Testing the Limits of Structural Thinking about Gender

Autor/inn/en	Yang, Xin; Naas, Ragnhild; Dunham, Yarrow
Titel	Testing the Limits of Structural Thinking about Gender
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 25 (2022) 2, (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-7687
DOI	10.1111/desc.13169
Schlagwörter	Children; Childrens Attitudes; Abstract Reasoning; Sex; Cues; Social Discrimination; Gender Bias; Peer Relationship; Gender Issues + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Child; Kind; Kinder; Abstraktes Denken; Denken; Geschlecht; Geschlechtsverkehr; Stichwort; Soziale Benachteiligung; Soziale Schließung; Geschlechterstereotyp; Peer-Beziehungen; Geschlechterfrage
Abstract	When seeking to explain social regularities (such as gender differences in the labor market) people often rely on internal features of the targets, frequently neglecting structural and systemic factors external to the targets. For example, people might think women leave the job market after childbirth because they are less competent or are better suited for child-rearing than men, thereby eliding socio-cultural and economic factors that disadvantage women. Across two studies (total N = 192) we probe 4- and 5-year-olds and 7- and 8-year-olds' internal versus structural reasoning about gender. We explore the evaluative and behavioral implications of this reasoning process with both novel gendered behaviors that were experimentally created and familiar gendered behaviors that exist outside of a lab context. We show that children generate more structural explanations, evaluate the structural explanation more positively, expect behaviors to be more mutable, and evaluate gender non-conforming behaviors more positively when structural cues are provided. However, we also show that such information may be of limited effectiveness at reducing pre-existing group-based discriminatory behaviors: children continue to report less willingness to affiliate with peers who display non-conforming behaviors even in the presence of structural cues. Taken together, these results provide evidence concerning children's structural reasoning about gender categories and shed new light on how such reasoning might affect social evaluations and behavioral intentions. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01