Children's Gender-Based Reasoning about Toys

Abstract

The goal of these studies was to investigate how preschool children use gender-based reasoning in making judgments about toy preferences for themselves and for others. In Studies 1 and 2, children (n = 22, n = 71) were shown unfamiliar, non-sex-typed toys and asked to rate how much they, other girls, and other boys would like each toy. As expected, children made gender-based inferences: "What I like, children of my sex will also like, and children of the other sex will not like." Study 3 was designed to assess how children use gender-based reasoning to make decisions about attractive and unattractive toys when they are given gender labels. Children (n = 91) were shown unfamiliar toys varying in attractiveness that were given explicit gender labels (e.g., "this is a toy girls really like") or no label. With a different experimenter (to avoid demand characteristics), children rated their own and others' liking of the toys. Children used gender labels to guide their own preferences and their expectations for others. Even with very attractive toys, children liked toys less if they were labeled as being for the other sex, and expected other girls and boys to do the same. The role of gender-based reasoning in cognitive theories of gender and on children's play preferences is discussed.

The Cognitive Construction of Gender Stereotypes: Evidence for the Dual Pathways Model of Gender Differentiation

“…Thus, in this model, the stereotypes and schemas that a child holds play an important role in guiding his or her behaviors and interests. In their research supporting GST, Martin et al (1995Martin et al ( , p. 1463 presented children with novel toys of varying levels of attractiveness and gave them labels indicating that the toy was "for boys" or "for girls." They found that children who remembered the given gender labels used the explicit labels to make decisions about their own personal interest in toys and predictions of other children's interests.…”

“…According to Martin (2000), children's own experiences and preferences could be extrapolated to others by children relying on their gender theories in which they assume similarities between themselves and members of their own gender. These ideas suggest that a reverse pathway-preferences shaping stereotypes-may be possible (Martin et al 1995). For example, in two studies by Martin et al (1995), children were presented novel toys of varying attractiveness, but were not given any additional information about the items.…”

“…Prominent constructivist models of gender stereotyping include social cognitive theory (Bussey and Bandura 1999), cognitive developmental theory (Kohlberg 1966), and gender schema theory (Bem 1981;Martin and Halverson 1981). Gender schema theory, in particular, has generated a large amount of research across many domains of gender including the development of gender-typed interests in toys and gender stereotypes of toys (Martin et al 1995;Weisgram et al 2014). Martin and Halverson's (1981) gender schema theory (GST) argues that children are highly motivated to gather information from their environment (e.g., peers, media, parents) about gender due to the salience of gender in their lives and our society (also see Bem 1981;Bigler and Liben 2007).…”

The value of toys: 6–8-year-old children's toy preferences and the functional analysis of popular toys

“…A study by Eisenberg et al (1982) revealed that 3-4 -year-old children use a noticeable amount of gender related reasoning when choosing toys for others but concentrate more on what they can do with the toy when picking toys for themselves. In two studies egocentric views were the primary forms of reasoning, as in: `what I like, children of my sex will also like and children of the other sex will not like´ (Martin, Eisenbud & Rose 1995;see also Cherney, 2006). We believe that by examining toys as physical items with certain functions, we are able to analyze in more depth and clarity the tapestry of toy-based values, culture-based values, social-based values and subjective values which children see in toys.…”

Attitudes of Economics and Sociology Students towards Cooperation. A Cross-Cultural Study

“…The parents, in all cultures, tend to treat children of different genders differently, not only in dressing them in different colors but also in encouraging them to play different types of games. The boys are encouraged to participate in competitive (win-lose) games; the girls are encouraged to share their toys, collaborate, and play together (Albert, Porter, 1988;Martin et al, 1995;Witt, 1997;Van Volkom, 2003). As a result, women from many cultures are more willing to work in groups and collaborate.…”