Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the relative effects of three types of modeling conditions on inhibiting feminine responses in observers. Forty-four kindergarten boys, whose ages ranged from 5-2 to 6-2, were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Ss in the first model group (N group) were exposed to a male adult model who was playing with “neutral” toys for two minutes. The model twice approached the feminine toys. The only toys he touched, however, were neutral toys. No words were spoken by this model. Ss in the second group (V group) observed a male model who approached the feminine toys with inhibiting verbal statements (e. g.,“These are nice toys, but I' m not going to play with them. They are all for girls.”). This model did not play with the neutral toys. The model for the third group (NV group) displayed all the motor and verbal behaviors shown by the models in N and V conditions. Ss in the fourth group (Control) did not observe the model. Immediately following one of these treatments. each S was of ferred two groups of toys, feminine and neutral toys, and allowed to play with them for seven minutes in the absence of E. Ss were observed from behind a one-way mirror once every 10 seconds for a period of 7 minutes. Thus, each S was observed 42 times. Two types of scores were obtained from the observation. Latency scores consisted of the number of 10 second intervals elapsing before S was observed to look at, come close to, or touch a feminine toy. The number of observations in which S looked at, was close to, or touched a feminine toys was used as another measure, feminine response scores.
The major findings of the study were the following:
1) The latency data showed that those Ss who observed the model touched feminine toys with singificantly longer latencies than those Ss who did not observe the model. The latency data also indicated that the means of this measure of N and V groups did not dif fer significantly. Ss in NV group touched feminine toys with significantly longer latencies than Ss in N and V groups.
2) Ss in the three modeling conditions played with feminine toys significantly less frequently than Ss in the control condition. Although Ss in the NV condition showed less feminine responses than N and V conditions, the difference among the three modeling conditions was not statistically significant.
These obtained results were interpreted to suggest that control over the feminine responses in boys may be acquired through the observation of 1) the model inhibiting feminine responses with verbal statements and/or 2) the model's behavior which is incompatible with feminine responses.
