Developmental intergroup theory posits that when environments make social-group membership salient, children will be particularly likely to apply categorization processes to social groups, thereby increasing stereotypes and prejudices. To test the predicted impact of environmental gender salience, 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 57) completed…

Children who had received training in sorting pictures of men and women, and in sorting occupations according to rules that countered gender stereotypes, exhibited a more egalitarian response in subsequent measures of gender stereotyping and showed superior memory for counterstereotypic information in stories than did other children. (BC)

Presents evidence supporting claim that sex and gender are important to the explanatory as well as the descriptive goals of developmental psychology. Maintains that studying psychosocial and biological components of gender and sex helps one to develop hypotheses about causal mechanisms for developmental outcomes more generally. Introduces the…

Fifty-seven first and second graders were shown pictures of people in various traditional, nontraditional, and neutral occupations and activities and were tested for recognition memory in order to examine the relationship between children's gender attitudes and memories. (CM)

Hypothesized that reduction of schematic processing distortions would lead to increased flexibility in children's beliefs about what men and women can do. Subjects were 76 children between 6 and 11 years of age. The intervention led to a reduction in children's occupational stereotyping. (RH)

Two studies examined 6- to 11-year-olds' gender-related interpretations of occupational titles. Findings indicated that children were sensitive to linguistic forms of job titles, and that these sensitivities differed in relation to participant variables such as attitude. Gender-specific interpretations occurred more frequently for marked…

Children from kindergarten through third grade were shown pictures of men and women in traditional, nontraditional, or neutral gender roles. Data from subsequent recall tests revealed biases toward gender stereotypes irrespective of whether the pictures were presented quickly or slowly, or with or without labels. (BC)

Two implications of Bartlett's constructive theory of memory (better memory for schema-consistent material and alteration of schema-inconsistent material) were tested. Procedures involved the recall of gender-relevant pictures by kindergartners, second graders, and fourth graders with either more- or less- stereotyped attitudes. Findings suggested…

Takes the position that despite changes in society and in the ways that researchers conceptualize gender schemata, stereotypes about occupations persist. Questions to what extent experimental interventions have been successful, and considers how intervention and intervention goals should be reformulated for the future. (Author/RWB)

To examine the link between deaf children's language abilities and their knowledge of, attitudes toward, and self-endorsements of cultural gender stereotypes, 46 deaf children between the ages of 5 and 12 years were given measures of gender-related attitudes, knowledge, and self-interests. Teachers were asked to rate children's ability with signed…

Examined whether 6- and 11-year-olds' beliefs about job status and job interests are affected by gendered nature of jobs. Found that children gave higher status ratings to masculine jobs and expressed greater interest in jobs culturally associated with their own sex. Older children rated novel jobs portrayed with males as having higher status than…

Responds to concerns that individual items included as stereotypes in the Occupation Activity Trait Scales (children's and adult's versions) are not highly stereotyped. Discusses future directions for research, noting that a developmental approach is critical to understanding gender differentiation establishment and that it is also important to…

Four studies established the reliability and validity of measures for assessing attitudes toward others and sex typing of self in occupations, activities, and traits. A fifth study provided longitudinal data from children tested 4 times from age 11 to 13 years. Data supported conceptual distinctions among individual's gender attitudes toward…