Gender Stereotypes: A Psychological Analysis

There are so many different countries and tribes in this world with different customs, and cultures. Oddly, it seems like there is one specific similarity throughout the globe regardless of the culture or region; it is gender role. Of course, different levels development and open-mindedness will make a difference, but once, most of the cultures had those “traditional gender roles”. From Africa to Europe, it seems like they have a common picture in their minds; women are in the kitchen getting ready for a meal while their husbands are outside trying to provide. It is a mysterious trend. However, in modern society, there are different kinds of people with many different opinions and backgrounds on the topic of gender role. Then, how did the citizens …show more content…
First of all, how do the children of young age develop their perception of gender stereotype? Children’s preference on gender-specific toys results from their knowledge about the gender stereotypes, which is gained throughout the years. This paper is going to focus more on behavior side of the development instead of psychology of it. Stephanie Aubry, Diane N. Ruble, and Laura B. Silverman break this steps down into two separate analytical aspects in their article “The Role of Gender Knowledge in Children’s Gender-Typed Preferences”: knowledge, and preference. To find out the participants’ knowledge about gender stereotypes, the experimenters showed them eight highly gender stereotypical items, and 11 names of characteristics that are either considered feminine or masculine, and made them point at either “man” or “woman” card. Also, this experiment was done through 3-year time period with 5 sessions per year, so we can see how the changes are made as the participants grow. Throughout the sessions, participants, both boys and girls, gained more knowledge about the gender stereotypes for same-gender and other-gender items. To visualize the …show more content…
Then, how do these two aspects correlate? Through the same experiment, they have concluded that knowledge of the participants directly relates to their preference. There was some time lag for the time it takes for the knowledge to affect their preference; however, experimenter found significant relationship between knowledge of gender stereotype and “gender appropriateness” and children’s toy preference (Aubry et al. 373-388). Through this experiment, it is clear that the children are obtaining information about gender roles, and gender appropriateness from some source, and applying it to their preferences and choices. Further, the article, “Pink Gives Girls Permission: Exploring the Roles of Explicit Gender Labels and Gender-typed Colors on Preschool Children 's Toy Preferences", delves into the prospect of color and label of the toys. This experiment covers colors and labels. To evaluate the impact of colors on toys, the children from age 3 to 5 was given both masculine and feminine toys that are both