Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Protocol for Studying Extinction of Conditioned Fear in Naturally Cycling Female Rats
Published on: February 23, 2015
Abstract:
The present study investigated girls' perceptions of the adult female role. It focused upon the relative impacts of maternal variables, societal stereotypes, and age upon girls' sex-role concepts. Subjects were 150 girls, ages 6--8 and 10--12, from working-class families in rural Ohio. Several measures were administered to each girl to assess the nature of her sex-role attitudes and aspirations. Questionnaires were sent home to participating mothers to determine maternal sex-role attitudes and aspirations. Questionnaires were sent home to participating mothers to determine maternal sex-role attitudes, maternal employment status, and maternal role satisfaction. The results supported a cognitive-developmental explanation of sex-role attitude development. Younger girls had significantly more sex-typed role prescriptions and aspirations than older girls. The older girls' sex-role attitudes and aspirations correlated significantly with their mothers' sex-role attitudes and goals for their daughters' futures. Maternal employment had no effect on girls' perceptions of the adult female role. It is suggested that this lack of effect may be due to the working-class background of the subjects.
Related Concept Videos
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Phallic
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Latency
The latency period is not considered...
Psychosexual Theory of Development
The Five Stages of Psychosexual Development
Freud's psychosexual...
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Conduct Disorder
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience

