Two experiments showed that (1) verbal praise increased males' and females' intrinsic motivation on masculine and feminine tasks, and intrinsic motivation was higher for sex-appropriate than sex-inappropriate tasks; and (2) praise enhanced traditional females' intrinsic motivation even on a task that in earlier research showed striking…

Television programs were analyzed for frequencies of positive reinforcement and punishment exchanged among performers varying in age and sex. Females were found to more often exhibit and receive reinforcement, whereas males more often exhibited and received punishment. These findings have implications for children's learning of positive and…

Explored the role of parent and child gender in parent-child conversations about past emotional experiences. Observations of conversations between parents and children approximately 3.5 years old indicated that females conversed more overall, specifically about emotions, and used more emotional words. Both mothers and fathers used more emotional…

Examines the portrayal of women and the use of violent themes in 33 popular video games. The analysis reveals that traditional gender roles and violence are central to many games. There were no female characters in 41% of games with characters, and women were portrayed as sex objects in 28% of these games. (SLD)

Measured the amount of copy devoted to appearance, home, male-female relations, and self-development in "Seventeen" magazine in 1961, 1972, and 1985. Male-female relations decreased, and self-development increased in 1972, at the height of the women's movement, but by 1985 coverage had reverted to the 1961 proportions. (DM)

Conducted a content analysis of 10 years of feminine hygiene advertisements in "Seventeen" and "Teen" magazines. Finds that advertising copy in these magazines works to dispel myths about menstruation but that few black models are shown. Discusses advertising as an element of socialization for adolescent girls. (SLD)

Hawaii's multiethnic society provides a field for researching the impact of ethnicity on the learning of female sex roles. Life data from one Chinese/Hawaiian woman and one Portuguese/Hawaiian woman are used to compare their socialization to sex-related roles during their girlhoods in the 1920s and 1930s. (CJM)

Investigated gender role socialization as a function of parenting experience in a toy play situation and as a function of adults' perceptions of gender-stereotyped toys. Children played individually with their parent, another child's parent, and a nonparent. Overall, adults acted in similar ways regardless of their parenting experiences. Gender…

Two studies calculated the amount of time boys and girls spent playing with toy dishes and tools, examining whether this varied as a function of children's perceptions of social expectations of gender, awareness of gender stereotypes, and situational constraints. Results indicated that situational and perceived social constraints influenced…

In separate studies, examined (1) ways that college students allocated rewards to children performing in team and competitive situations, and (2) the relationship between sex role orientation and reward allocations. Found that sex and situational differences in reward allocations are affected by sex role orientation and differential socialization…

Power dependence theory and anticompetitive theory/sex strategy research were used to study a power v a socialization perspective. Results indicate that neither theory adequately explains perceptions or behavior in mixed sex groups. A sex stratification perspective can illuminate societal reasons for sex differences. (Author/GC)

Studied directives which mothers and fathers addressed to their preschool children. Fathers produced more directives than mothers and tended to phrase them as imperatives. No differences were found in parental directives to girls and boys. Thus, children appear to learn to request action in sex-associated ways through parental modeling. (GC)

Study conducted with college-age women to determine the relationship between absence of father in childhood and adult self-concept and interpersonal relationships with men. Results suggest that father absence is not a factor differentially associated with the self-concept of women except in evaluation of self in social situations. (Author/JLF)

Study results with 82 preschool children show that mothers' and fathers' emotion socialization strategies were different and in some cases differed with the child's gender, and that these reported emotion socialization practices were differentially related to children's behavior during peer play. (SLD)

Investigated peer socialization of gender-related social interaction styles with 224 students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. Both genders recognized the difference between agentic and communal interaction styles, but boys and girls showed different patterns of socialization responses, as discussed. (SLD)