algılanmasında etkili olduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Marka isminin hangi yazı tipi ve hangi karakterle yazıldığı, o markanın cinsiyet algılamasını etkileyebilmektedir. Bu çalışma sonucunda ‘Impact’, ‘Stencil’ ve ‘Showcard Gothic’ yazı tiplerinin maskülen algılandığı, ‘Kristen ITC’, ‘Brush Script’ ve ‘Lucida Handwriting’ yazı tiplerinin ise feminen algılandığı belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca bu yazı tipleriyle beraber bold, italik ve bold italik gibi yazı karakterleri marka isminin cinsiyet algısına etki etmekte ve ayırt edici bir faktör olarak yazı tiplerinin algılanan cinsiyetini değiştirebilmektedir. Bu çalışma ile birlikte mavi rengin baskın şekilde maskülen, pembe rengin ise feminen algılandığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Mavi veya pembe renkle yazılan marka isimleri markaların cinsiyetleri hakkında otomatik olarak kullanıcılara sinyal vermektedir.

Gender Congruency From a Neutral Point of View: The Roles of Gender Classes and Conceptual Connotations

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2018

The question of whether language affects thought is long-standing, with grammatical gender being one of the most contended instances. Empirical evidence focuses on the gender congruency effect, according to which referents of masculine nouns are conceptualized more strongly as male and those of feminine nouns more strongly as female. While some recent studies suggest that this effect is driven by conceptual connotations rather than grammatical properties, research remains theoretically inconclusive because of the confounding of grammatical gender and conceptual connotations in gendered (masculine or feminine) nouns. Taking advantage of the fact that German also includes a neuter gender, the current study attempted to disentangle the relative contributions of grammatical properties and connotations to the emergence of the gender congruency effect. In three pairs of experiments, neuter and gendered nouns were compared in an Extrinsic Affective Simon Task based on gender associations, controlled for a possible role of gender-indicating articles. A congruency effect emerged equally strongly for neuter and gendered nouns, but disappeared when including connotations as covariate, thereby effectively excluding grammatical gender as the (only) driving force for this effect. Based on a critical discussion of these findings, we propose a possible mechanism for the emergence of the effect that also has the potential to accommodate conflicting patterns of findings from previous research.

How Persistent are Grammatical Gender Effects? The Case of German and Tamil

Article

Feb 2015
J PSYCHOLINGUIST RES

Does the language we speak shape the way we think? The present research concentrated on the impact of grammatical gender on cognition and examined the persistence of the grammatical gender effect by (a) concentrating on German, a three-gendered language, for which previous results have been inconsistent, (b) statistically controlling for common alternative explanations, (c) employing three tasks that differed in how closely they are associated with grammatical gender, and (d) using Tamil, a nongendered language, as a baseline for comparison. We found a substantial grammatical gender effect for two commonly used tasks, even when alternative explanations were statistically controlled for. However, there was basically no effect for a task that was only very loosely connected to grammatical gender (similarity rating of word pairs). In contrast to previous studies that found effects of the German and Spanish grammatical gender in English (a nongendered language), our study did not produce such effects for Tamil, again after controlling for alternative explanations, which can be taken as additional evidence for the existence of a purely linguistic grammatical gender effect. These results indicate that general grammatical gender effects exist but that the size of these effects may be limited and their range restricted.

Psikolojide, Göç Çalışmalarındaki Metodolojik Problemler ve Çözüm Önerileri

Article

Full-text available

May 2006

Zübeyit Gün

Türk Psikoloji Bülteni, altı ayda bir yayınlanır ve aidat borcu olmayan dernek üyelerine ücretsiz gönderilir. Kaynak gösterilerek yapılacak kısa alıntılar dışında, tamamı ya da bölümleri yazılı izin alınmadan hiçbir yolla çoğaltılamaz. Bülten'deki yazıların içeriğinden yazarların kendileri sorumludur.

Seven Ways to Knit Your Portfolio: Is the Language of Investor Communication Gender Neutral?”

