Eye-tracking Studies of Gender Development

在生命的早期发育阶段，激素如何影响男性和女性对性别社会化的反应，我们所知甚少。该项目侧重于婴儿和成人的性别相关视觉过程，并使用眼动追踪技术来促进对性别相关视觉过程如何影响性别相关人格和社会发展的理解。根据初步数据，研究人员提出，雄性激素会影响婴儿在7-9个月时早期出现的与性别相关的视觉偏好，这与性别相关的特征（包括手指比例）以及父母与性别相关的信仰和态度有关。最后，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）会影响婴儿7-9个月时与性别相关的视觉偏好，而这些偏好与父母的态度和信念相结合，将预测婴儿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，眼球追踪技术在这一独特人群（婴儿）中的创新应用将提供关于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。通过测量婴儿对物体的视觉偏好及其与激素水平、活动、个性和后期发展中与性别相关的游戏的关系，本研究的结果将增加对性别相关的视觉偏好对性别角色习得的影响的认识。此外，这项研究也与理解一系列与性别相关的心理障碍的发展有关。因此，本研究除了促进我们对激素作用和性别角色发展的理论认识外，还具有应用意义。

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.