The Influence of Gender and Ethnicity on Children's Inferences About Toy Choice

Abstract

By 4-5 years of age children can make gender-congruent inferences about toys. Not only do they respond differentially to gender labels attached to toys, even without such labels they make inferences about toy choice that reflect an awareness of and identification with their gender in-group. However it is unclear how far inferences about toy choice extend to other aspects of a child's social identity. The present study explored the influence of both gender and ethnicity on children's judgements on toy choice for themselves and others. Eighty-four children in three age groups (5, 6-7, 8-9 yrs) were shown photographs of unfamiliar toys and unfamiliar children from three ethnic groups (white, black, Asian) and were asked to rate how much they and these children would like each toy. Boys consistently predicted that Asian children would like the toys less than other ethnic groups. Ethnicity influenced inferences from 6-7 years old where children predicted that white, black and Asian peers would like the toys differently from each other. Children at 8-9 years old predicted that Asian peers would like the toys less than both white and black peers. Analysis of differences between children's own liking and predictions for same-and opposite-sex others revealed that they were gendercentric. That is, children predicted that a same-sex child would like a toy more similarly to themselves compared to an opposite-sex child. Analysis between white and Asian children's own liking and predictions for same-and other-ethnic others found that only 6-7-year-olds made ethnocentric inferences. That is, same-ethnic peers' liking was rated more similar to children's own compared to that of other-ethnic peers. Findings are discussed in light of cognitive developmental theories and previous work on the development of perspective-taking skills.

Investigating the Factors Influencing Parent Toy Purchase Decisions: Reasoning and Consequences

“…The analysis showed that the number of respondents that considered gender to be a very important factor was about 40.0% of the study sample. On the other hand, the number of respondents who considered gender an unimportant factor was 9.2%, which was in agreement with the findings of Freeman (2007), Okita (2004) as well as Lam and Leman (2003). Thus, toys selection decisions differed according to the children's demographical-related factors.…”

“…However, this study was broader and took into account more diversified factors and variable considerations such as emotional-related factors and purposes of using-related factors. The results of this study were also related to gender considerations, which is supported by other research findings, such as Lam and Leman (2003), Freeman (2007) and Okita (2004). Generally, the parental respondents considered gender in the toy selection process a very important factor, with a value of 40.0%.…”

“…These results support the findings of various studies (Fallon & Harris, 2001;Freeman, 2007;Martin et al, 1995;Lam & Leman, 2003;Okita, 2004). Also, after researching the relative importance of toy selection determinants and ranking the study's factors, it was noted that the respondents rated two factors as extremely important for toy selection, namely, purposes of using-related factors and children demographical-related considerations.…”

“…Although there have not been many studies focusing on toy selection (Fallon & Harris, 2001), the majority of studies concentrated on gender and age effect on toy selection (Lam & Leman, 2003). Both Lam and Leman agreed that either with or without gender labels on toys, children can differentiate between boy and girl toys.…”

Children's Gender‐ and Ethnicity‐based Reasoning about Foods

“…Children infer that because they like a toy, those of their own sex might also like it, and that those of the opposite sex might not. A similar method (Lam & Leman, 2003) has been used to examine whether ethnicity is invoked in novel toy choice and found an ‘ethnocentric’ pattern at six to seven years; children infer that if they like a toy, children of their ethnic in‐group might also like it, and those of the out‐group might not.…”