How children are biologically programmed to prefer playing with toys aimed at their own gender
by Steve Doughty, Mailonline:
Boys and girls are driven by biology to play with toys that are traditionally aimed at their own gender, according to a new study.
The research found that an innate drive pushes boys to prefer trucks and cars and aggressive toys such as guns or toy soldiers.
A similar inbuilt instinct may be the reason why girls have always liked to play with dolls, cosmetics or toys based on domestic life, it said.
But the impact of feminism on parents, advertising and media may be a reason why girls have been less keen on dolls, make-up and kitchen toys in recent years, according to the research paper.
Girls are more likely than boys to be influenced as they grow up by parents, the adults and children around them, and what they read and see on television, it said, while boys stick to boys’ toys.
The study produced by a team led by psychologists from City, University of London, was based on evidence collected by different researchers across the Western world over decades, with some dating back to the 1930s.
It said: ‘Despite methodological variation in the choice and number of toys offered, context of testing, and age of child, the consistency in finding sex differences in children’s preferences for toys typed to their own gender indicates the strength of this phenomenon and the likelihood that it has a biological origin.’
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