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Gender Schema and Social Judgments: A Developmental Study of Children from Hong Kong

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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine inferences and judgments of gender schematic and aschematic children. Kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade Hong Kong Chinese children (n = 196) were categorized into schematic and aschematic groups on the basis of their reaction times to gender-stereotypic and counterstereotypic items. The children were then asked to make several inferences and judgments about four male and female targets behaving gender-stereotypically or counterstereotypically. Both age and gender schematicity were related to the children's inferences. Older children and gender-schematic children relied more on individuating information and younger children relied more on the gender label. The results are discussed within the framework of gender-schema theories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tel Aviv University, Israel

    Thalma E. Lobel

  2. Israel

    Eva Bar-David, Reut Gruber & Yoram Bar-Tal

  3. Baptist University of Hong Kong, HongKong

    Sing Lau

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  1. Thalma E. Lobel
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  2. Eva Bar-David
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  3. Reut Gruber
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  4. Sing Lau
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  5. Yoram Bar-Tal
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Lobel, T.E., Bar-David, E., Gruber, R. et al. Gender Schema and Social Judgments: A Developmental Study of Children from Hong Kong. Sex Roles 43, 19–42 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007035611440

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