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That study doesn't show what most people think it does. Monkeys have no idea what a firetruck is, so how could a monkey have any preference towards it? The only
by captainmuon 5y ago
That study doesn't show what most people think it does. Monkeys have no idea what a firetruck is, so how could a monkey have any preference towards it? The only thing they managed to show is that there is a flaw in the experiment. In a sense it is the ideal control question: do the monkeys distinguish based on something they cannot know? A more charitable reading which is mentioned is that male monkeys prefer hard shapes with wheels, but I doubt that is very relevant.
And yes, companies absolutely do market towards boys and girls. They don't write "for girls" on the box, but they consciously produce two product lines. Often it is one unisex line and one that is "forbidden for boys", i.e. it has pink and glitter and you would be teased as a boy of you bought it. This way, they can create artificial market separation and increase sales.
- insickness 5y agoA monkey doesn't know what a firetruck is, nor is it influenced by cultural pressures, such as glitter and pink are for girls. The difference in gender preference is that the females prefer people, such as faces and social interaction and boys prefer objects such as trucks. This preference was also shown in studies where female new born babies tend to look at faces more than male babies.