Achievements of male and female storybook characters as determinants of achievement behavior by boys and girls

36 male and 36 female nursery-school children heard either a stereotype story depicting achievement behavior by a male, but not by a female, a reversal story depicting achievement behavior by a female, but not by a male, or a control story depicting no achievement behavior by any character. As predicted, a significant Sex-Storybook interaction effect was obtained: Males persisted longer on a task after hearing a story depicting achievement behavior by a male character than after a story depicting the same behavior by a female, while a nonsignificant trend in the opposite direction was observed for females. Males were less likely than females to recall the female character's behavior, and both sexes manifested preferences for a same-sex character. (20 ref)