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 ( = 327; 166 girls, 161 boys; located in the Midwestern United States) were asked to predict the closeness of two people based on their preferences.

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).