The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Sex-Related Comparisons: Theory 155

differently. Today, there is still evidence that

parents encourage sex-typed toys, although

parents may deny it. In a study of 3- to 5-year-

old children, parents said that they encour-

aged both sex-typed and cross-sex typed toys

equally among their girls and boys (Freeman,

2007). However, the children had different

perceptions of their parents’ reactions. When

the children were asked how their parents

would react to them playing with specific toys,

a majority indicated that parents would ap-

prove of sex-typed toys (90%) and only a small

minority indicated that parents would approve

of cross-sex typed toys (26%).

An important moderator of the meta-

analysis (Lytton & Romney, 1991) was meth-

odology. Studies that included more objective

methods, such as experiments and observa-

tional studies, showed larger differences in the

way parents treated boys and girls than stud-

ies that used more subjective methods, such

as questionnaires and interviews. In other

words, parents did not report treating daugh-

ters and sons differently, but their behavior

suggested otherwise. In general, the higher-

quality studies showed larger differences in

the way parents treated daughters and sons.

More recent studies suggest other ways

in which parents may treat girls and boys dif-

ferently. For example, boys are more likely

to be physically punished than girls (Zahn-

Waxler & Polanichka, 2004). Other behaviors

may be more subtle. One observational study

showed that mothers spent more time watch-

ing boys and more time actively involved with

girls (Clearfield & Nelson, 2006). Clearfield and

Nelson concluded that parents could be send-

ing the message that it is okay for boys to be

independent whereas girls require assistance.

Lytton and Romney’s (1991) meta-

analysis also showed that parents’ differential

treatment of children seemed to decline with

the child’s age. This is not surprising because

DO GENDER 5.2

Can Perceptions Alter

Sex Differences?

1. Ask 20 people to complete two tasks,
   one being a test of spatial skills and
   one being a test of verbal skills.
   Come up with your own two tasks.


2. Before asking people to complete
   the tasks, randomly assign them to
   one of the following two conditions:
   Condition 1: This is the control group.
   Give no particular instructions.
   Condition 2: This is the experimental
   group. Manipulate respondents into
   perceiving that the spatial task is one
   in which females excel and the ver-
   bal task is one in which males excel.
   Think about what information you can
   provide to alter people’s perceptions.
   You might provide false statistics that
   show one sex performs better than the
   other sex. You might describe the type
   of person who excels on the task in
   masculine versus feminine terms.


3. After people have completed the
   task, have them rate how they view
   each task on a number of scales, two
   of which are:
   Not at all
   masculine12345Very masculine
   Not at all
   feminine 12345 Very feminine
   You may include other rating scales
   so that respondents will not detect
   the items of interest. You also could
   use other terms besidesmasculine
   andfeminine, such as those that
   appear on the masculinity and
   femininity scales.


4. Compare male and female perfor-
   mance on the two tasks in the two
   different conditions.

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