Young children apply the homophily principle to their reasoning about social relationships.

People who are in close relationships tend to do and like the same things, a phenomenon termed the "homophily principle." The present research probed for evidence of the homophily principle in 4- to 6-year-old children. Across two experiments, participants (N = 327; 166 girls, 161 boys; located in the Midwestern United States) were asked to predict the closeness of two people based on their preferences. Participants in Experiment 1 indicated that people with a shared preference or a shared dispreference were more closely affiliated than people whose preferences diverged, suggesting inferences of homophily. Furthermore, children were not only relying on the emotional valences expressed: They expected people with a shared preference to be closer than people who expressed positive emotions about different items and expected people with a shared dispreference to be closer than people who expressed negative emotions about different items. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the main findings of Experiment 1 with more naturalistic stimuli. The present studies provide strong evidence that young children apply the homophily principle to their reasoning about social relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Counterstereotyping can change children's thinking about boys' and girls' toy preferences.

Children think that peers prefer gender-stereotypical toys over gender-counterstereotypical toys. These beliefs can limit children's exploration of gender-counterstereotypical behaviors and prevent the development of broad skills and interests. The current research tested interventions to combat gender-based stereotyping about toys among children aged 4 to 7 years (N = 373). Across four experiments featuring seven different intervention versions, participants saw videos where a teacher provided counterstereotypical messages about toy preferences (e.g., "boys like dolls," "girls like trucks"). The phrasing of the messages (e.g., generic vs. demonstrative) and accompanying photographs (e.g., images of many children vs. one child) varied across experiments. In all intervention conditions, participants made more counterstereotypical (and fewer stereotypical) predictions about peers' toy preferences after viewing intervention videos; differences in the phrasing of the intervention message (e.g., "boys like dolls" vs. "this kid likes dolls") had little effect on participants' predictions. In Experiment 4, an intervention condition containing generic phrasing and gender noun labels (e.g., "boys like dolls") changed children's selection of toys for peers. This research provides promise for counterstereotyping as an impactful and easily implementable intervention strategy.