| One hundred and fifty-two kindergarten and fifth grade students participated in two standardized tests to assess the influence of gender stereotypes on children's performance. In the two experimental conditions, children were presented with a feminine label prior to one task and a masculine label prior to the other task. In the category experimental condition, children were presented with gender labels that categorized one task as appropriate for girls and one task as appropriate for boys. In the ability experimental condition, children were informed that girls did better on one test and that boys did better on the other test. This study also included a control group in which children received neutral labels prior to both tasks. As expected, the findings indicated that children performed better on the same-sex tasks when compared to the opposite-sex tasks, but that the results depended on sex, grade, and the type of stereotype (i.e., category or ability). In the category condition, only kindergarten children displayed the gender labeling effect and, in the ability condition, only kindergarten girls and fifth grade boys displayed the gender labeling effect. Moreover, children's performance differences seemed to vary according to their acceptance of the applied gender labels. In addition, children in the neutral condition performed better than the children who were exposed to the opposite-sex labels, which provided further evidence of the significant influence of gender labels. The present study also explored two potential mediators for the effects, effort and anxiety, but significant findings did not emerge. Nonetheless, indirect findings and informal observations suggest that effort and anxiety may, at times, mediate the effects. Finally, the present study included an assessment of individual difference factors (gender salience, gender attitudes, and gender identity) to explore why some children were more likely to show the gender labeling effects and remember and accept the applied gender labels. Results revealed that the findings depended on these factors. Overall, the results of this study help explain some of the inconsistent findings present in the literature. Theoretical explanations for the findings are presented, and limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. |
