Evening star., 1938-02-01
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook OF Science Progress in Field.
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The conventional ideas about all wom-
en- being sisters under the skin get some
support from report Of experiments
with nursery school children just issued
by the National Research Council.
These show that some OF the tradition
attributes OF the eternal feminine-ro-
mancing, sulking, becoming jealous and
liking to boss others-appear about as
soon as a little girl is able to walk. If
not before And the same is true for
the supposedly masculine attributes OF
fighting, rushing into danger, refusing to
listen to reason, and tendency to smash
things.
The observations were made with
group of children of both sexes between
the ages of % and in w. P. A. nursery
schools in Chicago. and reported to the
National Research Councils Society Tor
Research in Child Development by La
berta A. Hattwick. The children were
allowed to play normally together while
their reactions in typical play situations
were watched. Miss HattWick wanted to
find out whether there is something in
born in the two sexes which impels them
to behave in the characteristic ways at
tributed to them or whether these are
entirely the products of social condi-
tioning. 1t might be that girls display
weakness and bashfulness because society
somehow has set such a pattern for
them, and the same for boys.
But if they displayed these character
tstic traits at the very threshold of their
contacts with society-that is. at the age
of 80 months-it would indicate that
there is difference in the beginning.
This would be true especially if the be-
havior did not change notably as result
of the contacts.
The actual observations reported lend
strong support to the latter hypothesis.
The following behavior traits were
more notable in boys than in girls at all
the age levels studied-that is, six-month
intervals between az and years in
elusive:
Attacking others, breaking toys, grab
bing toys, being hard to reason with,
ignoring requests, laughing. squealing
and jumping around excessively, leaving
tasks incomplete. rushing into danger,
tenseness while at rest and wasting time
at routine tasks.
The following were more notable in
girls: Avoiding risks, avoiding play with
others, bossing, criticizing others, crying
easily, fearing strange people, fearing
high places, jealousy, refusing food,
shrinking from notice, sucking thumbs,
staying near adults. twisting hair, telling
fanciful stories, seeking praise and mis-
representing facts.
The differences between the two sexes
remained about the same at all the age
levels, indicating that they are prob
ably stable sex characters. All this, as
Miss Hattwick admits, really doesn't
prove positively that the differences are
Unborn. The child has gone through a
lot of conditioning before it is 22 years
old. The little girl and the little boy al
ready may have been set on their di-
verse paths by the pressure of environ
ment. Some of this "conditioning" might
conceivably take place before birth.
Still, she points out, so far as conscious
control is concerned, baby is baby
before that age, there being very little
difference in the care and associations
of the boy and the girl. Neither has
mingled in the society of other children
in such a way that the diverse traits
would be brought out by hard knocks"
Other studies have shown that almost
from the beginning boys are stronger
than girls and have higher reaction
speeds-that is. the ability to mobilize
all their energies more quickly. When
the two play together 1t would be natural
enough for the little boy quickly to dis
cover his superiority in these respects
and consequently to adopt an aggressive