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Affecting Girls’ Activity and Job Interests Through Play: The Moderating Roles of Personal Gender Salience and Game Characteristics
Author(s) -
Coyle Emily F.,
Liben Lynn S.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12463
Subject(s) - psychology , femininity , salience (neuroscience) , social psychology , schema (genetic algorithms) , gender role , developmental psychology , psychological intervention , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , machine learning , computer science , psychoanalysis
Gender schema theory (GST) posits that children approach opportunities perceived as gender appropriate, avoiding those deemed gender inappropriate, in turn affecting gender‐differentiated career trajectories. To test the hypothesis that children's gender salience filters ( GSF —tendency to attend to gender) moderate these processes, 62 preschool girls ( M = 4.5 years) were given GSF measures. Two weeks later, they played a computer game about occupations that manipulated the game‐character's femininity (hyperfeminized Barbie vs. less feminized Playmobil Jane ). Following game play, girls’ interests in feminine activities showed an interaction of game condition and GSF : High‐ GSF girls showed intensified feminine activity interests only with Barbie; low‐ GSF girls showed no change with either character. Neither GSF nor game condition affected occupational interests. Implications for GST, individual differences, and occupational interventions are discussed.