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.
