Abstract

Sex differences in social behaviour emerge as early as 2 years of age and gender schema theorists have suggested that preverbal infants possess ‘tacit’ knowledge of gender which informs their behaviour. This study examined sex‐congruent preferences using a visual preference paradigm in four domains (babies, children, toys, activities) in a longitudinal study of infants aged 3, 9 and 18 months. At 3 months, infants showed a marginally significant preference for same‐sex babies driven principally by males. Sex‐congruent toy preference was found among males at ages 9 and 18 months. Both sexes preferred masculine activity styles but this effect was significantly stronger among males than females. Gender schema theory requires gendered self‐concept as a precursor to sex‐congruent preference. Infants did not recognize themselves from photographs at any of the ages tested. By 18 months approximately two thirds of infants showed self‐recognition on the rouge test. However, at none of the ages and in none of the domains tested was self‐recognition related to sex‐congruent preference. Cross‐domain consistency of preference was not found. There was evidence of some stability of preference within domains between the ages of 9 and 18 months and this stability was very marked for activity preference.

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