Sex Differences: A Study of the Eye of the Beholder

In an attempt to assess the effects of labeling on socially mediated sex differences in infancy, 204 male and female subjects rated the same infant's emotional responses to 4 different arousing stimuli: half of the subjects were told they were observing a "boy" and the other half, a "girl." The same infant in a particular situation was seen as displaying different emotions and significantly different levels of emotional arousal depending on the sex attributed to the infant, the sex of the rater, and the rater's experience with young children. The results suggest a healthy caution be exercised in interpreting studies of sex differences obtained by observers who know the sex of the child being rated.