Transcript No Slide Title

The Development of Stereotyped Gender Attributions
About Emotions in 2- and 3-year-olds:
Knowledge Precedes Application
Karen Singer-Freeman & Nayeli Calle
Application Measure: Bipolar Adjectives
Individual Differences
After the neutral clip children were asked which of 12 bipolar adjectives
from 3 categories best described the infant, “Do you think Rachel is…”
Potency and Activity adjectives were used to calculate overall
schematicity for individual children.
Although 2-year-olds were not applying gender stereotypes as a group,
we were interested in whether individual 2-year-olds who were more
schematized might apply stereotypes. We calculated a measure of
individual schematicity by averaging the total number of bipolar adjectives
that were assigned stereotypically across the two tasks (for 2-year-olds) or
in the Application Task (for 3-year-olds). Using these measures we found:
2-year-olds in the Rachel condition who were more schematized were
more likely to label ambiguous emotions as sadness and marginally less
likely to label them as anger than 2-year-olds who were less schematized.
Potency
big or little
mad or scared
strong or weak
hard or soft
Activity
fast or slow
loud or quiet
awake or sleepy
Evaluation (no effects found)
happy or sad
nice or mean
smart or dumb
fun to play with or not…
good or bad
Knowledge Measure: Bipolar Adjectives
Children were shown photographs of 2 infants identified as, “a boy
named Eric and a girl named Debbie” and were asked to assign the
bipolar adjectives to these infants, “Who is ________ and who is
________.”
3.5
4.5
3
4
3.5
2.5
3
2
sad
Previous research has found that preschool-aged children’s descriptions
of infants are influenced by gender stereotypes. In general, when an
infant is displaying no affect, children say that boys are more potent or
active than girls. Preschoolers also more readily attribute anger to males
and sadness and fear to females. In order to make stereotypic attributions
children must both have stereotype knowledge and choose to apply this
knowledge. Stereotype knowledge is assessed using forced-choice tasks
in which a child must assign one variable to a boy and the other to a girl
(e.g., Who is strong and who is weak?). Forced-choice tasks measure
knowledge because participants are given no information other than sex,
forcing reliance on knowledge of gender stereotypes to answer the
question. Stereotype application is assessed using non-forced tasks in
which a child is asked to assign one of two or more variables to a specific
boy or girl (e.g., “Do you think Rachel is strong or weak?”). Non-forced
tasks measure application because participants can choose to apply or
disregard the stereotype.
angry
INTRODUCTION
1.5
1
.5
.5
0
0
-.5
-.5
.55
.6
.65
Schematicity
Y = -3.29 + 6.946 * X; R^2 = .48
RESULTS
Do 2-year-olds have knowledge of gender stereotypes (forced)?
Do 2- and 3-year-olds apply gender stereotypes (non-forced)?
Do individual 2- or 3-year-olds apply gender stereotypes?
Emotion Labeling
We found that 3-year-olds but not 2-year-olds applied stereotypes: 3year-olds who believed the infant was male were more likely to label
him as angry and marginally less likely to label him as afraid than 3year-olds who believed the infant was female.
Experiment 1: 22 3-year-olds (13 boys) completed non-forced emotion
labeling and bipolar adjective tasks.
Fear
Happy
Sad
Shown 4 10-second clips of a 12-month-old girl in neutral clothing:
3 clips displayed mixed negative affect (sadness/anger).
1 clip displayed neutral affect
2-year-olds
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Sad
Angry
0
Happy
Sad
Angry
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
.45
.5
.55
.6
.65
Schematicity
Y = 5.995 - 7.83 * X; R^2 = .315
.7
.75
2.25
2
1.75
1.5
1.25
1
.5
.6
schematicity
Y = .546 + 1.333 * X; R^2 = .225
3-year-olds
Stereotyped Responses
Chance
Application
0.2
Knowledge
Stereotyped Responses
After the negative clips children were asked to label the emotion
displayed by the infant verbally or by pointing to a drawing.
0.4
.4
3-year-olds in the Arthur condition who were more schematized were
marginally more likely to label ambiguous emotions as anger than 3year-olds who were less schematized.
.1
1
0.6
.35
-.25
Afraid
2-year-olds demonstrated stereotype knowledge but not application
assigning potency and activity adjectives stereotypically in the forced
(65%) but not in the non-forced task (51%). 3-year-olds demonstrated
application responding stereotypically in the non-forced task (65%).
0.8
.8
0
Bipolar Adjectives
1
.75
.25
0.4
Afraid
.7
.5
0.2
Happy
.5
.75
0.6
2-year-olds
Children were either told the infant was, “a boy named Arthur” or “a
girl named Rachel.”
3-year-olds
0.8
0
.45
Rachel
Chance
Anger
1
Application
Introduced to emotions with schematic drawings
Arthur
Rachel
Frequency
Application Measure: Emotion Labeling
1
Frequency
Experiment 2: 21 2-year-olds (7 boys) completed non-forced emotion
labeling and bipolar adjective tasks and a forced bipolar adjective task.
Arthur
.4
angry
METHOD
2
1.5
1
.35
QUESTIONS
2.5
.2
.3
.4
.7
.8
.9
DISCUSSION
2-year-olds have knowledge of gender stereotypes but do not apply
these stereotypes: Knowledge of stereotypes precedes application.
3-year-olds apply stereotypes to inferences about emotions and traits.
Thus, it is likely that they also have knowledge of these stereotypes.
Highly schematized 2-year-olds apply stereotypes about sadness and
anger to girls more than less schematized 2-year-olds.
Highly schematized 3-year-olds apply stereotypes about anger to boys
more frequently than less schematized children.
Overall, we saw fewer effects of schematization in 3-year-olds. This
may be the result of the use of a weaker measure of schematization.
Alternatively, it may reflect the fact that there is less individual
variability in the use of stereotypes by 3-year-olds.
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