Do children see beyond gender stereotypes during play?

Children are often influenced by gender stereotypes when determining what toys to play with. And according to campaigners, this can have a significant impact. Some highly gendered toys help build certain skills - puzzles for boys that build cognitive skills, for example - or toys aimed at girls that encourage nurturing. This disparity may mean girls and boys could miss out on developing vital skills through play. 

But how do these stereotypes influence kids' decisions about what other children should play with? A new study in Acta Psychologica finds that preschoolers are able to use other children's individual preferences to make judgements, rather than relying purely on stereotype. 

In the first study, the team examined whether children would recommend toys to girls or boys based on gender stereotypes, or based on what that child actually preferred. Participants, 33 children aged three to five, heard brief stories about a series of girls and boys who were each celebrating their birthday. Some of these children were described as enjoying activities congruent with gender stereotypes (e.g. a girl who liked playing fairies), whereas some enjoyed activities incongruent with stereotypes (e.g. a girl who enjoyed playing as the police), and others enjoyed activities that aren't associated with any particular gender stereotype (e.g. a girl liking to draw). 

The children also saw five pictures of toys, which ranged from strongly stereotypically masculine (e.g. a helicopter) to strongly stereotypically feminine (e.g. jewellery). Participants were asked to pick which of the five toys they would gift to each of the children described in the stories. After the last story, the participants also picked their own favourite of the toys. 

The team found that the children gave other kids with stereotype-congruent preferences the most stereotypical toys. But they also gave those with stereotype-incongruent preferences toys that weren't stereotypical for that gender. This suggests that these pre-schoolers were able to use contextual information to make their choices, rather than reverting to gender stereotypes. 

Stereotypes did play a role to some degree: those who expressed interest in gender-neutral activities were nevertheless given slightly stereotypical toys. The team also found that the participants' own favourite toys were gendered: feminine toys were chosen as favourites by 100% of girls, while 77.8% of boys chose masculine toys, suggesting gender identity indeed plays a role in toy choice. 

Two further studies - one conducted in the US and one in China - largely replicated these findings. In these studies, children were also asked how much they would like to play with the child depicted in each story. Girl participants preferred to play with girls than boys, while boy participants didn't show any particular preferences (boys did prefer non-conforming girls and those with neutral interests than girls with gender-conforming interests, however).

Overall, the results indicate that children are able to use specific, contextual information when making social judgements about individuals, rather than simply using stereotypes, even as they themselves engage in gender-conforming behaviour. This, the team suggests, reflects young children's "developing, but not complex or solidified" understanding of gender stereotypes. 

The team notes that other studies have found that older kids rely more heavily on gender stereotypes when making these kinds of decisions, suggesting that preschool age is a significant opportunity to disrupt gender biases. Presenting activities such as puzzles or dolls as 'neutral', and okay for both boys and girls to engage in, could continue to help shift stereotypes and allow children of all genders to play in ways that they enjoy.