What the Research Says: Gender-Typed Toys
[2023-06-22 15:13:54]
What is to make an infant a good toy? NAEYC asked the two researchers about their work and told us about toys, kids and games.
Judith Elaine Blakemore is an associate professor of psychology at Purdue University in Purdue University, Indiana, Indiana, Indiana, USA. Her main research interest is development of gender role. We also talked to Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, a professor at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantick, Connecticut, about the impact of certain toys on the game.
Professor Blakemore: We identified over 100 toys and classified them to show that each toy is not related to boys, girls, or both.
Generally, the most relevant toys for boys are fighting or attacking (wrestlers, soldiers, guns etc.), and most relevant toys and appearances related to girls (barbies and accessories, ballerina costumes, cosmetics, jewelry And so on). )
Next, based on these evaluations, we classify the toys into six categories. (1) fierce feminization, (2) moderate feminization, (3) neutralization, (5) moderate maleization, and (6) strong maleization. Next, evaluate the toys according to the characteristics of the toys, such as operation, excitement, education, progress, music.
Male toys have been evaluated as violent, competitive, exciting and somewhat dangerous, but found that girls' toys are related to physical appeal, training and family skills. Toys that are most educated and rated as most likely to develop children's physical, cognitive, artistic and other skills are often classified as neutral or moderate men. Our conclusion is that strong adult toys do not seem to support optimal development like neutral or moderate adult toys.
Do you think that preschool teachers and other educators can get information from your research?
Professor Blakemore: If you want to refine your physical, cognitive, academic, musical, and artistic skills of a child, it is more likely that a toy of less sex type will do this.
Professor Blackmore: For parents, this is the same message as a teacher. A strong gender type toy may encourage attributes that you do not want to develop. For girls this includes attention and attention to the appearance, and it may lead to this being the most important message - it looks beautiful. For boys, it is not advisable to emphasize violence and aggression (weapons, combat, aggression) in the long run.
In addition, moderately masculine toys have many positive qualities (cosmic skills, science, buildings etc), parents may want to encourage boys and girls. Probably, to some extent, moderate feminine toys (child rearing, care for babies, cooking and domestic skills)
Professor Blakemore: I do not know how surprising this is to me, but it may be on my parents. .
The interaction between the sex of the participants and the type of toys shows that boys like manly toys rather than female toys and proves that girls like boys' girls. A toy on a toy (Hypothesis 1a). We also expect to adjust the preferences of children's sex-type toys by predicting the interaction among the participants between the sex, status, and type of toy. Show greater gender flexibility (Hypothesis 1b)
Gender classification is the process of identifying gender roles and stereotypes. Between 2 and 3 years old, gender type taste in the selection of games and toys stands out 19. This includes social learning concepts on clothes, toys, and games. Actively avoid them. 20. This is when girls and boys usually start to choose activities and toys with gender and social relations. Meanwhile, the children can also begin to adopt gender stereotypes to test and practice learning about gender from the wider context they observe and 22. In the meantime, children may be observed to interact as judged by others based on gender stereotypes.