学前儿童性别恒常性的发展

采用改进的访谈方法,考察了3、4、5、6岁儿童的性别恒常性的发展。结果表明：3、4岁儿童已获得性别认同的能力,4、5岁儿童逐步获得性别稳定性的能力,5、6岁是性别一致性发展的快速期,大多数的6岁被试儿童已获得性别恒常性。研究还发现,在提示条件下,各年龄获得性别恒常性的被试人数大大增加;儿童对自己的性别恒常性的认知发展早于对他人,但这一差异仅表现在3岁儿童身上     

性别同一性的形成及研究角度发展

性别的同一性是自我同一性的一部分,是人格和社会化发展的重要内容。性别的同一性概念已经从性同一性转移到性别同一性。对性别同一性的研究角度经过了概念认知、图式认知和社会认知的探索,目前开始进入人际关系角度的研究。最后,提出了对性别同一性未来的研究展望。     

性别刻板印象及刻板信息对3～9岁儿童玩具选择的影响

采用玩具选择任务,通过对角色性别刻板玩具偏好的描述,考察3-9岁儿童对自己和他人性别刻板印象的发展状况,及外部信息对儿童选择的影响。结果表明：（1）儿童在玩具选择中表现出的性剐刻板印象在4．5岁显著增强,在7～9岁趋于稳定;（2）男孩性别刻板印象的形成先于女孩;（3）学龄前期儿童对不舍性别刻板信息的女性角色最不刻板,性别刻板信息会显著增加女孩对异性角色的刺板程度,而男孩则对自身的玩具选择最为刺板：（4）5-6岁时,儿童对自身玩具选择的性别刻板要求显著增强。总的来说,儿童的性别刻板印象受到内部认知发展和社会环境的共同作用。     

儿童性别认同的发展及其对社会适应的影响

儿童性别认同是儿童社会化的重要内容,性别认同与儿童社会适应的关系一直备受关注。随着研究的不断深入,性别认同的概念和衡量标准也变得越来越丰富。近年来,研究者开始从双重身份认同的视角探索性别认同,分别考察同性性别群体认同和异性性别群体认同。关于性别认同对儿童社会适应的影响,现有研究重点探究了自我适应与人际适应两个方面的结果。未来研究应进一步探索儿童内隐与外显性别认同之间的联系、不同性别认同类型与社会适应之间的关系,重视对低同性性别群体认同儿童社会适应的干预。     

关于儿童性认知发展的初步研究

本研究主要以访谈法调查了4至13岁的儿童共121名,从生理和社会两大维度来分析儿童的性认知发展水平。结果表明：青春期以前是儿童性认知发展的一个很关键的时期,且不同年龄阶段呈现出不同的水平。     

儿童同伴群体活动中的性别排斥

实验一以图片为材料研究了儿童同伴群体活动中的性别刻板印象。实验二以情景故事法研究了儿童在不同排斥情景中发生性别排斥的原因即其与性别刻板印象的关系。被试为幼儿园大班、2年级和5年级儿童。结果发现,（1）在同伴群体活动中三个年龄段的儿童都存在着明显的性别刻板印象。（2）同伴群体活动中的性别排斥行为并不是由性别刻板印象引起的。（3）儿童会以道德和亲社会行为为理由接纳异性儿童,会因为群体认同、群体功效和刻板印象而排斥异性儿童。     

五官完整度对自闭症儿童面孔表情性别识别的影响

摘 要 为探讨自闭症儿童在不同面孔遮蔽部位和不同面孔表情下的性别识别能力,本研究选取自闭症、智力障碍和普通儿童各21名对240张面孔表情图片进行性别识别。结果发现,自闭症儿童的性别识别正确率显著低于普通儿童,且表现出对中性和高兴表情的识别优于生气表情,同时在遮蔽眼睛时正确率最低。研究认为,自闭症儿童的总体性别识别能力偏低,且受面孔遮蔽部位和表情类型的影响显著,在面孔表情加工过程中体现出较为明显的局部加工特征。     

颜色知觉恒常理论的回顾

本文对早期颜色恒常理论、系数理论、计算理论和 Octant模型作了简要回顾 ,并结合已有的研究成果进行评述。对影响颜色恒常性机制的主要因素进行了探讨。强调了知觉经验、记忆、认知决策等高级意识活动对颜色恒常知觉的作用 ,并尝试性地提出了描述颜色恒常知觉过程的一般参照框架。     

