| Sumario: | Young children were provided with 2 sources of information about the sex appropriateness of a behavior; the sex of model displaying it and a sex-appropriateness verbal label. Subsequent imitative and preferential behaviors were then examined. There was no direct effect of a model's sex upon children's imitation or preference, but there was a strong tendency for children to adopt or express a preference for behavior labeled as appropriate to their sex. Children did integrate knowledge of a model's sex with sex-appropriateness labels in determining their preferences, particularly when the model engaged in behavior inappropriate for his or her own sex. It is proposed that young children adopt a native "sampling theory" which gives lesser weights to the sex of a single model than to labels than may summarize general rules of conduct.
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