Children’s Memory for and Judgment of Stereotypical and Counter-Stereotypical Favorite Color Information

Pink is for girls and blue is for boys, so says the traditional adage. But what about the boy who likes pink, or the girl who likes blue? This study aimed to assess the effect of color stereotypes on children’s memory and judgment. Children from two preschools were told the favorite colors of stimulus children, then asked to distribute colored toys to these children, and to verbally recall their favorite colors. Children more accurately remembered a male’s favorite color when it violated color stereotypes, whereas they remembered a female’s favorite color equally in stereotypical and counter-stereotypical situations. Additionally, when given counter-stereotypical favorite color information, children recalled more favorite colors than they correctly distributed. Thus, results showed that mere violation alone may not be sufficient to make counter-stereotypical preferences memorable; a violation must be particularly abnormal in order to be salient. Moreover, even when counter-stereotypical preferences are remembered, they are likely to be ignored in favor of traditional stereotypes by other children.