Dawn E. England

'It's not that we hate you': understanding children's gender attitudes and expectancies about peer relationships.

Widespread gender segregation, evident throughout elementary school, seems to imply that girls and boys have negative feelings and thoughts about one another, and classic theories of inter-group processes support this idea. However, research has generally overlooked childrens feelings and perceptions about gender-related interpersonal interactions. This paper investigates the nature of childrens attitudes about same- and other-gender peers, and explores how those attitudes relate to the expectancies and beliefs children hold about same- and other-gender peer interactions. Children (N= 98 fifth graders) completed questionnaires assessing their global liking of own- and other-gender peers (Yee & Brown, 1994), positive and negative attitudes about own- and other-gender peers, and outcome expectancies related to interacting with own- and other-gender peers. Results indicated that rather than being characterized by out-group negativity, childrens inter-group gender attitudes are best characterized by an in-group positivity bias. Childrens positive and negative affective attitudes were also significantly associated with outcome expectancies. In contrast, global liking of own- and other-gender peers was less predictive of outcome expectancies. Thus, the greater specificity of the affective attitude measures appeared to be a more predictive and potentially fruitful gauge of childrens feelings about own- and other-gender peers. Results are discussed in terms of the need for finer grained and more extensive studies of childrens gender-related feelings and cognitions about own- and other-gender peers.

Dynamical Analyses for Developmental Science: A Primer for Intrigued Scientists.

Dynamical systems theory is becoming more popular in social and developmental science. However, unfamiliarity with dynamical analysis techniques remains an obstacle for developmentalists who would like to quantitatively apply dynamics in their own research. The goal of this article is to address this issue by clearly and simply presenting several analytical techniques for the study of dynamics. We placed emphasis on the use of dynamical analysis techniques for the examination of social and developmental phenomena. We present descriptions of five techniques, which include examples of how they have been or can be used in developmental research, with reference to seminal and approachable resources when appropriate.

Gendered interactions and their consequences: A dynamical perspective

© 2014 Patrick J. Leman and Harriet R. Tenenbaum. All rights reserved.Children are born into a world infused with gendered information. An understanding of what it is to be a boy or girl can be critical in forming social relationships, social identities, and learning how to think and behave. Gender and Development is an important new volume that charts how children practice these gendered identities at different ages and in different social contexts.Taking a socio-cognitive approach, and integrating both theoretical and applied perspectives, the book looks at a range of contexts in which gender affects development and socialisation, from the childs place in the family unit and their interaction with parents and siblings, to the influence of communication with peers over the internet. Throughout the chapters an age-old issue is addressed through a contemporary, empirically focused perspective-namely the nature and extent of equality between the genders, and how difficult it is for attitudes, perceptions and stereotypes to change. Key social issues are covered, including pro-social behaviour, career choice and academic competencies.Gender and Development brings together some of the latest research in this important and enduring field of study. It is a timely and invaluable collection, and will be essential reading for all students and research in developmental psychology, social psychology and gender studies.