Hillard and Liben(2010)

Methodology

Experimental study for two weeks

Aim

To investigate how social category might play a role in developing stereotypes and intergroup behavior in elementary school children

Procedure

At two preschools, 57 us children were in the study. Each child did a gender attitude test to measure gender flexibility. They were shown pictures of activities or occupations and asked which gender should perform in, and calculated the neutral ones. there were 22 ‘male’, 20’female’ and 24 neutral items.Lower numbers in neutral meant more gender stereotypes. A second test was done to observe the gender they play with and schools were allocated to one of two conditions. High salience, teachers mentions the words boy and girls more, low salience, teachers weren’t given instructions.

Results

In pre-test, both groups has similar responses for ‘both’ after the high salience, a significant decrease in the both, meaning more gender stereotypes. in playing with the other gender, Low salience had no change, high salience had less play with the other gender

Conclusion

Experimental in the children’s environment. High ecological validity but low internal validity. Lots of sampling bias, middle to high-class children. Hard to generalize

Evaluation

Cause- and effect because experimental

Ethics

Debriefing was done with the children after to ensure their perception of their class hasn't changed, undue harm is possible because can’t reverse their behaviors