The Occurrence And Development Of Gender Color Metaphors In Young Children

When gender is associated with color,and even the specific color is used as the gender identification or distinguishing information of others,the color metaphor of gender occurs.This is an interesting and important topic in the process of children’s psychological development.In order to explore the occurrence and development of gender color metaphor in 3.0-4.5-year-old children and the relationship with theory of mind,We studied the gender differences in color preferences between primary and middle class children.The research mainly includes two experiments.Study 1 using the mixed experiment design of 2(gender: male and female)x 3(age:3.0-3.5,3.5-4.0,4.0-4.5)× 7(color: red,orange,yellow,green,blue,purple and powder).The sex and age are between variables,and the color are within variable,and the dependent variable is the frequency of selection of each color.The results showed that:(1)there are gender differences between children’s color preference,girls’ preference for pink is significantly higher than boys,boys have higher preference for yellow than girls;(2)with age,boys prefer blue goods more,and the degree of avoiding purple decreased;while girls’ love for pink decreased with the age;(3)3.0-3.5-year-old group About 53 percent of children do not know their gender,and 62 percent cannot distinguish the gender of others.But the 4.0-4.5-year-old children can report their gender correctly,96.88% of the children can correctly distinguish the gender of others.In Experiment 2,the experiment was designed with a mixture of 2(gender: male and female)x 3(age: 3.0-3.5,3.5-4.0,4.0-4.5 years old)× 4(select situation: self-situation,hypothesis situation,homosexual,heterosexual)x 7(color: red,orange,yellow,green,blue,purple,powder).Among them,gender and age are between variables,select situation and color are within variables.Self-situation refers to choosing color forthemselves,and hypothetical situation refers to the selection for the assumed opposite sex.heterosexual situation means choosing for opposite sex partners and homosexual situation means choosing for the same gender partners,the dependent variable is the frequency of choice of each color material preference.The results showed that:(1)there ware no gender difference in color preference among 3.0-3.5-year-old children;children in 3.5-4.0-4.5-year-old group showed that boys preferred blue and yellow,girls preferred purple and pink;(2)children in3.0-3.5-year-old group had no gender difference in color preference under self-condition,but showed sex in hypothetical situation,same-sex others and opposite sex others Don’t make any difference.The children in the 3.5-4.0-4.0-4.5-year-old group showed the gender difference of color preference results in four situations;(3)the 3.5-4.0-year-old children associated red,purple and pink with women,green and blue were associated with men,while 4.0-4.5-year-old children associated red,purple and pink with girls,orange,yellow,green and blue were associated with men.Conclusions:(1)The gender consciousness of children develops continuously between 3.0 and 4.5years old,and children give priority to self gender cognition,and then develop the gender cognition of other people’s;(2)The children aged 3.0-3.5 have not yet formed gender color metaphors,3.5-4.0-year-old children start to form gender color metaphors,4.0-4.5-year-old children have formed relatively stable gender color metaphors;(3)The gender color metaphor of children is influenced by psychological theory,which shows that the level of gender awareness in hypothesis situation,homosexual situation and heterosexual situation is higher than that of self-situation;(4)With the growth of children’s age,the gender color metaphors formed by children are more and more abundant;children at the age of 3.5-4.0 associate five kind of colors with gender,and children will associate seven kinds of colors with gender at the age of4.0-4.5.