# Views of Gender in Early Childhood

> **NIH NIH R01** · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $297,252

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Young children’s essentialist views of gender (i.e., that gender is innate, immutable, informative, and
discrete) are found to be inflexible in early childhood in all cultures studied to date, which has led researchers
to construe of gender essentialism as an early-emerging cognitive default. The proposed work addresses the
validity of this belief that gender essentialism is inevitable, by examining the development of gender
essentialism among gender nonconforming and gender “typical” children. Gender nonconforming children
(those whose biological gender and internal sense of gender diverge) present a unique opportunity for
answering this question, as their own gender identity defies central components of an essentialist outlook on
gender (e.g., believing that gender is determined by one’s sex, that gender is discrete, etc). Thus, gender
nonconforming children’s own experiences with gender might lead to early non-essentialist beliefs about
gender, suggesting that broader theories about essentialism would need to be modified. In this work, we
further expand our understanding of essentialism by asking whether essentialism is a domain-general or
domain-specific cognitive bias. If essentialism is a domain-general capacity, we expect to find that gender
essentialism is related to essentialism of other social categories (e.g., race) and natural kinds (e.g., animals).
Further, if GNC children differ from gender typical children in their levels of gender essentialism, they will also
differ in their levels of other essentialism. In contrast, if gender essentialism is domain-specific, any differences
in gender essentialism will have no implication for other types of essentialism. Our third area of focus involves
the socialization of gender essentialism, examining the extent to which gender nonconforming and gender
typical children’s gender essentialism mirrors the messages they receive from their parents and communities
about gender. Finally, we aim to examine the relation between gender essentialism and prejudice against
gender nonconforming children among gender typical children. The literature provides conflicting evidence
regarding the relation between essentialism of social categories and prejudice. Because gender
nonconforming children tend to experience high levels of discrimination and prejudice by their peers,
understanding this link has crucial implications for reducing peer victimization of gender nonconforming
children. We will not only examine the link but will also test whether we can change children’s gender
essentialism and if so, whether this will result in a reduction of bias against gender nonconforming children.
Together this work will not only expand our theoretical understanding of essentialism, but will broaden our
understanding of gender nonconformity in early childhood.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10214826
- **Project number:** 7R01HD092347-04
- **Recipient organization:** PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristina Olson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $297,252
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2017-09-21 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10214826

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10214826, Views of Gender in Early Childhood (7R01HD092347-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10214826. Licensed CC0.

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