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Published on: November 14, 2018
Sex differences in infants' visual interest in toys
Gerianne M Alexander1, Teresa Wilcox, Rebecca Woods
1Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA. gma@psyc.tamu.edu
Archives of Sexual Behavior
|November 20, 2008
Summary
Infants show sex-based toy preferences before gender identity develops. This suggests innate factors influence early toy choices, impacting later social behavior.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Comparative psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Sex-linked toy preferences observed in nonhuman primates suggest inborn factors shape developmental sex differences.
- These preferences may emerge in children before gender identity awareness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether sex differences in toy preferences are present in infants before self-awareness of gender.
- To test the hypothesis that innate factors influence early sex-typed object preferences.
Main Methods:
- Eye-tracking technology measured visual attention to a doll and a toy truck in 30 infants (3-8 months old).
- Precise indicators of visual attention were used to quantify interest in sex-linked toys.
Main Results:
- Infants exhibited sex differences in visual interest in sex-linked toys.
- Girls showed a significant preference for the doll over the toy truck (d > 1.0).
- Boys displayed more visual fixations on the truck compared to girls (d = .78).
Conclusions:
- Sex differences in preferences for perceptual features of toys precede conceptual categories of "masculine" and "feminine" toys.
- Innate preferences for object features, combined with social influences, likely explain early sex-linked toy preferences.
- These findings suggest early-emerging, innate influences on sex-typed social behavior.
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