Sex-Role Learning: A Test of the Selective Attention Hypothesis

Both social learning and cognitive-developmental theories propose that acquisition of sex-role knowledge depends upon some mechanism of selective attention to same-sex models. In 2 experiments, pictures of a male and female model performing matched acts were shown, and visual attention was assessed by the method of feedback electroencephalography (EEG). Recall and preference for the slides were also measured. In experiments 1 and 2, 48 children (ages 5-6 and 9-10) viewed models performing sex-appropriate, sex-inappropriate, and sex-neutral tasks. No difference was found in the EEG attentional measures for the male versus female slides. In experiment 1 the children recalled and preferred the same-sex task and preferred the same-sex model. In experiment 2 the children, regardless of gender, recalled more of the male than the female slides. Males preferred the male tasks while females preferred male and female tasks equally. It was concluded that there is no evidence in these studies for selective attention to same-sex models. It was shown with appropriate comparison conditions that the finding of no difference (null) could not be attributed to insensitivity of the alpha-blocking response as an index of visual attention: significant differences of alpha blocking were associated with shifts of visual attention which were included as control conditions in the experiments.