The Effects of Sex Typing and Sex Appropriateness of Modeled Behavior on Children's Imitation

Abstract

BARKLEY, RUSSELL A.; ULLMAN, DOUGLAS G.; OTTO, LORI; and BRECHT, JAN M. The Effects of Sex Typing and Sex Appropriateness of Modeled Behavior on Children's Imitation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 721-725. A review of previous research on children's imitation suggested that the sex typing and sex appropriateness of a model's behavior might be more important than simply the sex of the model and observer in predicting later sex differences in imitation. To further study these variables, 32 boys and 32 girls were randomly assigned within sex to a 2 x 2 x 2 design in which children of both sexes observed videotaped male or female models displaying either masculine or feminine behavior. Also, 8 boys and 8 girls were assigned to a no-model control condition. Results indicated a significant interaction of sex of observer with sex typing of modeled behavior in which girls imitated modeled feminine behavior more than boys, regardless of the sex of the model displaying this sex-typed behavior. The pattern of results for boys suggested a trend toward greater imitation of masculine modeled behavior as compared to girls, again independent of the sex of the model. These results suggested that a major factor in sex differences in children's imitation is the sex appropriateness of the modeled behavior relative to the observer when a sex-typed behavior is modeled.