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2018

This study investigates whether (lack of) familiarity with the language of investor communication may contribute to an explanation of the well-documented gender gap in financial decision-making (i.e. women are more risk averse than men) and financial literacy (i.e. women are less literate than men). Using an interdisciplinary framework that combines insights from Behavioral Economics, Finance and Linguistics, we analyze metaphors used in websites that target beginning retail investors in three different languages: Dutch, Italian and English. Employing the conceptual metaphor analysis proposed by Cameron and Low (1999) and Charteris-Black (2004), we find that in all three languages the metaphors come from the same conceptual domains; namely, war, health, physical activity, game, farming and the five senses. As these domains refer to worlds that are predominantly and (stereo)typically masculine, we conclude that the language of investor communication may give rise to feelings of familiarity and belonging among men, while creating feelings of distance and non-belonging among women. Based on our findings, we conclude that further research is needed to assess whether language could be a tool to reduce the gender gap in financial attitudes and behavior.

MEJFM Vol6 Iss5

Data

Full-text available

Mar 2014

Effects of Exercises for Fundamental Movement Skills in Mentally Retarded Children

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to test the effects of physical training in motor skills in mentally retarded children. Throughout this process arious types of motor skills are used. Methods: Twelve mentally retarded children aged between 3-6 years participated in this study between March and June 2006. This study was performed in a pretest-training-posttest design. Children were trained and than scored on 11 fundamental movement skills based on the motor development part of the Portage Early Childhood Education Program Control Lists by a single observer. An exercise program was recruited for those children and they participated in this program during 26 sessions. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in walking, running, jumping, balance, trampoline,rope-ribbon tests and obstacle set skills in pre- and post-test results (p<0.01). Conclusion: In this sample and setting, training of the fundamental movement skills support motor development of mentally retarded children.

Language and Culture Effects on Gender Classification of Objects

Article

Oct 2012

The present studies test whether French grammatical gender affects bilingual children’s classification of objects as boys or girls in English, in children aged 3 to 5 years (Study 1) and aged 8 to 10 years (Study 2), compared to monolingual children to control for possible cultural biases. In both studies, children tended to classify more objects as boys than as girls. In Study 1, the bilingual children showed a reduced boy bias relative to monolinguals. Only the older children showed a by-object effect of French gender. The bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ classifications were highly correlated. In Study 3, English-speaking adults classified object names as boys or girls. The adults’ classifications were highly correlated with the children’s. The authors argue that the classification of objects by gender is affected by cultural biases as well as knowledge of French. The effect of French knowledge is modified by age.

The Incidence of Outpatients in a Private Psychiatric Setting

Article

Jun 2008

La connaissance des catégories de genre et des stéréotypes sexués chez le jeune enfant

Article

Jan 2006

Diane Poulin-Dubois

Infants’ knowledge about gender stereotypes and categories The latest research is reviewed on how infants and toddlers categorize males and females and learn the attributes associated with each gender. By 12 months of age, infants discriminate between the sexes on the basis of physical appearance. By 18 months of age, toddlers show a nascent awareness of gender typed toys, activities, and metaphors. These findings suggest that rudimentary forms of gender understanding are present remarkably early, providing support for the cognitive view on gender development.

Developmental Differences in Children's Gender Schemata About Others: A Meta-Analytic Review

Article

Full-text available

Jun 1993

Inconsistencies that have been reported in past research on developmental changes in gender schemata actually may be a consequence of differences in the way these schemata have been conceptualized and measured. Meta-analysis was used to evaluate this interpretation of past work. On forced choice measures, in which children must select one sex or the other for each item (e.g., "Who is the strong one?"), "correct" matches to societal stereotypes increased with age. Increases were not, however, related to the type of question used (e.g., "Who is ...?" versus "Who can ...?"). Girls made more stereotype matches than boys, although the magnitude of the effect was small. In contrast, on nonforced choice measures, type of question did affect results. Children showed increases in nonstereotyped responses with age, but especially when asked "Who should . . ." or "Who can . . ." , and when elementary-school-aged (as well as preschool-aged) children were included. Girls gave significantly more nonstereotyped responses than boys, especially among older samples and when the domain was traits. Both the age and the sex effects in nonstereotyped responses were larger in more recent studies. IQ and television viewing were significantly related to forced choice scores, whereas television viewing, maternal employment, and memory for gender-stereotyped material were all significantly related to non-forced choice scores. Implications for the distinction between knowledge of stereotypes and attitudes toward stereotypes are discussed.

