Operational Definition - Research Methods Operational Definitions Assignment The Social Learning Theory suggests that people acquire their personal

Research Methods: Operational Definitions Assignment The Social Learning Theory suggests that people acquire their personal attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors from social interaction. Moreover, it is said that children learn gender roles at a young age by learning from their environment and by imitating others, most importantly their parents or guardians, who encourage them to participate in sex-typed activities. My hypothesis is that children will follow this theory when choosing toys to play with. The parents’ level of stereotypical gender roles will affect the child’s gender appropriate behavior. For example, if a young girl’s mother is the typical housewife and her father is the typical breadwinner, then the girl will choose to play with toys that are stereotypic of her own sex (easy bake ovens, Barbie dolls, etc.) The independent variable is the parents’ level of masculinity/femininity, and the dependent variable is the children’s toy preference.