人类性别加工的认知神经机制

性别信息是人类重要的生物和社会属性, 对性别快速而准确的识别对人类的生存和繁衍具有重要意义。人类的性别加工具有自动化、刻板化以及不对称性等特点, 并受性别加工主体、其他性别信息、社会类别信息以及高级认知调节的影响。聚焦于面孔和声音这两个性别信息的主要来源, 综述了性别加工的行为和神经机制研究, 并提出了两阶段性别加工模型, 早期阶段为对性别信息物理属性的特异性加工, 晚期阶段为对抽象性别信息的一般性加工。未来的研究可以重点关注性别加工的系统性研究、性别分类和机器学习、以及性别的二相性问题等方面。     

颜色恒常知觉的影响因素探索及其非线性建模

采用计算机仿真技术,研究了照明、表面和背景对颜色恒常的影响,结果表明：照明性质、表面属性以及背景属性均对颜色恒常程度产生显著影响,三者的影响是相互独立的;不同照明性质对颜色恒常程度具有不同影响,中性色照明光下颜色恒常程度较高;人的颜色恒常也依赖于物体的表面属性,对不同的表面进行匹配时,表现出了颜色恒常程度的较大波动;相同背景属性较不同背景属性具有较高的颜色恒常程度。在实验研究基础上建立了非线性颜色恒常模型,该模型对实验数据进行了很好拟合,具有了一定的符合人认知特点的颜色恒常能力。     

The effects of books and gender constancy development on kindergarten children's sex-role attitudes

The effects of symbolic models and level of gender understanding on children's sex-role attitudes was investigated. Kindergarten boys and girls heard and discussed books whose characters depicted either traditional or nontraditional sex-role behaviors. Attitudes toward males and females were measured before and after the picture book treatment. When the study began, children were screened for gender understanding so that half were able to make other-gender constancy judgments, and half were not able to make other-gender constancy judgments. Prior to the treatment, boys and children who had attained gender constancy were slightly negative toward males and neutral toward females, whereas girls and children who had not attained gender constancy were very negative toward males and very positive toward females. Exposure to traditional books had the effect of enhancing attitudes toward males and decreasing attitudes toward females. Exposure to nontraditional books had the opposite effect of decreasing attitudes toward males and enhancing attitudes toward females. The effects of the picture book treatment on attitudes toward females were more pronounced for children who had attained other-gender constancy. Implications for social learning and cognitive-developmental theories of sex-role development are discussed.     

Israeli kindergarten children's gender constancy for others' counter‐stereotypic toy play and appearance: the role of sibling gender and relative age

To test divergent theoretical predictions as to the impact of having a younger or older, same‐sex sibling or opposite‐sex sibling on other gender constancy, Israeli kindergarten children in two‐child families responded to a gender constancy task in which a male and female picture target engaged in counter‐stereotypic toy play and adopted counter‐stereotypic appearance. Children were also asked whether the target child could change sex at will and to explain the difference between boys and girls. Relative age of sibling, both independently and in interaction with participant sex, was associated with greater gender constancy in the face of counter‐stereotypic toy play. Relative age of sibling and sibling sex was independently associated with greater gender constancy in the face of counter‐stereotypic appearance. In both cases, children with a younger sibling evidenced greater gender constancy. Boys, especially ones with a male sibling, referred most explicitly to target's birth sex in accounting for his or her being unable to change sex at will. Genital and anatomical differences between boys and girls were cited more often by children who referred explicitly to target's birth sex and had a younger sibling. The results were discussed in the context of theories of gender development and the socialization of gender within the family. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender constancy: A methodological and theoretical analysis

Two widely used tests of gender constancy, one verbal and one perceptual, were given to 26 4-to-6-year-old children. Children were classified at different levels of gender constancy, depending on which test was used. These discrepant results were not accounted for by the differences in the way the tests presented (verbally or visually), nor by the tests' differing definitions of gender constancy. The majority of the children answered gender constancy questions as though they were referring to a “pretend,” as opposed to a “real,” situation; such responses decreased scores of gender constancy on both tests. The theoretical and methodological implications of children spontaneously adopting a pretend mode of responding are discussed.     