Basic Objects in Natural Categories

Article

Full-text available

Jul 1976

Categorizations which humans make of the concrete world are not arbitrary but highly determined. In taxonomies of concrete objects, there is one level of abstraction at which the most basic category cuts are made. Basic categories are those which carry the most information, possess the highest category cue validity, and are, thus, the most differentiated from one another. The four experiments of Part I define basic objects by demonstrating that in taxonomies of common concrete nouns in English based on class inclusion, basic objects are the most inclusive categories whose members: (a) possess significant numbers of attributes in common, (b) have motor programs which are similar to one another, (c) have similar shapes, and (d) can be identified from averaged shapes of members of the class. The eight experiments of Part II explore implications of the structure of categories. Basic objects are shown to be the most inclusive categories for which a concrete image of the category as a whole can be formed, to be the first categorizations made during perception of the environment, to be the earliest categories sorted and earliest named by children, and to be the categories most codable, most coded, and most necessary in language.

Gender Schema Theory: A Cognitive Account of Sex Typing

Article

Full-text available

Jul 1981

Sandra Lipsitz Bem

Gender schema theory proposes that the phenomenon of sex typing derives, in part, from gender-based schematic processing— a generalized readiness to process information on the basis of the sex-linked associations that constitute the gender schema. In particular, the theory proposes that sex typing results from the fact that the self-concept itself is assimilated in the gender schema. Several studies are described, including 2 experiments with 96 male and 96 female undergraduates, that demonstrate that sex-typed individuals do, in fact, have a greater readiness to process information—including information about the self—in terms of the gender schema. It is speculated that such gender-based schematic processing derives, in part, from the society's ubiquitous insistence on the functional importance of the gender dichotomy. The political implications of gender schema theory and its relationship to the concept of androgyny are discussed. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Structure of Gender Stereotypes: Interrelationships Among Components and Gender label

Article

Full-text available

May 1984

Assessed the extent to which gender label and various types of component information influenced the judgments made by 458 undergraduates in 3 experiments regarding the existence of other gender-related characteristics not specifically implied by the provided information. In Exp I, 42 male and 65 female undergraduates were given gender and role information about a person and asked to estimate the probability that the person had a number of other characteristics or engaged in a number of other behaviors. In Exp II, 84 male and 92 female Ss followed the previous procedure but were given traits rather than roles of the person. Results show that gender stereotypes consisted of a number of separate components. In Exp III, each of 4 gender stereotype components was presented in a within-Ss design, and 83 male and 88 female Ss made judgments about each component. Results show that information about one stereotype component can implicate other components; specific component information may outweigh gender identification; and components differ in their ability to implicate other components of gender stereotypes, with physical appearance playing a dominant role. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Infants' Intermodal Knowledge About Gender

Article

Full-text available

May 1994

The aim of this study was to seek evidence of intermodal knowledge about gender in infants that would provide direct evidence of the existence of gender categories during the 1st yr of life. In Exp 1, 20 9- and 24 12-mo-olds were presented with pairs of male and female pictures with a female or male voice presented simultaneously. Ss spent significantly more time looking at the pictures matching the voices than at the same pictures paired with mismatching voices, but only in the case of female stimuli. Comparison to chance level performance suggested that the matching effect was more consistent in older Ss. In Exp 2, 20 9-mo-olds were tested with a set of highly stereotypical faces and distinctive male and female voices. Ss showed a preference for the faces matching the voices, but this effect was again restricted to female stimuli. Results of both studies suggest that intermodal knowledge about gender develops during the 2nd half of the 1st yr. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Acquistion of Sex-Typed Preferences in Preschool-Aged Children

