ABSTRACT
Support for this line of reasoning comes from face recognition studies in
which an own-gender bias for girls aged 6 years and older have been found
(Cross et al., 1971; Feinman & Entwisle, 1976; Ge et al., 2008; Rehnman &
Herlitz, 2006), and from a study in which 4-year-old girls were found to only
show a tendency towards an own-gender bias (Ge et al., 2008). As expected,
for boys the pattern is more variable, with some studies indicating an
advantage for male over female faces (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2006), and some
studies reporting a tendency for boys to recognize more female than male
faces (Cross et al., 1971; Feinman & Entwisle, 1976; Ge et al., 2008). Thus,
there is some evidence suggesting that the female advantage in face
recognition and the female own-gender bias develop during the early years,
but additional research confirming this hypothesis is needed.
