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Gender Schema and Social Judgments: A Developmental Study of Children from Hong Kong

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, July, 2000 by Thalma E. Lobel, Eva Bar-David, Reut Gruber, Sing Lau, Yoram Bar-Tal

Thalma E. Lobel [1]

The purpose of the study was to examine inferences and judgments of gender schematic and aschematic children. Kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade Hong Kong Chinese children (n = 196) were categorized into schematic and aschematic groups on the basis of their reaction times to gender-stereotypic and counterstereotypic items. The children were then asked to make several inferences and judgments about four male and female targets behaving gender-stereotypically or counterstereotypically. Both age and gender schematicity were related to the children's inferences. Older children and genderschematic children relied more on individuating information and younger children relied more on the gender label. The results are discussed within the framework of gender-schema theories.

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INTRODUCTION

Gender schema theories (e.g., Martin & Halverson, 1981, 1987) maintain that gender is a major component around which children organize information (Martin, 1989; Martin & Halverson, 1981). These theories assert that gender-related information is organized in the form of a schema, an abstract knowledge structure that serves as implicit theory, and expectations that guide attention, retrieval, behavior, and social judgment (Martin & Halverson, 1981; Stangor & McMillan, 1992). The present study is concerned with the purported influence of gender schema on children's inferences and judgments.

Many studies have illustrated that children make gender-related inferences and judgments (Berndt & Heller, 1986; Biernat, 1991; Martin, 1989; Martin, Wood & Little, 1990). These studies focused on developmental issues and, although their findings somewhat differ, they all concluded that the relative extent to which children's inferences rely on gender label and on individuating information, i.e., targets' interests and activities, varies with age. Whereas kindergarten children rely mainly on gender label, older children rely more upon individuating information. Biernat (1991) offered two explanations as to why kindergarten children rely solely on gender label. First, as was evidenced in past research, the gender label is a very salient judgment cue upon which children base their predictions about the characteristics of a given individual (Martin, 1989). Second, it is likely that, given younger children's relatively limited cognitive capacity, they are not able to integrate multiple sources of information or reconcile contradictions, such as the ones inherent in counterstereotypic behavior (Harter & Buddin, 1987; Higgins, 1981; Martin, 1989).

Gender schema theories (e.g., Martin & Halverson, 1981) maintain that individual differences in gender schematicity should be considered in order fully to understand children's gender-related behavior and judgments (for a review see Signorella, Bigler, & Liben, 1993). Researchers in gender development agree that individual differences exist in various dimensions of gender typing including knowledge, flexibility, gender schematicity, and gender-typed behavior (e.g., Katz & Boswell, 1986; Katz & Ksansnak, 1994; Signorella, 1987; Turner & Gervai, 1995). However, although current research has established clear developmental differences in children's inferences and judgments, surprisingly little empirical research directly examines how and when these judgments might be influenced by individual differences in children's gender schematicity. This is especially surprising considering the fact that individual differences in the use of gender-related knowledge were acknowledged "It is intriguing that some children spo ntaneously guessed the sex of the target children, indicating that they may have used gender to mediate their judgments. Perhaps gender is very salient for these children" (Martin et al., 1990, p. 1897).

The present study focuses on the relationship between individual differences in children's gender schematicity, and inferences and judgments in kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade children. In order to formulate our hypotheses we shall first try to define gender schematicity by integrating several theoretical frameworks, and then examine individual differences in gender schematicity from a developmental perspective.

Conceptualization of Individual Differences in Gender Schematicity

Investigators have elaborated upon definitions of individual differences in gender schematicity by distinguishing conceptually among different aspects of the gender schema. Although specific definitions vary, two general components typically define individual differences in schematicity: accessibility of the gender schema and its complexity and richness.

Individual differences in gender schematicity can be conceptualized as differences in the global and prominent tendency to use the gender schema construct, i.e., differences in its importance when attending and judging the social world (Ruble & Stangor, 1986). According to Bem (1981), gender-schematic individuals have greater readiness to process information on the basis of gender than do gender-aschematic individuals. Higgins (1996; Higgins & King, 1981) maintained that there are individual differences in the chronic accessibility of the stored cognitive constructs that influence the information processing of related stimuli (e.g., Bargh & Thein, 1985; Bargh, Bond, Lombardi, & Tota, 1986; Higgins & Bargh, 1987). Therefore, gender-schematic and aschematic individuals differ in the chronic accessibility of their gender schema.

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Gender Schema and Social Judgments: A Developmental Study of Children from Hong Kong

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, July, 2000 by Thalma E. Lobel, Eva Bar-David, Reut Gruber, Sing Lau, Yoram Bar-Tal

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