Convenience vs.

Color
By Ashley Price
Research Question: Which is the dominant characteristic in males when choosing an object, convenience
or color/stereotype?
Hypothesis: I believe that males will choose the object based on color because research shows that
children become aware of their sex and announce their gender identity by age 4; once they associate
themselves as either female or male, they begin to adopt the behaviours society affiliates that gender with.
(i.e., pink is for girls, blue is for boys)
Materials: 2 cupcakes per subject (cupcake: pink/blue/white icing, mix, eggs, vegetable oil), 1 cat stuffed
animal, 1 dog stuffed animal, 1 computer, 1 phone, 1 watch, 1 bracelet, a chair, a table, a video camera to
film, computer to record data
Method: Turn video camera on and begin recording. Have subject sit in the chair that is right behind the
table. Ask subject their name, age, and dominant hand (are they right or left handed?). Place two gender
associated objects in front of them, within arms reach. Place the object associated with femininity in front
of their dominant hand, and the object associated with masculinity equal distance from their other hand.
Ask the subject to choose an object (by picking it up).
Control Group: People given two of the same object
Experimental Group 1: People given two gender associated items, male associated one closer to their
dominant hand
Experimental Group 2: People given two gender associated items, male associated one closer to their
non-dominant hand
Variables:
Independent: Convenience and color
Dependent: which item they choose
Controlled: the items, researcher, questions, camera

Data Collection and Analysis:

Control Group: (L = left, R = right)

Blue
Cupcake:

Pink
Cupcake:

Cat:

Dog:

Watch:

Bracelet:

Computer:

Phone:

Aaron:

Luke:

This data shows that the Control Group was more likely to choose the object corresponding with their
dominant hand. Aaron is left-handed; out of the eight items, he chose five on the left and three on the
right. Luke is right-handed, and, in exact contrast, he chose five objects on the right and three on the left.
Experimental Group 1: Male associated item in front of dominant hand
Cupcake:

Dog/Cat:

Watch/Bracelet:

Computer/Phone:

Gabriel:

Blue

Cat

Bracelet

Phone

Sebastian:

Blue

Dog

Watch

Phone

Experimental Group 2: Male associated item in front of non-dominant hand

Cupcake:

Dog/Cat:

Watch/Bracelet:

Computer/Phone:

Alvaro:

Blue

Dog

Watch

Computer

Patrick:

Blue

Dog

Watch

Computer

The data from Experimental Groups 1 and 2 show evidence that when two different objects are presented,
preference/stereotype certainly play a bigger role in males decision making than convenience.
Conclusion:
When presented with two of the same objects, my data shows that males are more likely to favor the
object corresponding to their dominant hand (i.e. if a male is right handed, he is more likely to choose the
object on the right). However, once two different objects are presented to choose between, my data shows
that males are more likely to make their decision based on preference/stereotypes.