Children's assignment of gender to animal characters in pictures

In previous research (DeLoache, Cassidy, & Carpenter, 1987), mothers' descriptions of gender-neutral animal characters were influenced by subtle gender stereo-types. The present research was an investigation of children's assignment of gender to the same neutral characters. The youngest children, 4 to 5 years old, usually assigned their own gender to the characters (bears). The 7- to 8-year-old and 10- to 11-year-old children were influenced by gender stereotypes. Solitary or noninteracting bears were less likely to receive female gender labels than were bears involved in adult-child interactions. Boys in the oldest age group were most influenced by the stereotypes.