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Traditional and Evaluative Aspects of Flexibility in Gender Roles, Social Conventions, Moral Rules, and Physical Laws
Author(s) -
Levy Gary D.,
Taylor Marianne G.,
Gelman Susan A.
Publication year - 1995
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/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00887.x
Subject(s) - etiquette , psychology , flexibility (engineering) , social psychology , developmental psychology , law , statistics , mathematics , political science
Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility regarding transgressions across several domains (masculine and feminine gender roles, moral rules, social etiquette, and physical law) were assessed in 24 4‐year‐olds, 40 8‐year‐olds, and 46 college undergraduates. Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility yielded distinctly different patterns of response. Data indicated an age‐related increase in flexibility on traditional measures (i.e., traditional rule flexibility, cultural relativity) for transgressions in all domains, except physical laws. In contrast, subjects in all age groups were consistently negative in their evaluations of transgressions in moral rules, etiquette, and masculine gender roles. Female subjects viewed masculine gender role transgressions with greater flexibility and less negativity than did male subjects. Results demonstrate the multidimensional character of flexibility development in different social and physical domains. Results suggest that masculine and feminine gender roles and social etiquette may not fall within a common domain of social convention.