From the time we are born, humans
must learn a phenomenal amount of information to survive and thrive in the
complexities of human society. Starting
at a young age, children look to experts to fill in the gaps in their
knowledge. Research suggests that by the age of four, a child preferd someone
who knows how to fix their broken toy over someone who only knows the name of
the tool needed to fix it. This ability to identify important information is a foundation
in the concept of social learning. Social learning is described as the ability
for a child to gain knowledge from others without engaging in the activity
directly. As far as children’s interpretation of gender stereotypes, young
children seem to develop a preference to play with others of the same gender as
them. Children often exhibit a strong sense of gender identity that starts in
preschool. and articulate rigid expectations in how they and their peers should
behave, otherwise known as stereotype (e.g. ‘Pink is a girl’s colour’, and
‘Boys play with trucks, not dolls’).
Current Study
To test the extent of
how children’s view of gender affects the ability to recognize experts,
Boseovski, Hughes, and Miller looked at the influence of opposite gender
stereotype on children’s ability to identify the correct expert, likability,
and learning preference. To test this, they used forty-eight 5-6 year olds, and
forty-eight 6-8 year olds. The children perform tasks that included stories
that involved boy and girl characters of the same age, that were either experts
or novices in an activity. Half of the characters of both genders, were experts
in stereotypical activities. Boys being experts in football or construction and
girls being experts in sewing and ballet. The other half of the characters were
counter gender-stereotypical experts: boys who knew a lot about ballet or
sewing and girls who knew a lot about construction and football.
When children were presented a story
with a choice between experts who looked like a stereotype of their gender and
a novice, results showed all but three children identified the correct expert
from the novice. The boys rated boy experts significantly higher on the
likability scale than girl stereotypical experts. The girls rated girl
stereotypical experts higher than boys, but not significantly so.
However, results were a little
different when children were presented stories with a choice between a gender typical
novice and an expert who looked like the opposite of their gender, otherwise
known as gender counter-stereotypical. When looking at the children’s responses to
correctly identify the counter-stereotypical expert, the results showed younger
boys and girls picked the experts the same amount. As expected, the older
children were more likely to pick the gender counter-stereotypical experts as
correct than younger children. However, it is interesting that authors specifically
noted boys in both age groups were at chance levels for identifying girl
experts as correct. Meaning the boys were more likely to identify the boy
expert as correct, but not so much for the girl experts when the experts were
gender counter-stereotypical. As for likability ratings, older children gave
higher likability scores for counter gender-stereotypical experts than younger
children, no matter the gender of the expert. Interestingly, the authors found younger
and older boys liked boy experts more than girl experts in this group. When it
came to the learning preferences for the children, younger children wanted to
learn more from experts of the same gender, no matter the stereotype. Keeping
in line with other research, younger boys were more likely to prefer learning
from boy experts, and younger girls were more likely to prefer learning from
girl experts. But, older boys and girls did not have a learning preference for
same gender experts.
The authors specifically mentioned the
older and younger boys’ performance as interesting. They also confirmed the
results were consistent with other research that indicated boys were less
likely than girls to acknowledge girls as gender counter stereotypical experts
in activities like athletics. Boseovski, Hughes, and Miller point out that as
girls age they are heavily discouraged from taking part in physical sports.
However, it is important to note that the authors are cautious in drawing
conclusions from their results and do not draw cause and effect relationships
from their results.
Moving Forward
Why is this important? We want to make
sure our children have every opportunity and advantage to learn new information
and blossom into smart, inquisitive adults. Part of that includes helping
children recognize when experts have useful information. Another part of why
it’s important to understand the influence of gender on children’s knowledge
acquisition is because we want to reduce stigma surrounding rigid gender
stereotypes. Ultimately we want everyone’s expertise to be recognized and
taken seriously. This is not a simple topic research, nor is it an easy problem
to fix. But I am hopeful that future research will help us minimize negative
effects of rigid gender expectations.
Author: Melissa Elfers
Source:
Boseovski, J. J., Hughes, C., & Miller, S. E. (2016). Expertise in unexpected places: Children’s acceptance of information from gender counter-stereotypical experts. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 161–176. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.002
