Alexander Gerianne M, Wilcox Teresa, Woods Rebecca
Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2009 Jun;38(3):427-33. doi: 10.1007/s10508-008-9430-1. Epub 2008 Nov 19.
Evidence indicating that sex-linked toy preferences exist in two nonhuman primate species support the hypothesis that developmental sex differences such as those observed in children's object preferences are shaped in part by inborn factors. If so, then preferences for sex-linked toys may emerge in children before any self-awareness of gender identity and gender-congruent behavior. In order to test this hypothesis, interest in a doll and a toy truck was measured in 30 infants ranging in age from 3 to 8 months using eye-tracking technology that provides precise indicators of visual attention. Consistent with primary hypothesis, sex differences in visual interest in sex-linked toys were found, such that girls showed a visual preference (d > 1.0) for the doll over the toy truck and boys compared to girls showed a greater number of visual fixations on the truck (d = .78). Our findings suggest that the conceptual categories of "masculine" and "feminine" toys are preceded by sex differences in the preferences for perceptual features associated with such objects. The existence of these innate preferences for object features coupled with well-documented social influences may explain why toy preferences are one of the earliest known manifestations of sex-linked social behavior.
有证据表明，两种非人类灵长类动物存在与性别相关的玩具偏好，这支持了一种假说，即诸如在儿童物品偏好中观察到的发育性性别差异部分是由先天因素塑造的。如果是这样，那么与性别相关的玩具偏好可能在儿童对性别认同和性别一致行为有任何自我意识之前就已出现。为了验证这一假说，使用能提供视觉注意力精确指标的眼动追踪技术，对30名年龄在3至8个月的婴儿对玩偶和玩具卡车的兴趣进行了测量。与主要假说一致，发现了与性别相关玩具的视觉兴趣存在性别差异，即女孩对玩偶的视觉偏好（d>1.0）超过玩具卡车，与女孩相比，男孩对卡车的视觉注视次数更多（d = 0.78）。我们的研究结果表明，“男性化”和“女性化”玩具的概念类别之前，存在对与此类物品相关的感知特征的偏好上的性别差异。对物品特征的这些先天偏好的存在，再加上有充分记录的社会影响，可能解释了为什么玩具偏好是已知最早的与性别相关的社会行为表现之一。
