Gender Stereotypes in Infancy

The research by Will and colleagues dressed 6–month–old babies in different colored outfits that did not necessarily match their gender, so the participants had no way of knowing if the baby was in fact a boy or a girl.

Sometimes, the infant was dressed in blue and was called Adam and sometimes it was dressed in pink and was called Beth.

There were three toys in the room: a train (boy stereotype), a doll (girl stereotype) and a fish (neutral).

This study found that babies dressed in blue and thought to be boys were more likely to be given the train.

Babies in pink or 'girls' were more likely to be given the doll and more people smiled at 'Beth' then at 'Adam'.