Article

Full-text available

Nov 1978

Assessed a total of 119 preschool children with the Sex Role Learning Index (SERLI), a picture-choice instrument designed to compare children's preferences to both sex role stereotypes and each child's conception of what is sex appropriate. Boys showed higher masculine preferences in the section depicting child figures than in the section depicting adult figures, while girls showed more feminine preferences in the adult figures than child figures section. Boys were more masculine in their preferences than girls were feminine in the child figures section, but not in the adult figures section. Girls were also found to adhere more to their own conceptions of what is sex appropriate than to sex role stereotypes in the child figures section. Boy's scores in the adult figures section correlated significantly with MA and IQ, while girls' scores in the child figures section correlated with CA. Boys' scores on the SERLI were significantly correlated with scores on the It Scale for Children, but girls' scores were not. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

A Cognitive-Developmental Study of Metaphor Comprehension

Article

Full-text available

Jul 1975

Richard Billow

In metaphor, sentence elements are classified according to principles of similarity, as in "hair is spaghetti" (both mixed up), or of proportionality, as in "my head is an apple without any core" (head is to apple as brain is to core). Metaphors of similarity and of proportionality, along with a pictorial form of the similarity metaphors, proverbs, and several Piaget-type cognitive tasks, were presented to 50 5-13 yr old males. Results indicate that metaphor comprehension is a type of classificatory behavior and, as such, is strongly related to maturing cognitive operations as well as to age. Rudimentary forms of metaphor comprehension exist earlier in the child's life than hitherto supposed. Significant (p < .01) increases in similarity metaphor comprehension between ages 7-13 are explained in terms of increasing access to concrete operational mechanisms. Proportional metaphor comprehension was highly related (p < .01) to advancement in formal operational development. (20 ref)

Development of Gender Constancy and Selective Attention to Same-Sex Models

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1976

4 developmental levels of gender constancy were identified in 55 preschool-age children on the basis of a reproducible Guttman scale of answers to sets of questions pertaining to gender identity, gender stability over time, and gender consistency across situations. Children's developmental level of gender constancy was predictive of the amount and the proportion of time they attended to an adult male and an adult female film model. As boys developed gender constancy, their relative preference for watching the male model increased significantly; as girls developed gender constancy, their relative preference for watching the female model increased, though not significantly. At the more advanced levels of gender constancy, boys watched the male model more than did girls. It was suggested that same-sex social learning may develop as a function of children's cognitive understanding of gender as an identifiable, stable and consistent human attribute.

What Is a Conceptual System?

Chapter

May 2023

George Lakoff

The development of communication

Article

Jan 1978

M. Bowerman

The acquisition of word meaning: An investigation of some current conflicts

Article

Jan 1977

M. Bowerman

Inferring Properties Crom Categories Versus Inferring Categories from Properties: The Case of Gender

Article

Apr 1986

The present study tested a distinction between inferring new categories on the basis of property information (predicted to be difficult) and inferring new properties on the basis of category information (predicted to be easier). One group of preschoolers learned new properties for specific boys and girls and was asked to say which property a new child would have, given a gender label that conflicted with the child's appearance. Other children saw the identical stimuli but were to classify them as "boy" or "girl" when given a sex-linked property that conflicted with appearance. All children were also tested on gender constancy. As predicted, children performed poorly on gender constancy and the classification task but accurately inferred many sex-linked properties on the basis of category membership, ignoring conflicting perceptual information. Control conditions support the claim that these effects are not due to differential memory demands in the different conditions. Future research should distinguish between using a category as the basis for making property inferences and the developmentally later skill of classifying an object by using property information. Preschoolers can ignore conflicting perceptual information much more easily on the former than on the latter task.

"Metaphorical" Mapping in Human Infants

Article

Jun 1981

8 sets of paired visual and auditory stimuli, each representing contrasting values along a single dimension (e. g., ascending/descending), were constructed such that each member of the auditory pair was deemed (by adults) to "metaphorically" match one member of the visual pair (e. g., ascending tone/up arrow; descending tone/down arrow). 61 infants (mean age 11.4 months) were presented initially with 1 member of each auditory pair. After 3 sec, infants were exposed to the corresponding visual pair for 7 sec, during which auditory stimulation continued. Each visual pair was presented twice, once with each member of the auditory pair. Total fixation time to each visual stimulus was measured. Preference for the target (matching) stimulus on both visual presentations was coded as a metaphorical match (MM). Preference for the nontarget stimuli on both presentations was coded as a reciprocal match (RM). There were significantly more MMs than RMs on 3 of the stimulus sets, higher absolute fixation time for the 2 target stimuli than for all other possible pairs of stimuli across presentations, and a greater individual proclivity to effect MMs than RMs. Results are discussed in terms of an early ability to perceive abstract similarities between events that are neither physically similar nor associated through co-occurrence.

