Parents with sons and daughters often see differences in the way their kids play. And research confirms it:.
Are boys more physical because we encourage them? In most cultures, the pattern is the same: People are more likely to train boys to be tough, strong, aggressive, and competitive Low In a study of fetal testosterone, researchers measured hormone levels in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women. Then they tracked the children for several years after birth.
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The ? Testosterone levels were higher in male fetuses, of course.
But female fetuses were exposed to some testosterone, too. And fetal testosterone was linked with rough-and-tumble play.
These findings are consistent with experiments on nonhuman animals. If you artificially boost male hormone levels in developing females, they engage in more male-typical play. If you artificially reduce male hormone levels in males, they engage in less male-typical play Hines Maybe the male preference for rough-and-tumble play can explain the way that kids play with their toys.
A boy might be more likely to stage dinosaur battles. And there is another interesting point. Whereas most boys had strong preferences for gender-typical toys, girls did not. In a study of American preschoolers ages 2 to 5Clyde Robinson and James Morris asked parents what their children had gotten for Christmas. Some gifts had been requested by the kids themselves.
Other gifts were chosen solely by the parents. As it turns out, the toys the kids requested for themselves were more likely to be gender-stereotyped e. When parents chose the toys, they tended to give gender-neutral gifts, like art supplies, musical instruments, and educational toys Robinson and Morris Not terribly surprising, right? In the Robinson and Morris study, it was mostly the boys who were requesting gender-stereotyped toys. Boys show strong preferences for stereotypically male toys.
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Why the difference? Some researchers have suggested that boys show a stronger sex bias than girls do because boys get more criticism for crossing the toy gender line.
But boys may be more strongly stigmatized for playing in gender atypical ways Kane That sounds right to me. Surely culture and social pressures have a huge impact on what children think is an acceptable toy. But I also wonder if hormones—and the brain differences caused by hormones—play a role in toy preferences.
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That idea is consistent with a recent study of testosterone T levels in toddlers. Girls were more likely to play with toy trains if they had exhibited higher T levels as infants. But the most fascinating evidence may come from studies of nonhuman primates. And yet they show sex-biased patterns. In one experiment, Janice Hassett and her colleagues presented male and female rhesus monkeys with a choice of toys—wheeled vehicles vs. The male monkeys showed a strong and consistent preference for the wheeled toys.
The female monkeys showed no strong preference either way Hassett et al In another experiment on vervet monkeys, Gerianne Alexander and Melissa Hines presented monkeys with a series of different toys. But Alexander and Hines did find that females were more likely to pick up dolls than were males.
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And the male monkeys were more likely than females to handle toy cars Alexander and Hines Are these experiments the last word on sex-biased toy preferences? Of course not. But they do suggest that sex-based preferences can arise in the absence of human cultural influences. It seems unlikely that social pressures can explain why male monkeys prefer toys with wheels.
Of course, this begs the question. For instance, there is some evidence that males tend to prefer looking at mechanical motion rather than biological motion.
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In one experiment, researchers presented month old babies with videos of cars and faces. Male babies looked longer at images of moving cars. Girl babies looked longer at videos of moving faces Lutchmaya and Baron-Cohen So maybe toy trucks—which exhibit internal motion and have intriguing surfaces to explore—are more appealing to individuals interested in mechanically-oriented play Williams and Pleil Another idea that occurs to me is that toy vehicles are relatively noisy, disruptive toys. By contrast, you can really raise a ruckus—and get attention—with a toy truck.
Perhaps the most famous case was Mike, a smart chimpanzee who rose to power in Gombe National Park by inventing new, intimidating dominance displays. Perhaps, then, natural selection has favored males who seek out and tinker with objects that can make a ruckus.
9 s that you’re only her boy toy
But whatever explains the male preference for mechanical play, we should consider: Mechanical play hones spatial skills, and spatial skills are key for success in a variety of fields, including art, architecture, engineering, and the physical sciences.
So there are good reasons to counter the cultural pressures that push kids into sex-stereotyped play. Alexander G and Hines M. Alexander GM and Saenz J. Early androgens, activity levels and toy choices of children in the second year of life. Horm Behav.
Fetal testosterone predicts sexually differentiated childhood behavior in girls and boys. Psychological Science 20 2 : Berenbaum SA and Hines M. Early androgens are related to childhood sex-typed toy preferences.
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Psychological Science Child Development Eisenberg N aqnd Wolchik SA. Hines M. Prenatal testosterone and gender-related behavior. European Journal of Endocrinology SS Testosterone measured in infancy predicts subsequent sex-typed behavior in boys and in girls.
Low B. Cross-cultural patterns in the training of children: An evolutionary perspective. Journal of Comparative Psychology. Lutchmaya S and Baron-Cohen S. Human sex differences in social and non-social looking preferences, at 12 months of age. Infant Behavior and Development 25 3 : The gender-stereotyped nature of christmas toys received by, and month-old children: A comparison between nonrequested vs requested toys. Sex Roles Development of sex differences in play choices during preadolescence. Toy story: Why do monkey and human males prefer trucks?
But there are some hints. Toys that get noticed Another idea that occurs to me is that toy vehicles are relatively noisy, disruptive toys.
No way my boys are going to be like that! Gender and Society.
