Young Children's Gender Stereotypes are the beliefs people share about the typical characteristics of males and females. As early as age 2 ½ yrs, children have learned basic stereotypes about the sexes, including information about appearance and activities.
For instance, young children think that
Girls have long and curly hair and that they cry a lot.
Boys are taller and stronger than girls and hit people more.
Softness is associated with being female and hardness with being male.
Do not think that males and females differ in personality, except in very concrete terms such as being strong or being nice.
Gender stereotypes influence children in many ways. Children use them to
Make judgments about other people, especially when their information about the other people is limited.
Remember. Generally, children remember information that fits their stereotypic beliefs. After being shown pictures of girls and boys engaged in many activities, children better remember the pictures of those children engaged in stereotypic activities (such as a boy playing with a car) than those of children engaged in counter-stereotypic activities (such as a boy playing with a doll). Young children also remember more about people of the same sex than about people of the other sex.
Participants