A Schematic Processing Model of Sex Typing and Stereotyping in Children

Article

Dec 1981

The thesis of the present paper is that sex stereotyping is a normal cognitive process and is best examined in terms of information-processing constructs. A model is proposed in which stereotypes are assumed to function as schemas that serve to organize and structure information. The particular schemas involved in stereotyping are described, and the functions and biases associated with these schemas are elaborated. Both the development and maintenance of stereotypes are explained using the schematic processing model. The schematic model is found to be useful for explaining many of the results from sex-typing and stereotyping studies, as well as indicating areas needing further investigation. To describe the relation between sex schemas and other types of schemas, a typology is proposed which divides schemas according to whether they are potentially self-defining and according to their salience or availability. Using the typology, stereotyping and sex stereotyping are said to occur because the schemas involved are self-defining and salient. The role of salience in mediating the use of schemas is discussed.

A cognitive-development analysis of children's sex-role concepts and attitudes.

Chapter

Jan 1966

L. Kohlberg

New Directions for Investigating Children's Gender Knowledge

Article

Jun 1993

Carol Martin

Reviews evidence about whether gender knowledge provides a cognitive underpinning for action and thought, and proposes directions for studying gender knowledge that may increase its predictive value. Criticisms of the cognitive underpinning argument are evaluated as they apply to knowledge of gender as a category and knowledge of stereotypic gender attributes. Findings suggest that the ability to identify the sexes changes the ways children behave and how they think about gender. It is proposed that researchers need to reconsider how gender cognitions change with age and that researchers need to consider other types of gender knowledge, particularly the kinds of in-depth knowledge that children acquire about how behaviors are enacted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Death Is The Mother of Beauty: Mind, Metaphor, Criticism

Article

Jan 1987

Mark Turner

Turner examines the role of metaphor in cognition and in the ways we understand causation, particularly the causation of mental events. Focusing on inference—on how we reason, using inship metaphors—Turner explains nothing less than why these metaphors mean what they mean. The immediate concerns of his work also serve a larger purpose: The development of a new mode of analysis, a modern rhetoric that makes use of the insights of contemporary cognitive science and linguistics as well as those of literary criticism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The development of sex typing: Themes from recent research

Article

Mar 1985

Aletha C. Huston

A conceptual framework for organizing the constructs and content areas included in research on sex typing is presented in this review of recent research on the development of sex typing. Two major themes are discussed. First, sex-typed play activities and interests emerge clearly in the first few years of life. Both play activities and peer preferences are sex typed earlier and more definitely than are personality traits and social behaviors such as aggression or dependency. It is suggested that researchers have underemphasized the importance of interests, activities, and peer associations while overemphasizing personality attributes as the core of sex typing. The second theme is that cognitions and concepts about sex typing are important in the acquisition of gender typing, but they are not sufficient by themselves for understanding the process by which sex-typed behavior is acquired. Children's sex-role concepts are sometimes related to their behavioral preferences, but other factors are also important influences on behavior.

Categorical habituation to male and female faces: Gender schematic processing in infancy

Article

Jul 1993
INFANT BEHAV DEV

Experiment 1 used an infant-controlled habituation procedure to assess 5-, 7-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants' ability to discriminate pictures of adult male and female faces categorically. The 9-and 12-month-old groups habituated to a series of male or female faces, generalized habituation to a new face of the same sex, and dishabituated when shown an opposite-sex face, showing discrimination of male and female faces as separate categories. Use of an individual criterion to determine which infants in each group showed this effect indicated that a proportion of infants at each age were capable of making the discrimination categorically. In Experiment 2, the stimuli were altered so that different groups of 12-month-olds saw men and women pictured with unisex clothing, the women pictured with short hair, or the women pictured with short hair and both sexes pictured with unisex clothing. Decrements in categorical responding were significant only when both hair and clothing were altered. Individually, a proportion of infants in each group demonstrated categorical recognition of male and female faces despite the changes in the stimuli. These findings indicate that by 1 year of age, infants have incipient categories for men and women, and that these categories may include information about sex-typical hair length and clothing styles.

