Jenna Alton
jennaalton.bsky.social
Jenna Alton
@jennaalton.bsky.social
PhD Student Studying Social Cognitive Development at @univofmaryland.bsky.social
Many of these patterns got stronger with age, likely due to children’s understanding of the larger societal context of gender. E.g., boys face stricter sanctions for gender non-conformity in appearance, making the stereotypicality of their appearance a very informative cue. 6/6
August 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
…. children weighed appearances more when:

(1) reasoning about characters labeled “boys”

(2) making inferences about feminine attributes (e.g., playing with dolls)

(3) they themselves were boys

5/6
August 4, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Children generally integrated both labels and appearances into their inferences but weighed appearances more when: … 4/6
August 4, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Children picked who among 4 characters shows a certain masculine or feminine attribute *the most*. Once they did, we removed their choice from the screen and asked again. We obtained a ranking of the 4 characters from most likely to least likely to exhibit the attribute. 3/6
August 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
We explored the relative weight that 4- to 12-year-old children assign to two gender-related cues in their inferences about others: gender labels (“girl,” “boy”) and gendered appearances (feminine, masculine). 2/6
August 4, 2025 at 7:16 PM