"God made me a girl": sex-category constancy judgments and explanations revisited

To examine reasons for inconsistent findings in the development of sex-category constancy, children's constancy judgments and their accompanying explanations were studied over a 3-year period. Preschool, kindergarten, and 1st-grade children (N = 195) completed a sex-category constancy measure that elicited explanations and assessed constancy for the self and others across changes in gender-typed clothing, activities, and traits. Improvements in sex-category constancy performance were linked to explanations based on operational reasoning. Lower constancy scores were linked to explanations that emphasized gender role norms and external appearances. A separate analysis revealed that judgment-explanation relationships were stronger for questions about gender role changes in the self as opposed to others and for changes in gender-typed clothing as opposed to activities and traits. Findings suggest that the salience and personal relevance of gender role changes have important effects on children's sex-category constancy judgments and explanations.     

An experimental test of the effects of gender constancy on sex typing

This study provides an experimental test of the hypothesis that level of gender constancy understanding affects children’s sex typing. Preschool-age children (N = 62, mean age = 47 months) were randomly assigned to experimental lessons that taught that biological traits (including gender) are either fixed (pro-constancy condition) or mutable (anti-constancy condition). Posttests revealed that the lessons were effective; children in the pro-constancy condition showed higher gender constancy and appearance–reality distinction scores than did children in the anti-constancy condition. Sex typing did not, however, differ between treatment conditions at immediate and 3-month posttesting.     

Cognitive factors in the development of sex-typed preferences

This study considered how children coordinate their understandings of gender identity and sex stereotypes to produce sex-typed preferences. Sex-typed preferences and gender constancy were assessed at ages 4 through 8 years on a cross section of urban black and white children (N=819). Findings verified that sex-stereotyped preferences are highly developed among young children prior to the period when gender constancy is fully developed. Additionally, by age 5, most children accurately attributed sex-stereotyped preferences to peers of the opposite sex. A distinction was made between a sex stereotype and a same-sex bias as a basis for a sex-typed preference. Gender constancy was shown to strengthen the same-sex bias as a determinant of a sex-typed preference, but this effect was context specific. Under certain conditions sex-stereotyped knowledge constrained the same-sex bias as a determinant of preferential choice.     

Gender and computers. II. The interactive effects of knowledge and constancy on gender-stereotyped attitudes

A number of studies have failed to find that gender constancy (understanding that one's gender is permanent) predicts gender-typed attitudes and behavior. This study (run with a predominantly white sample) tests the hypothesis that gender constant children are motivated to master gender roles, but that how well they do so depends on their knowledge of gender stereotypes. We predicted that attitudes toward computer use (a stereotypically male activity) would be less positive only for 5–9-year-old gender constant girls who also had rich gender stereotypes. Predictions were confirmed, especially for girls whose constancy had recently increased. These data thus suggest that the clearest picture of gender role development emerges when both the unique and interactive effects of gender constancy and gender schema development are assessed. They also indicate that gender differences in computer attitudes can develop through self-socialization processes.This research was supported in part by research Grant No. R37 MH37215 and Research Scientist Development Award No. 00484 from the National Institute of Mental Health to the third author. The first two authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the James S. McDonnell Foundation. All authors would also like to thank Tom Alfieri, Faith Greulich, and Lisa Cyphers for their help at various stages of this project.     

Gender-Typing of Children’s Toys: Causes,Consequences, and Correlates

Gender differences in children’s toy interests and play behaviors are large and may lead to gender differentiation of physical, cognitive, and social development among children. In this Special Issue, we gather together cutting-edge research on the factors that affect gender differences in children’s toy interests, how subtle gender-related messages affect children’s performance and behaviors, and how adults create these gender-related messages and affect children’s interests. We illustrate themes found in the current literature, but also comment on issues that need to be addressed by future research. We also identify points of intervention in which stereotypes about toys and gender differentiated play behaviors and toy interests can be reduced in an effort to promote greater diversity of children’s play.     

Gender is what you look like: Emerging gender identities in young children and preoccupation with appearance

Abstract

Our work examining young children’s strong desire to wear gender-stereotypical clothing suggests that physical appearance may be early reflections of developing gender identities. We test implications of this association between gender and appearance with two studies examining young children’s preoccupation with looking pretty or handsome. Findings revealed that being more attuned to gender information was linked to greater appearance preoccupation. Girls were more preoccupied with their appearances compared to boys. Age was associated with greater appearance preoccupation in two of our three measures. These studies suggest that appearances may reflect developing gender identities, and that gender identity development can influence children’s appearance preoccupation. We suggest that future research examine the stability and generalizability of appearance preoccupation.