Observing spontaneous metaphor in children

Article

Jun 1981

Richard Billow

The study considered whether apparent metaphors are a frequent part of child language and whether the child recognizes the metaphoric relation created. Seventy-three nursery and kindergarten children (2 to 6 years of age) were observed for one or two half-hour periods of free play. Naturally occurring utterances in unconventional uses were recorded. The children were then questioned about their possible metaphoric creations to determine their awareness and understanding of their utterances. Results suggest that metaphoric processes exist quite early in development, as exemplified by a high frequency of spontaneous metaphor in the free play of young children. The semantic extensions were often deliberate and used appropriately. On some occasions the child was able to articulate the rationale for the verbal substitution. The content and cognitive features of the figures are discussed. Several hypotheses are offered for the developmental trend of decline in frequency of metaphor use with age.

Children and Metaphors

Article

Jun 1987

Stella Vosniadou

Recent research on the development of children's abilities to comprehend and produce metaphorical language is reviewed. It is argued that the ability to produce and comprehend metaphorical language emerges out of children's undifferentiated similarity notions and develops gradually to encompass a greater variety of conceptual domains. Although we do not yet have adequate theories of how metaphor comprehension or production develop, there is good reason to believe that this is a continuous rather than a stagelike process, and that it is constrained primarily by limitations in children's knowledge and information-processing abilities. Furthermore, it appears that the comprehension and production of metaphorical language involve transfer of knowledge from one conceptual domain to another which, on the one hand, depends critically on the conceptual knowledge the child already has, and on the other acts to enrich and advance this conceptual knowledge.

Metaphors We Live by

Article

Mar 1983

The now-classic Metaphors We Live By changed our understanding of metaphor and its role in language and the mind. Metaphor, the authors explain, is a fundamental mechanism of mind, one that allows us to use what we know about our physical and social experience to provide understanding of countless other subjects. Because such metaphors structure our most basic understandings of our experience, they are "metaphors we live by"âmetaphors that can shape our perceptions and actions without our ever noticing them. In this updated edition of Lakoff and Johnson's influential book, the authors supply an afterword surveying how their theory of metaphor has developed within the cognitive sciences to become central to the contemporary understanding of how we think and how we express our thoughts in language.

New Names for Old Things: The Emergence of Metaphoric Language

Article

Nov 1979

Ellen Winner

Criteria were devised to distinguish between literal and metaphoric word usage in early language. These criteria were applied to the spontaneous speech transcripts of one child between 2; 3 and 4; 10.15. All unconventional word uses were identified and were then scored as overextensions, anomalies, or metaphors. The majority of unconventional word uses proved to be metaphors. Moreover, a developmental sequence of types of metaphors produced was found: those metaphors predominant during year 2 were based on the pretend actions of symbolic play; those predominant at year 4 were based on perceptual grounds alone, without the support of action.

Some consequences of stimulus variability on speech processing by 2-month-old infants

