Jane M. Connor

Behaviorally based masculine- and feminine-activity-preference scales for preschoolers: Correlates with other classroom behaviors and cognitive tests.

CONNOR, JANE M., and SERBIN, LISA A. Behaviorally Based Masculineand Feminine-ActivityPreference Scales for Preschoolers: Correlates with Other Classroom Behaviors and Cognitive Tests. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 1411-1416. 2 sets of scales were developed designed to measure the strength of sex typing in childrens play patterns in a naturalistic setting. Over a 12-week observational period, the scales based upon those activities showing a sex difference in play preferences appeared to be more stable than those scales based upon adult ratings of masculine and feminine activities. Masculine and feminine activity preferences, as measured by the more stable scales, were correlated with observational measures of other classroom behavior and performance on 3 cognitive tests. These results suggested that (a) many children have already learned to avoid opposite-sex activities by the time they enter nursery school; (b) sex-role learning during the preschool period appears to involve increasing attention to samesex activities; and (c) the development of visual-spatial ability in boys is related to involvement in masculine activities. The advantages of a behaviorally based definition of masculine and feminine activity preference are discussed.

Sex-related differences in response to practice on a visual-spatial test and generalization to a related test.

93 first graders (mean age 6.5 years) were given a pretest and posttest on half of the items from the Childrens Embedded Figures Test. Half of the children were randomly assigned to a training condition and received a brief training procedure on visual-spatial disembedding prior to the administration of the posttest. Children in the control condition received no training. The performance of girls improved significantly more from pretest to posttest than the performance of boys. Boys and girls showed similar beneficial effects of training in addition to the benefit of direct practice. The tendency that was observed for boys to perform higher than girls on the pretest, p less than .10, was not evident on the posttest. Scores on the pretest predicted scores on a different measure of visual-spatial ability only for children in the control group. The results are interpreted in terms of current theories of sex differences in visual-spatial perception.

Effects of Peer Presence on Sex-Typing of Children's Play Behavior.

Abstract Effect of peer presence on the sex-typed toy choices of 3- and 4-year-olds was investigated in a repeated measures experimental design. Twenty-six girls and thirty-six boys were tested under three conditions: (a) alone; (b) in the presence of a same-sex peer; and (c) in the presence of an opposite-sex peer. Amount of time spent playing with three feminine- and three masculine-stereotyped toys was recorded. For both boys and girls, play with “sex role-inappropriate” toys was significantly lower in the presence of an opposite-sex peer than in the solitary condition. Across conditions boys exhibited less play with opposite-sex-typed toys than girls. Rate of play with opposite-sex-typed toys increased in successive trials for both sexes. These results indicate that the presence of an opposite-sex peer functions as a discriminative stimulus for avoidance of “sex role-inappropriate” play in preschoolers and suggests that preschoolers may have a history of differential reinforcement for sex-typed play in the presence of peers.

Effects of organization and expectancy on recall and recognition

In two experiments, organization, test type (recall and recognition), and subjects’ expectancies of the type of test they would receive (recall or recognition) were varied. It was found that organizational effects may be influenced by both subjects’ expectancies of the type of test they will receive and the type of test actually received. Results indicated that subjects’ encoding strategies are sensitive to the relationship between the type of material presented and the type of information that they expect to need for the test.

Children's responses to stories with male and female characters

The sex of the main character was varied in six childrens stories which were then read by fourth, sixth and eighth graders. The children answered four questions about the stories. Both boys and girls responded more positively to the questions “Would you like to be (characters name?)” and “Would you like to do the things (characters name) did?” when the main character was a male. Boys preferred stories about males, and this preference increased with grade level. A preference for stories about females was marginally significant only for the older girls. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Responses of boys and girls to aggressive, assertive, and passive behaviors of male and female characters

Boys and girls in grades 4, 6, and 8 answered five questions after reading stories in which a male or female character behaved aggressively, assertively, or passively. As hypothesized, the results indicated differential degrees of approval for aggressive, assertive, and passive behavior depending upon the sex of the character engaged in the behavior. Boys and girls also responded in different ways to the three types of behavior. Developmental trends indicated an increasingly positive evaluation of the effectiveness of passive behavior by females and an increasingly negative evaluation by males with age. The implications for the acquisition of sex-stereotyped behavior patterns are discussed.

Sex-Stereotyped and Nonstereotyped Introductions of New Toys in the Preschool Classroom: An Observational Study of Teacher Behavior and Its Effects

In Study 1, the behavior of teachers in introducing sex-typed and nonsex-typed toys in the classroom was observed in nine preschool classes. Results indicated that teachers called on more boys to demonstrate a “masculine” toy than girls, p < .01. No significant differences were found in the mean number of boys and girls called on to demonstrate “neutral” or “feminine” toys. However, teachers were more variable in demonstrating the sex-typed feminine toys than the nonstereotyped toy, p < .05. In a second study, two sets of toys, each including five dolls and five trucks, were introduced using stereotyped and nonstereotyped introductions to two classes of 3- and 4-year-old children. No significant sex differences in toy choices were found following the nonstereotyped introductions. Following the stereotyped introductions, the childrens toy choices were consistent with sex-role stereotypes. These results are consistent with laboratory studies suggesting that bias in the introduction of toys by adults may contribute to the sex-typing of specific activities.

Use of the titles Ms., Miss, or Mrs.: Does it make a difference?

In a study of sexism and language 112 persons at a shopping mall were asked to read a paragraph about an achieving woman who was either given the title Miss, Mrs., or Ms., or not given a title. Persons receiving the paragraph with the Ms. title rated the woman as less honest. No effect of the title variation was obtained on a number of other rating dimensions. The results were interpreted as reflecting public acceptance of the use of the Ms. title.

Environmental control of independent and dependent behaviors in preschool girls and boys: A model for early independence training

Differential adult response to the dependent behaviors of young girls and boys has been widely reported in the literature. The present study was an experimental investigation of the role of adult response patterns in shaping and maintaining independent behavior in preschoolers. A two-group design using random assignment was used to examine environmental control of independent and dependent behaviors, defined as task persistence and exploration, and proximity-seeking and socialization of attention, respectively. Subjects were 20 3- and 4-year-olds, 11 females and 9 males. Results indicated that independent and dependent behaviors are both strongly under the control of environmental contingencies in both boys and girls. Implications of these results for the theoretical understanding of sex-role development and womens mental health problems are discussed.

Auditory and visual similarity effects in recognition and recall

The role of auditory and visual factors in short-term recall and recognition performance was evaluated. Auditory similarity, but not visual similarity, was found to be predictive of the probability of a correct response and response confidence for both types of tests. The results were interpreted as support for a single-trace model of recall and recognition performance