Eye-tracking Studies of Gender Development

在生命的早期发育阶段，激素影响男性和女性对性别社会化的反应的方式知之甚少。 该项目侧重于婴儿和成人与性别相关的视觉过程，并使用眼动追踪技术来促进对与性别相关的视觉过程如何影响与性别相关的个性和社会发展的理解。 基于初步数据，研究人员提出，雄激素影响7-9个月时与性别相关的视觉偏好的早期出现，与性别相关的特征有关，包括手指比例，以及父母与性别相关的信念和态度。 最终，研究人员认为，婴儿早期的内源性因素（活动水平，气质，激素水平）会影响7-9个月时与性别相关的视觉偏好，这些偏好加上父母的态度和信仰将预测早期的性别角色行为。 这些命题将在一系列涉及婴儿及其父母的研究中进行调查。 重要的是，眼动追踪技术在这一独特人群（婴儿）中的创新应用将提供有关社会和认知过程中性别差异的新信息，这可能会广泛推进性别发展理论，包括心理障碍中的性别差异。 这项研究的结果将通过测量婴儿期对物体的视觉偏好及其与激素水平，活动，个性和性别相关的游戏在以后的发展中的关系，增加有关性别相关的视觉偏好对性别角色获得的影响的知识。 此外，这项研究还有助于了解各种与性有关的心理障碍的发展。 因此，除了推进我们对激素和性别角色发展的作用的理论理解外，这项研究也具有应用意义。

Very little is known about the way that hormones influence male and female responses to gender socialization during the earliest developmental period of life. This project focuses on gender-linked visual processes in infants and adults, and uses eye-tracking technology to advance understanding about how sex-linked visual processes may influence gender-linked personality and social development. Based on preliminary data, the researcher proposes that androgens influence the early emergence of gender-linked visual preferences at 7-9 months are associated with gender-linked traits, including digit ratios, and parental gender-linked beliefs and attitudes. Ultimately, the researcher contends that endogenous factors (activity level, temperament, hormone levels) in early infancy influence gender-linked visual preferences at 7-9 months, and that these preferences coupled with parental attitudes and beliefs will predict early gender role behavior. These propositions will be investigated in a series of studies involving infants and their parents. Importantly, the innovative use of eye-tracking technology in this unique population (infants) will provide new information about sex differences in social and cognitive processing that may broadly advance theories of gender development, including sex differences in psychological disorders. Findings from this research will increase knowledge about the effect of gender-linked visual preferences on the acquisition of gender roles by measuring visual preferences for objects in infancy and their association with hormone levels, activity, personality, and gender-linked play in later development. Furthermore, this research is also relevant to understanding the development of a wide array of sex-linked psychological disorders. Thus, in addition to advancing our theoretical understanding about the role of hormones and gender role development, this research has applied implication as well.