April 8, 2008
DUMB MONKEYS:
Boys and their toys? It's biological, not social (Nic Fleming, 07/04/2008, Daily Telegraph)
Dr Kim Wallen, a psychologist at Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, studied a group of captive, mainly juvenile male and female rhesus monkeys.The animals were offered two categories of toys - ones with wheels such as wagons and other vehicles, and various dolls and cuddly toys including such as a Winnie the Pooh.
In a series of videoed experiments one of each type of toy was placed 30ft apart to see which monkeys would be attracted to which category.
In most cases the monkeys formed a group around one of the toys and eventually one of them would snatch it and run away.
Dr Wallen and colleagues, found the 11 males spent more time playing with wheeled toys, while the 23 females played with both the cuddly and wheeled toys equally.
Their conclusion contradicts those of the dominant psychological theory that the preference of boys for vehicles and toy soldiers and that of girls for dolls is down to social rather than innate influences.
Haven't they ever seen what you can do with a doll and an M80? Of course, it does demonstrate that homosexuality is a learned behavior. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 8, 2008 7:42 AM
Put three girls in a room with a stick and they'll dress it up and have a tea party. Do the same with three boys and the first one will chase the second one with it while the third one tries to take it away from the first one.
Posted by: Rick T. at April 8, 2008 8:17 AMThey call the game Louema.
Posted by: oj at April 8, 2008 10:39 AMIt didn't take long for Boy to fashion a gun out of a stick, especially once we started watching the Sniper Challenge show. Watching him horrify his mother by running around the yard pretending he was a Marine sniper was a proud moment.
I don't think my sister had a Barbie doll left intact when I was done with them. I did learn that it's pretty much impossible to launch one into orbit using an Estes rocket.
Posted by: Bryan at April 8, 2008 10:42 AMBack when Garrison Keillor was still worth listening to, he did a monologue about toy B-17s dropping Lincoln Logs on Sister's dollhouse. The happy little family of dolls was sitting around the dining table when they heard the ominous drone of four-engined bombers and the whistle of incoming ordnance . . .
Posted by: Mike Morley at April 8, 2008 1:55 PMWhen my son was about four, he took his sister's Barbie doll, bent the arms down and used it as a machine gun. No previous training was necessary. What is it with lefties that they can't seem to understand that boys and girls are different even as babies?
Posted by: erp at April 8, 2008 3:04 PM