Article

Jul 1992
COGNITION

The present study explores how stimulus variability in speech production influences the 2-month-old infant's perception and memory for speech sounds. Experiment 1 focuses on the consequences of talker variability for the infant's ability to detect differences between speech sounds. When tested with high-amplitude sucking (HAS) procedure, infants who listened to versions of a syllable, such as [symbol: see text], produced by 6 male and 6 female talkers, detected a change to another syllable, such as [symbol: see text], uttered by the same group of talkers. In fact, infants exposed to multiple talkers performed as well as other infants who heard utterances produced by only a single talker. Moreover, other results showed that infants discriminate the voices of the individual talkers, although discriminating one mixed group of talkers (3 males and 3 females) from another is too difficult for them. Experiment 2 explored the consequences of talker variability on infants' memory for speech sounds. The HAS procedure was modified by introducing a 2-min delay period between the familiarization and test phases of the experiment. Talker variability impeded infants' encoding of speech sounds. Infants who heard versions of the same syllable produced by 12 different talkers did not detect a change to a new syllable produced by the same talkers after the delay period. However, infants who heard the same syllable produced by a single talker were able to detect the phonetic change after the delay. Finally, although infants who heard productions from a single talker retained information about the phonetic structure of the syllable during the delay, they apparently did not retain information about the identity of the talker. Experiment 3 reduced the range of variability across talkers and investigated whether variability interferes with retention of all speech information. Although reducing the range of variability did not lead to retention of phonetic details, infants did recognize a change in the gender of the talkers' voices (from male to female or vice versa) after a 2-min delay. Two additional experiments explored the consequences of limiting the variability to a single talker. In Experiment 4, with an immediate testing procedure, infants exposed to 12 different tokens of one syllable produced by the same talker discriminated these from 12 tokens of another syllable.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Article

Feb 1987

We conducted a series of 3 experiments to assess the comprehension of 4 types of cross-modal (synesthetic) similarities in nearly 500 3.5-13.5-year-old children and more than 100 adults. We tested both perceptual and verbal (metaphoric) modes. Children of all ages and adults matched pitch to brightness and loudness to brightness, thereby showing that even very young children recognize perceptual similarities between hearing and vision. Children did not consistently recognize similarity between pitch and size until about age 11. This difference in developmental timetables is compatible with the view that pitch-brightness and loudness-brightness similarities are intrinsic characteristics of perception (characteristics based, perhaps, on common sensory codes), whereas pitch-size similarity may be learned (perhaps through association of size with resonance properties). In a parallel verbal task, even 4-year-old children showed at least some capacity to translate meanings metaphorically from one modality to another (e.g., rating "low pitched" as dim and "high pitched" as bright). But not all literal meanings produced metaphoric equivalents in the youngest children (e.g., rating "sunlight" brighter but not louder than "moonlight"). Improvements with age in making metaphoric translations of synesthetic expressions paralleled increasing differentiation of meanings along literal dimensions and increasing capacity to integrate meanings of components in compound expressions. We postulate that perceptual knowledge about objects and events is represented in terms of locations in a multidimensional space; cross-modal similarities imply that the space is also multimodal. Verbal processes later gain access to this graded perceptual knowledge, thus permitting the interpretation of synesthetic metaphors according to the rules of cross-modal perception.

Play with Language: Overextensions as Analogies

Article

Jul 1984

This study experimentally investigated the hypothesis that some of young children's overextensions are analogic expressions by comparing children's labelling of objects in a naming task to their labelling of the same objects in a play situation. All of the 11 children (1; 8–2; 4) renamed substitute objects during pretend play. Criteria were established which identified 27% of children's renamings as analogic. Analysis of children's choice of substitute objects in pretend play showed that older children's (2; 2–2; 4) selections were influenced by their previous naming of the objects. In addition, both younger and older children tended to choose more functionally similar objects over more physically similar objects although ambiguous objects were renamed most often. Records collected by mothers for one week provided further evidence that children spontaneously produce analogic extensions.

What categories reveal about the mind What is a conceptual system The nature and ontogenesis of meaning

Jan 1994
41-90

G Women

Women, fir¢ and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Pres~ Lakoff, G. (1994). What is a conceptual system? In W. E Overton & D. S. Palermo (Eds.), The nature and ontogenesis of meaning (pp. 41-90). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Perceiving similarity and

Jan 1987

L E Marks
R J Hammeal
M H Bomstein

Marks, L.E., Hammeal, R.J., & Bomstein, M.H. (1987). Perceiving similarity and comprehend-M.D. Leinbach, B.E. Hort, and B.I. Fagot ing metaphor. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 52 (1, Serial No. 215).

“Metaphorical” mapping in human infants

Jan 1981
728

Wagner

Bears are for boys: Metaphorical associations in young children's gender stereotypes

Abstract

No full-text available

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