Aggression and Sex

This paper is a summary and critique of the article “The influence of gender label on the perception of aggressiveness in children” by Condry and Ross, 1985. As a result, the article reports on an examination into the influence of gender on adults. The inquiry focuses on children’s perceptions of violence. As a result, the study is carried out utilizing a filmed case scenario featuring two preschool children who are captured while playing in the snow and are reported to be rough on each other. The video is presented to 175 college students, 36 of whom are male and 139 of whom are female. The respondents, thus, were to give their judgments based on observation concentrated to a particular target child. The respondents hence made judgments focused on four set conditions where the children were dressed in snowsuits intended to disguise their gender. All the respondents were then made to view the videotape and the results were based on their ratings of the observed levels of aggressions. Based on the experience of the respondents or the participants with the children, the results proved to have interesting implications that became useful in understanding, interpreting and conceptualizing the process of social category perception.

The methodology of the study incorporated 175 college students. As required by research ethics, all of the college students allowed to participate in the study were aged 18 years and above with specific age average of 19.2 years. The criteria for participating in the study were voluntary but the participants had to adhere to the age requirement. According to Condry and Ross (227), the gender disparity ratio of 139:36 females to male respective represents the general population set up where females outnumber the males.

The study variable included the gender (a boy and a girl) as the independent and the aggression, behavior and the set conditions as the dependents variables. For instance, the participants were able to give their judgments based on the observed interaction between the independent variable relationships including boy-boy, boy-girl, girl- boy, and girl-girl which influenced the outcome observed results recorded as behavioral differences and affections which constituted the dependent variables. Nonetheless, the measurement of the variable took into account the use of aggression or the affection index, semantic differential scale, experimental manipulation check, experience with children scale, and gender identity and sex role attitude scales.

The Results based on the measurement methods such as aggression /affection and semantic differentiation ratings subjected to one-way analysis of variance showed that there is a statistical significance for aggression and affection. For instance, the dependent variable condition for boy-boy was found to be less aggressive in comparison with the other three set of conditions that did not differ in aspects of the perceived levels of aggression. On the other hand, boy-boy condition was found to be more affectionate compared to either of the conditions. Additionally, the findings reveal that child’s behavior is not limited to either being aggressive or affection by virtue but also the perceived affective meaning of the child’s behavior accounted for by the semantic differentiation.

The study’s strength is the ability to establish the correlation between sex and aggression in addition to another variable such as affection. Moreover, the study establishes other facts such as experience and inexperience with the subjects to be contributing factors to the perceived larger differences on the child’s aggressive behavior in relation to their sexes. The weakness, on the other hand, is that the study used a sample that could result in biased results as there is a greater disparity in the gender representation. For instance, it failed the experimental manipulation check and led to exclusion of approximately 13 subjects from the analysis. Hence, it ought to have used an equal representation of gender purposed for meeting specific aims of the study.

Work Cited

Condry, John C., and David F. Ross. “Sex and aggression: The influence of gender label on the perception of aggression in children.” Child development (1985): 225-233.