Neural processing of gendered information is more robustly associated with mothers' gendered communication with children than mothers' implicit and explicit gender stereotypes

Abstract

Processes like gender socialization (the ways in which parents convey information to their children about how girls and boys should behave) often happen unconsciously and might therefore be studied best with neuroscientific measures. We examined whether neural processing of gender-stereotype-congruent and incongruent information is more robustly related to mothers' gendered socialization of their child than mothers' implicit and explicit gender stereotypes. To this end, we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) of mothers (N = 35) completing an implicit gender-stereotype task and mothers' gender stereotypes in relation to observed gendered communication with their child (2-6 years old) in a naturalistic picture-book-reading setting. Increased N2 activity (previously related to attentional processes) to gender stimuli in the implicit gender-stereotype task was associated with mothers' positive evaluation of similar gendered behaviors and activities in the picture book they read with their child. Increased P300 activity (previously related to attention to unexpected events) to incongruent trials in the gender-stereotype task was associated with a more positive evaluation of congruent versus incongruent pictures. Compared to mothers' gender stereotypes, neural processing of gendered information was more robustly related to how mothers talk to their children about boys' and girls' stereotype-congruent and incongruent behavior, and masculine and feminine activities.