The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

222 Chapter 7

always compatible. Second, girls find it diffi-

cult to influence boys, which makes interac-

tions with boys less desirable for girls. Third,

there is institutional support for same-sex

play; that is, other people discourage other-sex

interactions. In childhood, those other people

are parents and peers. In adulthood, those

other people are spouses/romantic partners,

family, and friends. I discuss the evidence for

each of these reasons.

Children’s Styles of Play

Boys’ play and girls’ play are different

(Maccoby, 1998; Rose & Rudolph, 2006).

Boys play in large groups, whereas girls are

more likely to play with only one or two

friends. Boys’ play is rough, competitive, and

emphasizes dominance; girls’ play is quiet, of-

ten conversational, and involves more struc-

tured activities (e.g., drawing or painting; see

Figure 7.1). Boys’ play is boisterous, activity

oriented, and takes up a good deal of space

(i.e., the street, the entire yard). Boys are

more likely to play outdoors, whereas girls

are more likely to play inside the house or

stay within their yards. These sex differences

emerge in childhood and persist or increase

during middle childhood and adolescence.

Even girls’ and boys’ fantasy play differs.

Girls are more likely to pretend to play house

or school, where one person enacts the role

of teacher or parent and the other enacts the

role of student or child; boys, by contrast,

are more likely to emulate heroic characters,

such as Superman. It is easy to see how these

play styles might not be compatible.

Girls and boys also have different

conversational styles, which map onto

their distinct styles of play (Maccoby, 1998;

McCloskey, 1996). Girls’ conversation serves

to foster connection, whereas boys’ conver-

sation is motivated to establish dominance.

Girls express agreement with one another,

take turns when speaking, acknowledge one

another’s feeling, and teach younger chil-

dren how to play games—behavior that has

been labeledprosocial dominance(Whiting

& Edwards, 1988). Boys interrupt each other,

threaten each other, refuse to comply with

one another, try to top one another’s sto-

ries, and call each other names—behavior

that has been labeledegoistic dominance.

Girls are more likely to make a polite sugges-

tion (“Could you pick up the ball, please?”),

whereas boys are more likely to order some-

one to do something (“Pick up the ball!”).

It is not the case, however, that girls’ play is

completely free from conflict. See Sidebar 7.1

for a discussion of the different kinds of

aggression that characterize children’s play.

Yet, there is some evidence that different

play styles do not completely account for the

same-sex play preference. In one study, chil-

dren ages 2.5 to 5 who had more and less sex-

typed play styles were equally likely to play

with the same sex (Hoffmann & Powlishta,

2001). It is also possible that same-sex play

leads to different play styles rather than dif-

ferent play styles leading to same-sex play.

FIGURE 7.1 This is a common form of play

among girls—dyadic and quiet, with the opportu-

nity for conversation.

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