Work

Boys Will Be Boys; Cows Will Be Cows: Children’s Essentialist Reasoning About Gender Categories and Animal Species

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Two studies (N = 456) compared the development of concepts of animal species and human gender, using a switched-at-birth reasoning task. Younger children (5- and 6-year-olds) treated animal species and human gender as equivalent; they made similar levels of category-based inferences and endorsed similar explanations for development in these 2 domains. In contrast, 10-year-olds and adults treated gender and species concepts as distinct from one another. They viewed gender-linked behavioral properties as open to environmental influence and endorsed environment-based mechanisms to explain gender development. At all ages, children demonstrated differentiated reasoning about physical and behavioral properties, although this differentiation became more stable with age. The role of psychological essentialism in guiding conceptual development is discussed.

Source: Child Development

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01272.x

Authors: Marianne G Taylor, Marjorie Rhodes, Susan A Gelman

Institutions: Pacific Lutheran University, University of Michigan

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G1215076742, Concepts and Theories in Human Development, Concepts and Theories in Human Development